PHOTOS: KEVIN AVIANCE CELEBRATES HIPPOPOTAMUS! DELUXE + CLUB HIPPOPOTAMUS! WITH THE DOLLS IN NYC RELEASE PARTY
Dance music pioneer and queer nightlife icon Kevin Aviance celebrated his latest chapter in collaboration with Paul’s Dolls, in partnership with QCare+.
NEW YORK, NY — TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2026 — Billboard chart-topping dance music pioneer, nightlife icon and cultural trailblazer Kevin Aviance celebrated the release of HIPPOPOTAMUS! DELUXE EDITION and CLUB HIPPOPOTAMUS! with an official New York release party held in conjunction with Paul’s Dolls at Paul’s Casablanca.
Presented in partnership with Q Care Plus — an online PrEP and doxyPEP provider — the celebration brought together friends, collaborators and members of New York’s queer nightlife and creative communities for an evening rooted in the culture that has shaped Aviance’s career for more than three decades.
Paul’s Dolls is a long-running downtown nightlife party created by nightlife personality Linux and known as a gathering point for New York’s queer, trans, fashion and nightlife communities.
HIPPOPOTAMUS! DELUXE EDITION, released August 14 via Chervana Music, expands Aviance’s deeply personal 2025 album with five new tracks and continues a body of work spanning music, nightlife, community, survival, self-love and reinvention.
The celebration also marked the release of CLUB HIPPOPOTAMUS!, Aviance’s continuous DJ mix built entirely from the world of HIPPOPOTAMUS! and its Deluxe edition. With zero breaks, the mix reimagines the project as one uninterrupted club experience and a love letter to the dance floor.
PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT ARE AVAILABLE FOR EDITORIAL USE | Credit: Austin Ruffer
HIPPOPOTAMUS! DELUXE EDITION and CLUB HIPPOPOTAMUS! are streaming now.
ABOUT KEVIN AVIANCE
Billboard chart-topping dance music pioneer, nightlife icon and cultural trailblazer Kevin Aviance has helped shape queer culture and dance music for more than three decades. A member of the legendary House of Aviance, he became a defining presence in New York nightlife and built an enduring catalog of club anthems including “Cunty (The Feeling),” “Din Da Da,” “Rhythm Is My Bitch,” “Alive” and “Give It Up.” His influence reached a new generation when Beyoncé sampled Aviance’s voice on “PURE/HONEY” from her Grammy-winning album RENAISSANCE. HIPPOPOTAMUS! marked Aviance’s first full-length solo album in more than two decades and a new chapter in a career built on fearless self-expression, survival and liberation.
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