Meet SIXFOOT 5, the Queer Music Producer Behind All Your Favorite Drag Queens' New Songs
Darek Warren
When SIXFOOT 5's friend took him to see drag queen Lagoona Bloo perform in 2018, the music producer had no idea that night would be life-changing.
After thinking "that is somebody I'd kill to produce for," the New York-based artist would later pitch a collaboration with Lagoona that set off his career trajectory. SIXFOOT 5 (real name Carson Rammelt) has gone on to create music with some of the biggest stars of RuPaul's Drag Race, including Alaska, The Rosé, Nicky Doll, Jan Sport and Peppermint.
Speaking exclusively with PEOPLE, the producer said he "clicked immediately" with Lagoona when she played him a demo for a song called "Greedy with My Love" in 2020, and it was a moment that needed to be seized.
"I said, Let me do this. If you hate it, forget all about it, it's on me.'' Well... she loved it. And that began our journey together as producer and artist," SIXFOOT 5 tells PEOPLE. Then Lagoona played the finished song to Rosé, who wanted to work with him as well.
They would go on to record Christmas Dolls, the EP by Stephanie's Child (a supergroup made up of Rosé, Lagoona and Jan). Then, SIXFOOT 5 says, "word just sort of spread like wildfire" and he was making music with a bigger talent pool. "I was working with multiple artists, ranging from Broadway stars, Michael Mott, Ciara Renee, Blaine Krauss, to American Idol icon Pia Toscano."
Darek Warren
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The 27-year-old producer tells PEOPLE that working with iconic drag queens was "literally the best." "Their knowledge of music is encyclopedic, and they're just fun to be around. It's fun to have them over in my studio."
The Chicago-raised artist says one particularly fond memory was when Alaska came to record "Gay Hands Up" with him. "I've loved her for so long and then there she was right in front of me at the mic. It was surreal. She had peanuts with her, because she had been running around all day — she's a hustler. We'd take a break, we'd talk, and then she'd get back up and give an iconic vocal performance," SIXFOOT 5 says.
"I've always said music is the fashion of sound," the producer says, adding his job is to "manipulate those frequencies and sounds and turn them into something beautiful, and thought-provoking — like a fashion designer and their fabrics, I want the listener and the artist to feel something when they listen to the record."
Albert Sanchez Alaska
He describes his music as needing to sound "grand, luxurious and stylish." The producer says he loves everything from "sweeping Abel Korzeniowski-esque strings, to heavy Sophie-like glitch and hyper pop drums, to vintage and contemporary synthesizers."
"As somebody who from a young age, has always felt an irreparable loneliness in the world, music has been my one and only constant companion, Love, acceptance and expression in 88 ivory keys. Men have come and gone, friendships have faded as they do, but music, she's never let me down. She never leaves my head," he muses.
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And while music remains a constant, there have been considerable challenges when it comes to discrimination SIXFOOT 5 has faced in the industry.
"I remember when I was recording my debut EP in 2017, one of the engineers came into the booth and said, 'Maybe, do you want to change the lyrics from 'boy' to maybe girl?' and I said, 'No, that's not what I wrote,'" the producer says, adding it's an issue many others face.
"I have artists — who wish to remain anonymous — who have experienced similar situations as well, as far as a producer telling an artist 'if [he] comes out of the closet, [he'll] never make it' and to 'stay in.'"
Darek Warren
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"As a community, fighting for our place isn't an unfamiliar battle. So we'll keep fighting. Loud, with fantastic music, and we won't stop until we're heard," SIXFOOT 5 tells PEOPLE.
As for what's next from the creative mind of SIXFOOT 5, there are plenty of projects coming up. He tells PEOPLE: "I'm back in my home studio working with Nicky, and The Rosé, on some really interesting and bar-raising work. I've got a single coming out with Corey Cruppi, New York City's underground Pop Star Bentley Robbles, a new artist GIUSSEPPE, and Jacob Covert."
"There's some really fantastic queer music coming this year," he says.
