''Queen Elizabitch'' is the second studio album by American rapper

CupcakKe Elizabeth Eden Harris (born May 31, 1997), known professionally as Cupcakke (often stylized as CupcakKe; pronounced ), is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois. She is known for her hypersexualised, brazen, and often comical persona and mus ...

. It was self-released on March 31, 2017 via

TuneCore TuneCore is a Brooklyn, New York–based independent digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2005. TuneCore principally offers musicians and other rights-holders the opportunity to distribute and sell or stream the ...

. The album was preceded by its leading single "Cumshot". The 3rd song from the album, "CPR", got attention from the video-sharing app,

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

. The song received over 50 million streams from the music-streaming app,

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

Background and release

On March 28, CupcakKe revealed the album cover and track listing. ''Queen Elizabitch'' was self-released on March 31, 2017. On April 8, the album was briefly removed from

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

services due to a production discrepancy, but returned days later.

Composition

According to ''Pitchfork'' writer Briana Younger, album opener "Scraps" features "disquieting keys and decaying

synths A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

". "33rd" has been described in ''

The Fader ''The Fader'' (stylized as ''FADER'') is a magazine based in New York City that was launched in 1999 by Rob Stone and Jon Cohen. The magazine covers music, style and culture. It was the first print publication to be released on iTunes. It is o ...

'' as an "all-out pop banger". ''Pitchfork'''s Younger also described "Biggie Smalls" as a body-positive song about

beauty standards Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...

and

eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. Only one eating disorder can be diagnosed at a given time. Types of eating disorders include binge eating d ...

s, and its production as a "

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

-like

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

". She pointed to "Tarzan" as a

drill A drill is a tool used for making round holes or driving fasteners. It is fitted with a bit, either a drill or driverchuck. Hand-operated types are dramatically decreasing in popularity and cordless battery-powered ones proliferating due to ...

track, while she and ''The Fader,'' as well as ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'', referred to the album closer "Reality Pt. 4" as an

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

track reflecting on CupcakKe's life and

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

Promotion

Singles

"Cumshot" was released as a digital download on February 24, 2017 as the album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

Music videos

"Cumshot" received a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

on March 10, 2017. "Reality Pt. 4" received a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

music video on April 19, 2017. The visual was described by Pranav Trewn of ''Stereogum'' as "dark". "Quick Thought" received a music video on May 14, 2017. It was directed by Brandon Holmes. According to Peter Helman of ''Stereogum'', the video features CupcakKe as the leader of a "colorful stick-up crew armed with bright red guns". "CPR" received a music video on May 29, 2017. "Biggie Smalls" came out with a music video on June 16, 2017. "33rd" received a video on July 2, 2017. "Barcodes" received a music video on July 17, 2017. "Scraps" received a music video on August 8, 2017.

Critical reception

''Pitchfork'' writer Briana Younger wrote of the album thus: "The amazingly explicit

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

rapper has begun to embody the totality of her experience on record. Social issues, violence, and wild sex are all approached with the same fiery conviction." The album was included on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s "40 Best Rap Albums of 2017" list at position 17.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 2017 albums Self-released albums Cupcakke albums