The New Hotel Amenity? An Artist
Trixie Mattel keeps running into Flava Flav, and she doesn’t know why. She’s never spoken to him, but she’s randomly seen him five times throughout her life. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise when the rapper meanders backstage at Coachella’s DoLaB stage just as Mattel is about to soundcheck. “He shows up where I am. I don’t know what it is,” she says. “He always knows what time it is, he wears a clock, so he knows where I am.”
Anyone keeping time knows that Mattel’s moment is now. One of the most celebrated drag queens in RuPaul’s Drag Race history, Mattel added another impressive notch to her belt this weekend, making her Coachella debut at the festival’s DoLaB. As the first drag queen to perform at Stagecoach in 2023, Mattel is no stranger to a festival stage, however this time, instead of a country-focused performance, she brought her Solid Pink Disco dance party to the desert. “I was excited that I would get to play in front of people who don’t know me,” says Mattel, who chatted exclusively with ELLE.com prior to her DJ set. “With Solid Pink Disco, it’s all diehard Trixie fans. We have costume reveals and wigs and dancers. It’s a lot more than what I think the DoLaB stage is exposed to.”
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as Brian Firkus, Mattel is best known for her Drag Race run, including her All Stars season 3 win. Since then, she has fostered an ever-growing empire, with a makeup line, podcast, and viral video series with fellow drag queen Katya Zamolodchikova. Mattel’s YouTube channel is also ever-growing with 2.27 million subscribers and counting, and she stands as one of the platform’s biggest advocates. “Your audience and you get to connect immediately however you want, whenever you want,” she says. “With TV and touring and all that, there’s a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and most of those cooks have money, and they’re the ones who say whether or not you’re allowed to do it. With YouTube, you just have so much freedom.”
Mattel also had a Max television series called Trixie Motel with her now ex-partner David Silver where, in the first season, they renovated a Palm Springs getaway. “Trixie really matches the Palm Springs vibe,” Mattel told ELLE.com last year. “Trixie belongs here.”
Now, just miles away from that reno project, Mattel takes her signature pink, Barbie aesthetic to the country’s most revered music festival. Known as Coachella’s biggest experiment, the immersive DoLaB art exhibition and music-forward space has a different lineup both weekends of Coachella. Here, artists can really strut their stuff.
Mattel also knows the power of this moment. It’s still rare to have a queer artist perform at an event like this, let alone on a stage of this scale dedicated to dance music. Mattel’s presence serves as an important mark of representation, especially at a time when LGBTQ+ rights are at threat. She is also cognizant of those who have made this moment possible. “There’s so many famous gay DJs and producers from Divine to RuPaul, and even the ones who don’t tell you they’re gay. I feel like all of them pushed [forward for the rest of us],” she says. “As gay people, all we do is ride the waves that were created by people before us.”
Throughout her hour-long set, Mattel played dance-worthy hits and featured some of her own music (like her new RuPaul cover “Supermodel (You Betta Work)” featuring VINCINT, who also came out to perform the track). Mattel was a little worried about the heat, as she performed in full drag—including padding, makeup, and a wig—but she found inspiration in Lady Gaga’s iconic headlining show.
“I got here, and I realized this is a lot of straight people in shorts, and the girls are dressed like pirate hookers. No one has any clothes on,” Mattel says. “I’m like, ‘Oh, God. Am I going to actually die?’ I heard that [Lola Young] was puking during her set, but I also saw Gaga rolling around in a giant litter box. If she can do it, I can do it.”
Sure enough, Mattel did survive her set, and her foot will be on the gas pedal for the next few months. But this summer, Mattel will take another two-month sabbatical. She did this for the first time last year, spending time in Kentucky to unplug, which she has since discussed on her YouTube channel. “I’m just not a machine,” Mattel says. “I feel like unless it’s the money I want or the experience I want, I don’t really care to do it.”
Coachella is an experience that Mattel just couldn’t turn down. She had a massive turnout this weekend—a solid-pink sea of fans—proving a clear hunger for queer celebration. “Dance music is so beloved by gay people, but it really is a straight male-dominated industry,” Mattel says. “I think it’s important to put on your wig and show up and play.”