The artist formerly known as Christine and the Queens is now officially going by Rahim Redcar and has shifted his sound somewhat for a disco-trance feel on his new single, “Deep Holes.” The song has a thumping, four-on-the-floor beat and propulsive synths that drive her as he sings, “My heart is so open wide, oh, I can be that guy,” winning over a lover’s heart. In the video, he wears a red leisure suit and pulls off some impressive dance moves in a forest.
The song features on Redcar’s new album, Hopecore, due out Sept. 27. The artist wrote, produced, and mixed the album himself. “Hopecore was made with tears, blood, and mostly an unwavering faith in the raw, pure expression of the soul,” he said in a statement. “Music took here its full prophetic vastness, got wilder, and called for an absolute quest where no one else came in to tamper with intentions. A call of the flesh, a prayer for justice and freedom.” He intends to perform the album in full on a string of club dates, which will be announced in the future.
Redcar recently performed “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien,” the song that Edith Piaf made famous, and Patrick Hernandez’s “Born to Be Alive” during the Paralympics Opening Ceremony in Paris last month. He strutted onstage in his red leisure suit and sang the song, which featured a dance beat, atop a grand piano pushed by dancers.
Hopecore follows up the artist’s staggering three-act pop opera Paranoïa, Angels, True Love album and its preamble Redcar Les Adorables Étoiles (Prologue), which is when he first started using the Redcar name.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last year, Redcar, who is trans, said that embracing his gender has helped his singing. “My range has drastically expanded,” he said. “It’s more open. When I was young, I was very meticulous about my singing, very terrified of pushing my voice. I was unhappy, and it was just an expression of my tension. Now I’m just going high, low, and strong, and it’s a galloping horse. It feels good to sing, being yourself.”
Hopecore track list:
1. “Forgive 8888888”
2. “Elevate”
3. “Ins8de of Me”
4. “Deep Holes”
5. “Red Birdman Emergency”
6. “Opera – I Understand”
7. “Manuela Danse”