We’d be living in a different world today if Big Freedia ’s life hadn’t taken the turn that it did. Back in the ’90s, when the Queen Diva of bounce music was still in high school in New Orleans, church was her life. Not only did she spend Sundays at Pressing Onward Baptist for service and Bible study, but she went on Saturdays for choir practice and Friday nights for musicals.

“Growing up in the hood, it helped me to survive,” she tells KQED during a video call, as makeup artists’ hands flit around her cheekbones.

Big Freedia had dreams of becoming a choir director, but found another calling when a high-energy, booty-shaking new sound began to explode out of her neighborhood. In the 25 years since, Freedia has brought bounce from New Orleans’ underground queer scene to the mainstream.

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