“How do I make this monk outfit sort of sexy?” was the unique conundrum pop star Dorian Electra faced when styling their recently-released video for “Adam & Steve”. Laughing down the phone from a Swedish hotel room, Electra explains the song’s genesis: “I’ve at all times been fascinated and amused by anti-gay slogans – ‘it was Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve!’ But that’s such a catchy phrase in case you flip it. I’m serious about Adam & Steve!” The result’s a mix of thunderous electronica and choral elements, which casts the titular characters as defiant gay lovers. “I call it biblical gay fan fiction,” Electra jokes. “There’s a lot homoeroticism in Christian art anyway – you’re literally eating the body of Christ – so I reimagined the story the way in which I wanted it to be told.”

The video continues this narrative, featuring characters comparable to the aforementioned monk and notorious witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, reimagined as a buck-toothed villain draped in chains. “He would condemn women to be burned on the stake, but he had a snatched waist! His fashion was on point,” Electra jokes, hinting on the self-awareness and camp humour that underpins their success.

These subversive historical retellings have grow to be Electra’s signature. They rose to fame with educational music videos tracing the origins of every thing from high heels to vibrators. Now, they sport drawn-on facial hair and make genius, gender-bending tracks like “Career Boy” and “Daddy Like”, which twist male archetypes (office bros and sugar daddies respectively) with a knowing wink and a sprinkle of shimmer. 

Electra’s aesthetic has similarly morphed through the years. Gone is their long, brown hair, replaced as a substitute by a shorter, slicked-back look – and from indigo blue to mint green, no dye is off-limits. As for makeup, more is more: technicolour blush often creeps across their face and eyes, offset by a slick of eyeliner and a sprinkling of tattoo stamps. 

This signature look is at all times topped off with a drawn-on moustache and, more recently, a dab of nail polish to create a gap-tooth look. It’s a glance they’re trying out on tour with Charli XCX, but ahead of their upcoming London headline show, we caught up with Electra about asserting their beauty identity on and off stage, and being a part of a recent wave of queer artists.

Your art is hugely inspired by flamboyant men and dandies, where did that stem from?

Dorian Electra: Even before highschool, I used to be obsessive about Oscar Wilde, dandies and mods – guys wearing make-up, frilly things and velvet. I feel the fashionable version is the ‘metrosexual’: straight guys that primp themselves and care about their appearance like gay guys would. I remember considering it was such a BS term, but in addition feeling empowered by it. 

I used to be obsessive about The Horrors after I was perhaps 14, they were making 60s garage band psychedelia but their style was goth Victorian mod. They’d crazy hair, skinny jeans and pointed shoes. I stanned, brought them gifts, waited in line, every thing. It was an awakening for me because they were flamboyant, masculine people. I look back in any respect of those bands now and stan for just how much they did to broaden the narrow confines of masculinity.

“I used to be at all times drawn to make-up but I felt alienated. I didn’t feel feminine, so something didn’t sit right when I assumed of how I used to be presenting with all this make-up on. I felt uncomfortable until I discovered drag and realised that cis women could possibly be drag queens, cis men could possibly be drag kings, trans women could possibly be kings, queens, and even drag creatures” – Dorian Electra

Do you deliberately flip gendered stereotypes along with your work?

Dorian Electra: It’s just what I’m personally drawn to – I really like finding things that we predict are so heteronormative, after which finding the history that has been covered up. I studied philosophy and history of science in order that played an enormous role, especially in my video about the clitoris. You don’t need an education to hopefully gain something that’s meaningful.

You’re presenting masculine and serious about make-up – how has that relationship developed?

Dorian Electra: My song “Guyliner” is all about that – I have the desire to make a music video, and there may even be a product within the works. My mom was into make-up and she or he would do crazy stuff, I did musical theatre as a child which is how I learned to do make-up. I wore tonnes of shiny pink blush and way over-the-top eyeliner. To this present day, I never do it contained in the waterline.

I even played some drag characters and I’d have big, over-the-top lipstick, crazy eyeshadow, and draw on a fake moustache. Then I got into genderless clown make-up. Instagram is so cool in that sense, it’s more acceptable to wear extreme make-up as an artist and even just in public. Truthfully, I’ve at all times loved looking a little bit gross. After I saw the smudged lipstick trend, I used to be like, ‘Oh, this is ideal for me.’ After I perform, I even have my mouth all around the microphone. If it’s already smudged, no one can say anything.

Drag and gender fluidity are obviously completely different, but has drag been a tool so that you can explore identity?

Dorian Electra: Absolutely. I used to be at all times drawn to make-up but I felt alienated. I didn’t feel feminine, so something didn’t sit right when I assumed of how I used to be presenting with all this make-up on. I felt uncomfortable until I discovered drag and realised that cis women could possibly be drag queens, cis men could possibly be drag kings, trans women could possibly be kings, queens, and even drag creatures. These ideas were being exploded in my mind, so I felt comfortable saying: ‘I’m this masculine person and I’m wearing a little bit make-up. Who cares?! I’m putting on my guyliner. My wife doesn’t mind – she loves it!’

You’re on tour right away – what are your make-up staples?

Dorian Electra: I can only bring one palette for tour, because I can’t carry an excessive amount of crap. The Claropsyche palette is incredible: it has a black for eyeliner and the right shiny red – not too orange, pink, or brown. My tour look is the pink eyeshadow, which I exploit as blush that I take up into my eye and above my eyebrows, after which a shiny red under the attention and on the crease. I’m at all times on the lookout for waterproof liquid eyeliner that doesn’t get tousled with sweat, I’m using MAC to attract on the moustache, freckles and other accents. I really like the Milk tattoo stamps, NYX eyebrow pencil, and whatever waterproof mascara I even have lying around. Oh, and black nail polish – I exploit it to create a spot tooth.

Finally, how does that feel to be one in every of a couple of queer pop-stars pushing conversations around gender and sexuality in music?

Dorian Electra: It’s interesting – for a couple of years I didn’t consider artists I admired as queer musicians. Before I knew SOPHIE was trans, I just knew she was making really cool music. Now, looking back, I can see these artists were coming from a queer perspective. Within the last two years, a lot has modified in a fantastic way for queer representation in music, there’s more opportunity than ever, it’s like we’re showing that queer artists will be viable. It’s hard to step back and see myself in it but to see artists like King Princess and Kim Petras in that queer pop sphere is inspiring, we’re all being lifted up.