For Ginger Minj, this moment feels cosmic. After 25 years in drag, 11 years in the Drag Race spotlight, and a lifetime of performing, everything seems to be aligning at once: a major tour, her big screen debut, a place in the OUT100, and – of course – her All Stars 10 win. Her newest single, a cover of “Fabulous Baby” from Sister Act, isn’t just a cover, it’s an anthem of self-worth shaped by decades of triumph, criticism, reinvention, and joy. It’s the soundtrack of a queen embracing who she is, what she’s built, and where she’s headed next.
We had the chance to talk to Ginger about the new single, the magic of Broadway (especially Wicked), her successful Hokus Pokus Live! tour, holiday food and so much more in our exclusive interview.
I just heard “Fabulous Baby” and I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Probably better than the original.
Oh, thank you very much. I’ll tell Patina Miller.
Was that song always on your radar or did it just call to you at the right moment?
No. The song everybody goes for when they watch Sister Act, the musical, is “Raise Your Voice”, which is a great song but to me, “Fabulous Baby” is exactly what that show is about and to me, it’s one of those songs I always play. It’s on my playlist every time I’m getting into drag because it’s this person who is at the point in their life where they’re tired of trying to convince people that they are fabulous and they have what it takes to be a superstar, and they’re just owning it for themselves.
They’re not trying to convince you. They’re just trying to share with the world that they know that they are a star. And in my moments where I’m not feeling that way, that song always puts me right back in that head space.
Your version of the song feels like a perfect blend of camp confidence and your classic flair. How did you approach making the song your own while still honoring the original?
It’s like I approach everything, I’m obviously not going to sound like Patina Miller or Raven-Symoné, who was my favorite Dolores on Broadway – I loved her – or Cynthia Erivo whose first big thing was playing Dolores in the UK tour. There are some incredible videos of her singing it…but I knew I wasn’t going to be able physically to sing it the way any of the three of them did, as spectacular as it was. I just wanted to approach it with the sensibility that I have been on stage my entire life from the time I was six months old. I’ve been in drag for 25 years. I’ve been in the public eye for through Drag Race for the last 11 years and I wanted to take those experiences and make this song about my journey.
After I won All Stars 10, of course, there was a lot of people that were very happy, but there is a small, vocal sect that liked to be not so happy and let the world know. And, instead of letting that get to me – luckily I’ve been through four seasons over a decade of time, so I knew either way what to expect and when it happened, this was one of those particular songs – this and “Defying Gravity” – that made me go, oh, I’m not doing this to convince you that I am a winner or that I’m worthy or deserving. I’m doing this to convince myself and share with the world that I know I’ve put in what it takes to be a star and to have this moment and I deserve it. So, that’s where I approach this song from.
There has been a trend lately of some of the Drag Race queens going to Broadway and you’re covering a song from a Broadway show. Do you aspire to perform on the Great White Way anytime soon?
Oh, I got into drag through musical theater. It’s always been on my radar. It’s always been the ultimate goal, of course, everybody’s journey is different. All the paths lead to different places. But hopefully, just like in Wicked, the yellow brick road leads all the way to the Emerald City and I’m hoping that whatever path I’m on right now is what is taking me to Broadway.
I recently got to do some more film and television stuff. I got to tour with Hokus Pokus Live!, which was so much fun and so incredible. I got to live my rockstar and musical theater fantasy all in one show. But we are in negotiations with a couple of different Broadway productions right now. We’re just trying to see what the best fit is, because you only get to make your big Broadway debut one time and I want to make sure that it’s what it should be.
Along with your doing your stage work, you do your Golden Girls shows and because of that – and many other things – you were named to the, this year’s Out 100. How does it feel to be recognized among such an influential and diverse group of LGBTQ trailblazers?
I grew up reading Out magazine. It was one of the few outlets that I had, particularly when I was younger, to really see what was going on in the queer world and to feel like I was a part of it. I’ve seen this list come out year after year, and while I’ve been very happy for my friends that have made it on there, there was always this little part of me that I won’t say was jealous, but was just like, oh, what I wouldn’t give to do something that would make enough of an impact to be recognized for this.
And to finally have that happen at a time in my life where Drag Race finally happened for me, all of these plans that we had to do a big countrywide Hokus Pokus Live! tour came to fruition and I just starred in a movie with Jujubee that’s getting released next May called Stop That Train. I get to star in this big screen Hollywood movie.
All these things are happening at this one time and it feels cosmically within my soul that all of the work that I’ve put in over the 41 years of my life, the 25 years in drag, the 11 years in the Drag Race sphere, it feels like it’s all culminating right now in this one time and it feels like this is when it was supposed to happen for me. So, it feels extra special. It’s something that I never take for granted because I always wanted it but I never expected it. And it just feels right. It feels really nice.
I was going to ask you about Hokus Pokus Live! The tour was such a smash. What surprised you the most about the audience reactions to the tour?
It felt like a rock concert. We were doing a fully scripted musical theater production. From the time the curtain dropped and they saw us standing there to two and a half hours later, when we hit our final pose at the end of “I Put a Spell on You”, everybody lost their minds. They were screaming, they were chanting, they were stomping their feet, clapping their hands, and I have never felt that kind of energy from a room. It happened every single night. Every night. No matter what town we were in, red states, blue states, purple states, everything in between. Everybody was just so excited to be there, including us.
How has touring with such a theatrical Halloween for production shaped your relationship with your fans and with your own artistry?
