''Realness'' is the eighth studio album from singer and

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

RuPaul. It was released on March 2, 2015 and is RuPaul's first album to feature a

Parental Advisory Advisory (abbreviated PAL) is a warning label introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1985 and adopted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2011. It is placed on audio recordings in recognition of profan ...

warning label. The album was released to coincide with the seventh season premiere of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'', which premiered the same day as the album's release. The album features guest appearances from

Michelle Visage Michelle Lynn Case (nee Shupack), better known as Michelle Visage (born September 20, 1968), is an American singer, television host, actress, radio DJ and producer. She first gained recognition as a member of the musical group Seduction which ...

Rebecca Romijn Rebecca Alie O'Connell (née Romijn ; born November 6, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the original trilogy (2000–2006) of the ''X-Men'' film series, as Joan from '' The Punisher'' ( ...

and

Dave Audé Dave Audé (born Oct 12, 1969) is an American DJ, producer and remixer. He operates his own label Audacious Records, and is known for having more number ones than any other producer on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. He has done prod ...

, among others. Upon its release, the album charted at number 6 on the '' Billboard''

Dance/Electronic Albums Top Dance/Electronic Albums, Dance/Electronic Albums (formerly Top Electronic Albums) is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine which ranks the top-selling electronic music albums in the United States based on sales compiled by ...

, and 38 on the Independent Albums. The album sees RuPaul reuniting with producer

Eric Kupper Eric Kupper is an American keyboardist, arranger, songwriter, remix artist, DJ, and record producer of French descent. Biography Eric Kupper began playing in bands in his formative years, and got his real start in the mid-1980s working as a keybo ...

, producer of his debut album '' Supermodel of the World''.

Background

''Realness'' was first mentioned in a '' Billboard'' interview with RuPaul on February 24, 2015, in which he commented on the titles meaning, saying "when drag talks about realness, it's always with a wink because, you know, here I am, a drag queen talking about looking and feeling real, which is the joke itself." Sonically, the album is heavily influenced by 1990s House music and

diva house Diva house or handbag house is an anthemic subgenre of house music that became most popular in gay clubs during the second half of the 1990s. ''The Encyclopedia of Contemporary British Culture'' defines handbag house as having "prominent female v ...

. The album was released for pre-order later, and eventually released on March 2, 2015.

Track listing

Adapted from iTunes metadata.

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2015 albums RuPaul albums Albums produced by Lucian Piane Deep house albums