The story of Jesus Was A Drag Queen (so far)

How one TikTok comment sparked a whole ass song and a movement...

This is my very first Substack post, and if you’re reading this, you probably came here from TikTok. I have about 10x more followers on TikTok than I do on any other social media platform, so it’s a good guess.

Which is funny, because music is my actual job.

I’m not sure if it was luck, tech venture capital money, or me finally having zero f*cks left to give, but I got to talking on the clock app in early 2022 and just didn’t stop. I have become known for my hot takes on the music industry, self help, politics, new age spirituality and even salt, but not so much for my actual music. Which is funny, because music is my actual job.

I won’t bore you with the whole story (you can hear about a lot of it on TikTok, or let me know if you’d like another post about my musical journey thusfar) but I spend my days writing and performing songs here in East Nashville in Music City, TN.

You could say my specialty is the “message song”

I often write with my friends, and I was lucky enough to have co-written four songs on an album that won a GRAMMY earlier this year: Molly' Tuttle’s Crooked Tree, including the title track. You could say my specialty is the “message song”, which requires being tapped into the cultural zeitgeist just as much as sitting in silent reflection — otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything important to write about.

As a creator and avid dissociator, I also spend a good chunk of my day on TikTok. That’s where I spotted this comment on one of my posts raising awareness around the anti-drag and anti-trans laws being passed in Tennessee.

“So, no guy can wear a long wig and colorful coat and be Joseph and his Coat of Many Colors?”

I responded “Jesus is a drag queen”, and that image stuck with me. Of course Jesus wasn’t actually a drag performer (though they surely existed then and it’s possible), but the idea was: if he came back dressed as depicted in mainstream Christianity, would he look criminally femme or queer to these modern ChristoFascists?

one of those so-stupid-maybe-it’s-actually-brilliant ideas

I sang the first verse into my voice memo app, and brought it to a co-write I had scheduled with my friend and neighbor Mercy Bell the very next day. We had plans to write a really daunting song about the LGBTQIA+ club scene in Weimar era Berlin, but decided we had a lot more research to do. So, I brought this nugget — one of those so-stupid-maybe-it’s-actually-brilliant ideas — to the table. Mercy loved it and dug deep into her Catholic upbringing and religious trauma to bring some real scriptural receipts and authentic catharsis to the table.

This song could have been written with no one else.

Now, the essence of co-writing is mutual enthusiasm, but to say we fell in love with this song instantly would be an understatement. Add to that our shared ADHD superpower of hyperfocus, and this song was getting a tiktok video made later that week, and getting recorded in a studio the next week. Check out this crew!

Michael Majett (bass), Jacob Groopman (slide guitar), Kiran Gupta (organ/keys), Me (vocals/guitar), Mercy Bell (vocals) and Tiff Minton (drums), not pictured: Sean Sullivan (engineer), John Mason (videographer).

It is a little scary to move so quickly on a song. Especially one with controversial subject matter. But the overwhelming positive feedback we got on the TikTok and IG videos really cemented the need to get this one out as fast as possible. We are so thankful to folks who gave us some constructive feedback too. We opted to change the line about “flipping all the tables” after learning that it has an antisemitic connotation/history in lefty politics, and isn’t a good example of greed. Here’s the video about that that a follower tagged me in: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR79GMWH

The other change we made was to be a little more inclusive in the verse about Jesus being a trans kid. We opted to personalize “your daughter or son” and use the pronoun “they” for the next line, to try and encompass both trans and nonbinary identities (which can intersect).

Here’s where the lyrics ended up as of recording day:

We also had a lot of interest in the comments from folks wanting to sing this in their own churches or LGBTQIA+ youth groups, which meant a clean version might be in order, for anyone who might not feel as okay as us using the W and Q words. So, here’s what we came up with as a modification:

Jesus was a drag queen / Hanging out with your worst fears

We are currently trying to finish up the track by getting some guest artists to sing verses. The bigger they are, the busier they are though, so it may take a couple weeks. Right now we are shooting for late April to early May. Watch this space for a release date, and when you see it please pre-save the song. It helps it a ton in the Spotify algorithm.

Lastly, if you’d like to help us offset the recording costs we fronted, you can throw a little cash in the tip jar to help. So far we have raised about half of the session cost, so THANK YOU SO MUCH, everyone!

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