Released: August 18
Broadway legend Idina Menzel turns up the disco heat and struts out onto the dance floor with her latest pop record, ‘Drama Queen’.
The aptly-titled LP showcases a different side to the powerhouse vocalist, best known for her killer ballads and musical theatre classics, who this time around turns up the BPM and leans into influences from the ‘70s and ‘80s for a record that’s intrinsically camp while, at times, unassumingly cool.
Of the project, the singer beams: “I am a Drama Queen… I’m dramatic and emotional and passionate. I love the stage and the spotlight. I love the attention and the roar of an audience. I have big feelings. I sing my ass off through tears of joy, heartbreak, anger, and sadness. This project is the most fun I’ve ever had writing and recording an album. I want everyone to move and sing with me and embrace their inner Drama Queen.”
Opening track, lead single Move, is a fine example of such, as she declares ‘Damn! / They can stop and stare / Damn! / Baby, I don’t care’ over a funky, Chic-inspired bassline – with Nile Rodgers himself featuring on the disco-leaning Paradise.
Meanwhile, Beast touches on electro-pop territory while Funny Kind Of Lonely displays her vocal power over pulsing synths for one of several show-stopping moments. Another tune, closing song Madison Hotel, references classics like No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) and I Am What I Am, starting out stripped back and building with a stellar vocal delivery, before launching into a full-band extravaganza.
But the real heart of the record is the title song which, in addition to being a brilliant pop track, lays out Menzel’s attitude to life, embracing her personality and addressing her critics directly, insisting: ‘If you get it you get it / If you don’t you don’t / And if you can’t quite see it / You never will / I’m so dramatic’.
It’s the perfect mantra from the performer who, decades into her career, is out here living her best life and doing things her way – and when it comes to ‘Drama Queen’, the music more than speaks for itself!
