PHOTOGRAPHY Dana Trippe
“Gold Star Baby was just this big, shiny, sexy, confident record we’d made,” Cristal Ramirez grins, “and as soon as we wrote that song, we just knew – that’s the title. No overthinking.”
The Aces are no strangers to reinvention. Over the past decade, the Utah-born quartet – sisters Cristal (lead vocals, guitar) and Alisa Ramirez (drums), Katie Henderson (guitar/production), and McKenna Petty (bass) – have moved from small-town basement jams to 250 million streams, world tours, and cult-like devotion from fans. Their last album, I’ve Loved You For So Long (2023), was a deeply personal scrapbook: growing up together, religious trauma, closeted love. But with Gold Star Baby, the mood has flipped entirely.
Now, they’re serving disco-tinged, euphoric, and unapologetically queer pop – self-produced, self-assured, and sparkling with the kind of confidence that comes from knowing exactly who you are. The record bursts with effervescent energy, blending glittering disco grooves with vibrant alt-pop sensibilities, balancing polished production with an organic, fun-loving spirit.
From late-night sessions in a tiny LA apartment to leaning into their Latina roots, the group share the inspirations behind their latest album, Gold Star Baby.
Born on the dance floor
For sisters Cristal and Alisa, The Aces didn’t just stumble onto disco – they were raised on it. “Our parents were always listening to disco,” Cristal explains, citing Michael Jackson, The Commodores, and Earth, Wind & Fire as formative influences. Those hooks and basslines seeped into the band’s DNA, shaping the melodies they’d later write.
While disco has always shimmered in the background of their earlier work, drummer Alisa pushed for this record to lean all the way in. “I think our next record needs to be really fun, really dancey,” she told the band after touring their more introspective third album. That decision unlocked a new energy – not just in the music, but in the band themselves. “I wasn’t sure at first,” Cristal admits, “but I’m so glad I trusted her. It’s brought out this side of us as performers where I think we’re at our best.”
Alisa traces the album’s groove-heavy DNA back to a single spark: “We wrote ‘Twin Flame’ first, and that sent us down the rabbit hole of rediscovering our disco and pop roots.” While their last record leaned more alternative, this time the beats were built for the club. “Every day we went to Katie’s house and wrote something, whether we got something we loved or hated or nothing at all. We just showed up every day and tried to write something together.”
Disco has brought out this side of us as performers where I think we’re at our best.
More than just a “gold star”
Some bands agonise over album titles, but this was not the case for The Aces’ fourth turn. “Our titles kind of come to us like in a dream,” Cristal laughs. After writing Gold Star Baby with producer Chris Lyon, the phrase stuck immediately.
The title’s meaning is layered: a nod to queer identity and “gold star lesbians”, a playful “you deserve a gold star” compliment, and a phrase with enough wit and sparkle to match the album’s sound. Alisa felt it captured the whole mood: forward, confident, cheeky. “It was so easy to envision building a world around Gold Star Baby,” she says. Within days, the name had gone from lyric to blueprint for the band’s in-house disco fantasy.
That fantasy took shape most vividly in the track, ‘Welcome to the Gold Star’. The band imagined “The Gold Star” as a glamorous yet slightly rough-around-the-edges disco dive bar, the kind of place where The Aces would be the resident band every night – just like in the ’70s heyday of disco clubs. “We pictured it like walking through the doors and there’s this whole glittering world, the crowd’s buzzing, the drinks are flowing, and we’re on stage just going for it,” Cristal says. That mental image gave the album’s world its neon heartbeat and ensured every song felt like it could live on that fictional dancefloor.
No sad bangers allowed
Where I’ve Loved You For So Long dove deep into vulnerability, Gold Star Baby is pure liberation. “That last record was a lot more introspective,” Cristal says, “and this one’s about partying, having sex, dancing. It’s lighthearted and unserious, in the best way.”
The contrast isn’t accidental. Making the album coincided with personal upheaval – including the LA wildfires, frequent relocation, and unexpected life changes – but the studio became their sanctuary. “We didn’t want to go into hardship,” Cristal explains. “We wanted to feel better, even just for three minutes.” That joy, rooted in queer identity and friendship, pulses through the record.
Cristal reflects that the shift in tone wasn’t just artistic; it was survival. Rather than dwell in hardship, the band embraced joy as resistance. “Where we shine the most is when we make music to feel better,” she says. “Gold Star Baby was us chasing that feeling again – of escape, of forgetting what’s going on, even for a few minutes.”
Where we shine the most is when we make music to feel better. Gold Star Baby was us chasing that feeling again – of escape, of forgetting what’s going on, even for a few minutes.
Making their own magic
For the first time, The Aces produced much of the album themselves – half of it fully in-house, with guitarist Katie Henderson stepping into the producer’s role. Katie recalls, “I was so nervous because we were working with [songwriter] Simon Wilcox, who’s on that song as well, and that was the first time I’d been the producer in a room with a big writer. I felt a lot of trust was placed in me from the girls, so I was really nervous, but we ended up having such a great day.” She adds that listening to the demo later in her car was a powerful moment: “I remember listening to the first demo, and being like, holy shit – it actually sounds good.”
Having parted ways with their label, Red Bull Records, shortly after the release of their latest album, the group embarked on a new adventure to become independent artists. This newfound autonomy gave them the creative space to take risks and fully own their sound. “Being independent meant we weren’t answering to anyone else,” Alisa explains. “It just felt like this,” – she gestures to her bandmates – “is ours.”
Leaving behind the typical male-dominated studio environments also shaped their approach this time around. “There was a different energy,” McKenna says, “and because of that, we got really unique stuff.” Without the usual pressures, the band could explore sounds and ideas in a way that felt more authentic.
Caring less & creating more
By album four, The Aces have learned to trust themselves – and each other. “I care a little less, in the healthiest way,” Cristal says. That ease of decision-making came from a decade of working together. “Our band’s gotten so harmonious over these past ten years of knowing who we are as individuals and as a group,” she adds. By this point, each member trusts the others to bring their best without micromanaging. Alisa points out that their creative process this time had fewer “think tank” debates and more instinctive choices.
That clarity carried into the visuals, shot by renowned photographer Dana Trippe. The result is vibrant, high-camp, and deliberately on-the-nose, as Cristal lies across a rainbow-tiled dance floor while the rest of the band prepares to play. “We wanted it to be stupidly obvious about the world we were making,” she says. “So when you come to the shows, you know exactly what it looks like, exactly what it feels like.”
The Aces new album Gold Star Baby is out now.
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