Actress Laverne Cox is showing off her vocal and dance talents in her debut song and music video.
The Orange is the New Black star released Grace Jones-esque dance track Beat for the Gods and an accompanying video, in which she portrays a futuristic boxer and opera singer, over the weekend (24Feb18).
She previously insisted she has no desire to release an album, but wanted the track to become a "celebration of queer culture and LGBTQ club culture (for) the kids who vogue, the kids who drag, the nightclub scene."
"Beat for the Gods happened because one day my makeup artist Deja... did my makeup for an event and I looked in the mirror and said, 'Girl, I'm beat for the gods'," she tells Out.com. "I was living for myself. I was having a moment... I was beat for the gods. And, as a joke, I said, 'Deja, that would be a cute song for the kids, Beat for the Gods.' It was a joke..."
However, Cox is thrilled she could create the song for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) community.
"We wanted to premiere it on Out (website) because it's for the LGBTQ community and that culture," she says. "It's about makeup but it's about living for yourself, whether you're wearing makeup or not.
"I was on (actress/singer) Alex Newell's Instagram the other day, and Alex was like, 'You know, I have a confession: I'm gorgeous'. That's what this song is about, feeling gorgeous no matter what, and owning yourself."
It has been a great month for the Orange Is the New Black star - she made history as the first-ever transgender star to feature on the cover of a Cosmopolitan magazine. The 45-year-old actress donned a one-shouldered bodysuit to cover the Valentine's Day issue of Cosmopolitan South Africa.
