20 years on, still glitter and guts.

Scissor Sisters have spent the past 20 years blending glam rock into pop disco. When tracing down their hits from “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’” to “Let’s Have A Kiki,” their DNA can really be felt on their eponymous debut album, now celebrating its 20th anniversary. Scissor Sisters, originally released in 2004, was the UK’s best selling album of that year and the new edition features seven brand new tracks. These songs are a callback to the original album’s catchy, genre-fusing, subversive tunes, ready for a night out or in. 

“Magnifique” is a club-thumping anthem that could have soundtracked any underground drag revue in the early 2000s. Its pounding beat, strutting bassline and gleefully faux-French over-the-top delivery captures the fearless spirit that Scissor Sisters have always championed. What’s striking about “Magnifique” is how clearly it telegraphs the campy elements that define “Let’s Have A Kiki” and disco euphoria of “Only the Horses.” With lyrics like “every shake, every twist, with his hips,” there is a knowing wink to queer tradition and liberation. As always, Jake Shears is not afraid of sounding strange, utilizing his entire range to elicit the intensity of the club. He teeters between shouting and singing in an almost womanly-fasletto, amongst lyrical content that is more a mash of vowels than a coherent sentence. “Magnifique” is a perfect example of not taking something too seriously, and allowing joy to come first in art. 

With their best electro-funk on, “Backwards Discotheque Pt. II” is more than what sounds like a Prince tribute. Stream-of-consciousness lyrics paired with an intensely nasal tone in a backdrop of stabbing synths and drums paint a freaky picture, promising you to “get wet right quick at the discotheque.” It is a defiant declaration of queer pleasure. Like the band’s earlier work, this track leans into hedonism not as an escape, but as a kind of resistance. In a world that often seeks to police bodies and identities, Scissor Sisters have always given their listeners permission to dance, touch, flaunt and feel.

The 20th anniversary edition of Scissor Sisters is a reminder of what pop can be when it refuses to conform. These new tracks have reignited the band’s mission to create music that is unapologetically joyful, radically inclusive and rooted in queer expression. In a musical landscape still catching up to the flamboyant freedom they embodied two decades ago, Scissor Sisters remain ahead of their time. Their debut gave permission to be loud, weird, soft, sexy and everything in between—and this re-release proves they’re still giving all their glittering glory.