Drag Race icon Gottmik stars in powerful all-trans masc music video that will absolutely have you in tears
Drag Race icon Gottmik stars in Ezra Michel’s new “Girl Baby” music video alongside an all-trans male cast that includes model Laith Ashley. (YouTube/Ezra Michel Music)
Drag Race superstar icon Gottmik stars in an all-trans masc cast for for a music video celebrating a world where coming out as trans isn’t an “earth-shattering experience”.
Ezra Michel’s new video for his song “Girl Baby” debuted Monday (14 June).
In the music video, Gottmik and trans model Laith Ashley play parents to a baby version of Michel. The Drag Race icon is seen as a mother fawning over a newborn, both of them dressed in pink – a grand departure from her usual striking monochromatic makeup and bold clothing.
She interacts with the baby who is, as Michel sings, “swaddled in pink instead of yellow”. When the child can speak, the singer-songwriter sings that the “baby said baby’s just a baby, not really a boy and really not a girl”.
Ashley portrays the baby’s other parent, with he and the child surrounded by blue tones and traditionally masculine toys like a robot and a football.
At the end of the video, Ashley and Gottmik both share in the joy that their child is living their truth and being “what makes you happy”.
The music video was directed by Drag Race season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen, marking his first time behind the lens.
Michel said in a press release that the intention for the music video was to “imagine a world where coming out as non-binary or trans is not an earth-shattering event or something to fear”. The singer also shared his joy on social media, posting a picture of himself alongside Gottmik and Ashley.
“Just three trans dudes hanging out,” Michel wrote on Instagram.
He continued: “Hopefully in the next coming years we won’t be so starved for trans masculine centered content but right now this still feels revolutionary.”
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Ashley said he “teared up” when Michel “told me I would be playing his dad”. He added it was “genius to have two trans men play his parents”, and he loved “how the video depicted the trans masculine experience”.
And Gottmik shared that it felt wonderful to be “part of a project with so much trans masc representation” because she “didn’t have anything like this to watch when I was younger”.
