We sat down with the legendary Pandora Boxx, star of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 2, and All-Stars seasons 1 and 6 (AND a longtime friend of WERRRK.com!) about her incredible new album, BOXX!
We are so excited about your new album, BOXX! What was the inspiration behind it?
I’ve always wanted to do an album since I was a kid. I love music, and I love making music. It just tends to be a little expensive, and it seemed like an impossible dream because I’m not… I’m not Mariah Carey. I mean I can carry a tune, and I like to make fun, dancey kinds of music. And so when I was on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 6, I thought this is it. I should do a Kickstarter, and I knew that I knew that I didn’t do well in the girl group challenge, so I kind of wanted initially it was to redo that, like give me like redo a song for that, and uh, and then the Kickstarter got funded in three days, so I was like, well, all right.
That’s amazing!
Yeah! It was really incredible. It took three years, but it happened so I’m very excited.
What was it like crowdfunding the album?
I mean it was great because it was funded and it was in three days, and being on All Stars at the time gave me a boost where people cared more because there are a lot of seasons of Drag Race. And right now they only really care about who’s in the current season, unless you’ve managed to get to a super high level of drag.
The Kickstarter was great because it gave me a boost, kind of like an ego boost. I just felt like the support from the people, so many people encouraged me to do it. It’s great because Kickstarter also picked it as one of their top picks!
It’s not as easy to navigate when you’re trying to get everybody’s rewards, though. Other than that, I think that it’s a great platform, especially for independent artists who can’t afford to do it. If I took one of my social media followings and everybody donated a dollar that followed me, I would be set. You don’t have to donate a lot. It makes it accessible for every level of fan financially.
You’ve released singles in the past. What made now the right time to release a full album?
Well, I wanted to do songs that weren’t dirty! *laughs* When I was younger, I was like, “I’m dirty and filthy“, and I mean, I still am, I still swear uncontrollably sometimes. But wanted to make something for everybody, and I wanted to do something personal – more songs that are personal. I listen to a lot of Robyn who does great dance songs, but the lyrics are really sad when you listen to them. I don’t think mine are actually sad, but there’s a there’s a deepness to them.
I just kind of think I was starting to think about mortality and wanted to have something that’s more personal, some part of my work that I can leave behind, that was something that was important to me.
One of my friends, Brandon James Gwinn, who actually produced Trixie Mattel‘s first album, reached out and said, ‘If you need any help, I’m here.’ And then we just started chatting, and I would send him lyrics, and he would set them to music, and so it just started to work really, really well.
How was working with Brandon in the studio?
It was kind of crazy because Brandon lives in New York and I live in LA. We set up a FaceTime every week to kind of get the album on track because he’s doing other things, I’m doing other things.
He is busy a lot soI would just force myself to write because I tend to procrastinate and put it off or not believe in what I’m writing I’m just like “You just have to set a these are the times you sit down and you write”, whatever so I’d have a cocktail. And then I’m like, well, what do I want to talk about? My life is pretty good. I have a good relationship, I have a dog, I have a home. It’s kind of boring!
So, I just started thinking about when I was younger, and when I was a kid I would get picked on. I would come home and lock my door and play Madonna and it would be an escape. So, I wrote a lot of songs about that. I still carried the pain from when I was bullied as a kid, which is crazy how long you can carry it with you. I felt like that would resonate with people. I wrote the songs for myself. I didn’t really think about anyone else.
Would you be interested in making a follow-up album?
I don’t know. I’ve been thinking in my head this is my first and probably last album. It’s a long process. I flew to New York and did a week in the studio there. We fine-tuned things and got together. It’s also a question of money. I thought of maybe doing some remixes of the songs because I think that could be fun, but yeah, it all depends. I’m very happy with this album; I hope people like it, and I mean, if enough people like it, then maybe… But yeah, never say never, but for me, I’m probably not.
It looks like the answer is yes from the teasers you’ve posted, but were you able to crowdfund for music videos? Should we expect some?
I did! It was like, Oh God, People are just going to be like there’s Pandora asking for money again, but they’re expensive. And I just finally said, “I’m gonna just do it because I’d love to do a music video.” So, I was able to do a music video with my friend Brad Hammer, who is great to work with.
Will you take the album on tour?
I would love to! I want to do a show where it’s like, songs from the album and then mix it with stories about it, and of course some stand-up because I want it to be funny too. I don’t want to…like, I want to have this fun dance song and then tell you like the dark side of the story and that’s it.
Anything else you want to tell our readers?
Umm.. buy my album! If you like it just let me know that you like it! And if you don’t like it, that’s fine, you don’t need to tell me. Share it and the more people who share it, the more it gets out there, the more it gets out there, the better for me, and that also helps people and venues to want to book me if there’s excitement about the album.
Stream BOXX! on your favorite music platform now! (Editor’s Note: Boxx already hit the top three!)
