Album Notes

“I am ready for my close-up…” begins celebrated transsexual songwriter Shawna Virago’s CD Objectified. “First I better go and throw up” she continues, illustrating perfectly Virago’s bold songwriting style – one part sex, one part politics, two parts poetry.

A longtime favorite in San Francisco’s underground transgender music scene, Shawna Virago is widely celebrated as a gifted lyricist and edgy provocateur. Virago’s debut CD Objectified is a collection of 12 original songs ranging from folk-punk to acoustic glam twang, with a dash of naughty queer Americana – with exceptional lyrics that range from sexy to sarcastic, polemic to political, haunting to heartfelt.

From the rockabilly-inspired romp “Dead War Hero” to the throbbing leather anthem “Transsexual Dominatrix,” to “Objectified” a treatise on the pressure to conform to idealized concepts of female beauty, to the tender and beautiful “Million Dollar Day,” an ode to barroom love, Objectified has a raging sweetness and raw humor that seduces the listener into joining the trans/gender revolution.