Red Hot Announces TRAИƧA Compilation

Today, Red Hot has announced a forthcoming compilation called TRAИƧA, which is billed as a “spiritual journey” celebrating trans people and trans voices. At over 3 1/2 hours of music, the comp is one of the most ambitious Red Hot projects yet—spanning eight chapters (a mirror of the original eight-stripe pride flag) and 46 songs. The album’s production began in 2021 and features over 100 artists, including Sade, Sam Smith, Hunter Schafer, Julien Baker, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, claire rousay, Clairo, Pharoah Sanders, Adrianne Lenker, André 3000 and many, many more.

The announcement arrives with a lead single, Wendy & Lisa of The Revolution covering Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” alongside London singer Lauren Auder. “As most of us are, or will one day become, I am a huge Prince fan,” Auder says. “I listened to him exclusively for a whole year aged 13, his songs and his flare have become part of my musical DNA. When it came to covering songs I knew I wanted to challenge myself and take on one of his. The lyrics to ‘I Would Die 4 U’ feel so potent and open-ended, up for interpretation, but an unconditional message of holding and support shines through. Getting Wendy and Lisa who sang on the original to accompany me through this version has been one of the proudest moments in my musical career and am so glad to be sharing this via Red Hot.”

“It’s hard to impress us with a cover of a Prince song, especially a personal favorite of ours like, “I Would Die 4 U”, but Lauren’s voice and vibey sensibilities spoke to us,” Wendy & Lisa share. “We were happy to lend whatever we could to the project and to Lauren to make the song something special. We’d venture to say that Prince might’ve enjoyed some of the innovation of this version of the song.”

Together, Dust Reid and Massima Bell led production on TRAИƧA, having met at a video shoot in New York and immediately bonding over a shared love for Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s music. When SOPHIE passed away in January 2021, the producers locked into focus on TRAИƧA. “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts,” Reid says. “We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.”

“The stakes have never been higher,” notes Bell. “We’re seeing a rise in anti-trans hate and vitriol that is particularly being spewed in the United States. I am a trans person from Iowa, one of the states that signed into law a bill that prohibits access to gender-affirming care. It is clearly, materially, a terrifying time.”

TRAИƧA will release on November 22. Listen to “I Would Die 4 U” and check out the album artwork and tracklist below.

TRAИƧA Artwork:

TRAИƧA Tracklist:
Chapter I – Womb of the Soul
Midnight Moon Pool (Mary Lattimore, Laraaji, MIZU, Jamal Shakeri)
You Don’t Know Me (Devendra Banhart, Blake Mills, Beverly Glenn-Copeland)
How Sweet I Roamed (Jeff Tweedy, claire rousay)
Same Train (Heart Shaped, Christian Lee Hutson)

Chapter II – Survival
STAR (Survival) (Ana Roxanne, Nsámbu Za Suékama)
Please Tell Me (Lightning Bug)
Make ’em Laugh (Benét, Faye Webster)
Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying (Julien Baker, Calvin Lauber, SOAK, Quinn Christopherson)
Rumblin’ (Soft Rōnin, Frankie Cosmos)
Deeper Understanding (Hand Habits, Bill Callahan)

Chapter III – Dark Knight
Under the Shadow of Another Moon (Hunter Schafer, Cole Pulice)
Blush (Grouper, Lucy Liyou)
Is It Cold in the Water? (Moses Sumney)
Know Who You Are at Every Age (Anajah, Gary Gunn)
Is It Over Now? (Niecy Blues, Joy Guidry)

Chapter IV – Awakening
16 Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand But I’m Happy To Stand For The Understanding (André 3000)
Come Back Different (Nina Keith, Julie Byrne, Taryn Blake Miller)
Song to the Siren (Rachika Nayar, Julianna Barwick, Cassandra Croft)
Love Hymn (Arthur Baker, Pharoah Sanders
People Are Small / Rapture (L’Rain, Voices from the NYC Trans Oral History Project)

Chapter V – Grief
We’ve Been Through So Much (Jlin, Moor Mother)
My Name (Kara Jackson, Ahya Simone, Dave Longstreth)
Point of Disgust (Perfume Genius, Alan Sparhawk (Low))
In Another Life (Lomelda, More Eaze)
Pink Ponies (Teddy Geiger, Yaeji)
A Survivor’s Guilt (Yaya Bey)

Chapter VI – Acceptance
Just Last Night (Helado Negro, Eileen Myles)
Feel So Different (Ezra Furman, Sharon Van Etten)
Mourning Dove (Gia Margaret)
Feel Better (Adrianne Lenker)
Any Other Way (Allison Russell, Ahya Simone)
Down Where The Valleys Are Low (Asher White, Eli Winter, Caroline Rose)
TM (Fleet Foxes, Cole Pulice, Lynn Avery)
Querube (AV María, SKY, Belina Rose)

Chapter VII – Liberation
Within Without (Green-House, Kelela)
Aaron (Cassandra Jenkins, Bloomsday, Babehoven)
Young Lion (Sade Adu)
You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) (Moses Sumney, Lyra Pramuk, Sam Smith)
Many Ways (CLARITY, Clairo)
I Feel Free (Sparkle Division, Pepper MaShay)

Chapter VIII – Reinvention
Get Free (Nico Georis, KB Brookins)
Wolf Like Me (Bartees Strange, Anjimile, Kara Jackson)
Surrender Your Gender (Laura Jane Grace, Lee Ranaldo, Jayne County, Kathi Wilcox, Jay Dee Daugherty, Am Taylor)
I Would Die 4 U (Lauren Auder, Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution)
Always (Time Warp, Elizabeth, Beverly Glenn-Copeland)
Ever New (Sam Smith, Beverly Glenn-Copeland)