It was really important for me to get right out there after winning to just remind people what I do outside of the Drag Race sphere. Of course, on Drag Race we do a little bit of everything, but my passion and my bread and butter has always been live stage work. It’s always been musical theater, so to be able to use part of my winnings and part of the publicity from winning to put it immediately into a stage production that I got to write and co-direct and produce and star in with some of my other favorite Drag Race sisters, it felt such a full circle moment.
I saw a lot of feedback online saying, “I wasn’t always the biggest fan of what Ginger did on the show, but to see her live in person, in her element, she blew me out of the water because I get it now. I totally get it.” And then of course, there’s the other side of that where people are like, “This is the Ginger I’ve been telling you about for 11 years. This is the girl that I saw before she was ever on tv, in her element and doing what she does best.” So, it was nice to just share that with people for the first time or remind them of where I came from.
You’re doing some holiday shows in San Diego. What can audiences expect from this year’s festivities?
It’s a little bit of everything. We’re going to play some games, there’s some audience participation. There are all of the holiday classics that you love. Not just Christmas. We’ve got everything sprinkled in there. Beautiful costumes. And we’re going to make it snow. We’re going to make it snow in San Diego.
What’s your favorite part of performing holiday material? Do you have a go-to tradition that you bring to the stage?
I am a holiday girl. A lot of people call Halloween “Gay Christmas”, and I love Halloween. It’s fun for me, but Halloween is my every day. I get to dress up and be whoever I want to be every day for work, so Halloween has lost a little bit of its luster – but to me I love Christmas time. I love the Hallmark movies. I love the decorations, I love the lights. I love the food so much and I love the cooler weather even here in Florida. We do get a little bit cooler for us. I get to break out the pretty sweaters and the fancy jackets and just feel that wintertime fantasy.
I love family and togetherness and I try to make that a focal point for all of the shows that I do throughout the year. But particularly like at holiday time, I want those people who don’t feel like they have another outlet for the holidays – maybe they don’t have any other family to spend it with – to come and spend it with me and my family for a couple of hours. We love you. We invite you. There’s a place for you at our table.
Now, speaking of tables and food, your cookbook, Southern Fried Sass, continues to be a hit. What is the recipe that fans tell you they’re obsessed with and what’s the one they should really be trying?
The one that everybody seems to gravitate towards from the beginning two years later now, is one that almost didn’t even make it into the book because I tried to do as many of my grandmother’s and my grandfather’s recipes as possible, but I threw in one that I had made up randomly one day and it’s my Bitchin’ Blueberry Bars. That is the runaway hit. Everybody makes those bars, they’re so easy. You can do them with so many different substitutes, so you can make this really delicious, decadent treat in so many different ways for so many dietary restrictions, and it still turns out great.
But the one that I love the most is my mom’s meatloaf recipe because it is unlike any other meatloaf you’ve ever had. My mother could burn water. She was never a great cook but the one thing she has always done well is this meatloaf and when I encourage people to make it, and they do, they reach back out and they say, “Oh my God. That’s the best meatloaf I have ever had. I didn’t even expect what the flavor would taste like.” It’s a little more decadent than your run of the mill meatloaf, so I push people towards that.
But there’s also a huge holiday section with appetizers, side dishes, main courses, gravy, and so many desserts that you can just pull your entire holiday meal from that book. I didn’t put any recipes in the book that weren’t tried and true and easy, because I wanted a book to be universal for cooks and non-cooks.
You don’t have to have a culinary degree to be a fantastic cook. You just need to know your way around your own kitchen and every recipe in there I have had made by people who would never consider themselves to be any kind of cook chef or culinary genius, and it turns out beautifully. Everything in there is pretty foolproof. It’s pretty easy and the directions are so laid out that it’s hard to get lost. And if you get lost, reach out to me. I’ll help you through it.
You juggle music, touring, writing, cooking…what is your secret to staying fabulous and still having fun?
No sleep. No sleep at all. I’ve always been a night owl. Even before I lost 200 pounds this year – and my physical health is better than it’s ever been, especially in my adult life. I have more energy – but even before that, I just was never much of a sleeper. I always feel my most creative once everybody else has gone to bed, and it’s just me and the dogs on the couch or on the back porch just listening to music and jotting down ideas.
I love a pen and paper because there’s something about how tangible and real it is, putting the pen to the paper and just letting my ideas flow. Sometimes I’ll get halfway through a notepad and there’s nothing legible on it. There are no good ideas. But then, you get into that second half and all of a sudden it’s full of wonderful things that you never would’ve thought of if you didn’t get through that first half of nothing, so I just try to let my creative mind subconsciously flow as much as possible and try to find as much inspiration in real life as possible, because if you try to be inspired by something, you’re not going to be. You’re looking too hard. If you just sit back and let life happen, most of the time it’s going to smack you right in the face.
Now one last question for you. What are you asking for Christmas this year?
I don’t know. I feel like I’ve already gotten my Christmas present because as a lifelong Oz fan, I love that Wicked has been such a global hit over the last two Christmas seasons. I don’t remember a time since the 50th anniversary release of Wizard of Oz in 1989 that there has been so much Oz everywhere, especially in the stores.
I love walking into any store and seeing a Wicked themed Swiffer or Wicked themed Tide Pods or anything like that – and I’ve bought it all because I’m like, you know what? It may be another 30 years before I ever see this again in my lifetime. I’m just happy that the world is sharing in something that has brought me so much joy and inspiration through the years, so I feel really happy and at peace.
“Fabulous Baby” is now available wherever you stream your music. Keep up with Ginger Minj on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and her official site. Get tickets to her brand-new holiday spectacular at UC San Diego’s Epstein Family Amphitheater on December 5 & 6 here.
