Madison Rose is a crafty queen. The New York City pop star knew she had something special with her steamy banger, “GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS,” but it’s nearly impossible to keep a song buzzing in what she calls today’s “goldfish” culture. “I am actively against the goldfish mindset that we’re all being trained to have when it comes to consuming art,” Rose tells PAPER. “We’re consuming art the same way we consume content and those two things are not the same.”
So Rose is here to keep us goldfish dancing by wrapping “GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS” up in a bow and leaving it for us beneath the Christmas tree. Today we are gifted the aptly titled “GIFTS GIFTS GIFTS”, a delicious Christmas-themed twin of "GIRLS" that has the sweetness and spike of an especially boozy glass of eggnog... well, with a side of poppers.
Rose gets us in the spirit via an impressive DIY video. Turning the glam up to 11, Rose prances around in fiercely latex versions of all the Christmas looks: a shimmery, sexy Christmas tree, Mrs. Claus’s disavowed cousin, a disarmingly kinky Frosty the Snow They and finally Rudolph the Red Nose Diva. “I have had to learn to make it look like there is a budget when the budget is definitely not in the room with us,” Rose shares. “ I was up all night before, putting the finishing touches on my costumes, making props (see big latex cookie) and taping gift wrap on the walls.”
Along with co-director, Alexa San Roman, photographer Eric Magnussen and best friend/fellow pop star LEXXE, Rose successfully created her queer winter wonderland fantasy. “It’s not as hard as people think to transport to another world, you just need some ingenuity and good people around you.”
A follow-up to another holiday-version of "GIRLS," the spooky “GHOULS GHOULS GHOULS,” Rose has created a series that is more than just a light ode to our seasonal festivities. “I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness as a child, so I wasn’t allowed to celebrate Christmas and later picked up the tradition when my mother and I had left the religion,” Rose says. “So Christmas means a lot to me. Holidays mean a lot to me. They represent creating joy where there wasn’t before and memories with those who are closest to you.” In Rose’s version of these classic times, they represent a special opportunity to throw it back and make the season our own.
Merry Christmas y’all! There may be coal in our stockings, but sometimes it’s good to be a little bit bad.
Photography: Eric Magnussen
