The OG RuPaul's Drag Race winner Bebe Zahara Benet serves an Afrobeats bop, with "Banjo"

RuPaul's Drag Race's first ever winner Bebe Zahara Benet has released a new song, and I'm surprised, because it's a damn good song. And not in the contextual sense like "Read U wrote U" or "Sissy That Walk". But as a stand alone 'I would play this generally' good ass song.

I'm usually a little sceptical of music releases from drag queens, because very rarely are they actually any good. And ever since RuPaul's Drag Race took off, music releases have often coincided with an elimination, which I'm not mad at. Timing is everything. But it just seems more like a chance to cash in as opposed to offer something that's genuinely good musically. Bebe herself is no different and falls into this category, but she's managed to deliver something really good here.

Very often drag queen's songs are usually inspired by House or whatever is popular in the 'Bummm-Tssst, Bummm-Tssst' gay clubs. But with Bebe being all the way in her African bag with Nubia, her show consisting exclusively of a cast of Black queens from the Drag Race alumni, we got an Afrobeats bop like "Banjo". This is far more on brand for Bebe and helps set her apart, because not every queen could get away with doing a song like this.

And as has also become a bit of a trend with drag queens releasing songs these days, we get a music video that looks like it had a budget and some good creative direction. Bebe looked great and showed that she can turn looks, but also be humorous and playful too - the latter of which aren't things most would probably associate with Bebe.

Bebe Zahara Benet has an EP on the way titled Broken English. As much as I like "Banjo", I'm not expecting this EP to be anything special, but I'd like to be wrong.