The quirky anime-inspired queen of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12, Rock M. Sakura, is here to save the world in her new web series, Rock M. Sakura Sexy Superhero Sickening Spectacular.
The show, which airs on WOW Presents Plus, takes viewers to Rock’s hometown of San Francisco, and into the chaotic life of her family of crime-fighting superheroes. One little problem…Rock has yet to discover if she has any powers.
In each episode, viewers will join Rock on a comical journey, as she tries to discover her superpowers.
In addition to the new series, Rock has a fabulous YouTube channel, packed with makeup tutorials, mukbangs, Q&As, and lots of fun. We chatted with this super queen about the new series, her inspiration, and she reveals a lot, including what superpower she’d love to have and which Drag Race queen she would love to makeover, Rock M.-style. Learn more about this queen who may not have made it far on the Drag Race runway but is a true All-Star!
Socialite Life: So sorry about the computer issues!
Rock M. Sakura: It's all good girl. We've all had those new nightmares. I went live the other day and I couldn't get my cameras to work, so the audience just bullied me for five minutes.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
No, I love it. That really gives me fuel.
Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today.
I'm very excited that you guys want to talk about this and my show and everything because, one, I worked really hard on it, but two, I didn't think it would be getting the buzz that it is right now.
I watched the first episode and it's fantastic.
It’s dumb, right?
It's hilarious. It's wonderful. It's what the world needs now.
(Laughs) It’s definitely quarantine filming for sure.
Right. But it doesn't look like it. It looks great. So, what inspired you to create the series?
I wanted to create something that was a little bit different for WOW Presents and I also wanted to create a show that really just highlighted how dumb I am as a character and as a performer, because I wrote all of the episodes. I wanted something that was like an amalgamation of who I am as a person put on the screen.
What was the experience like working on your own series?
[It was] definitely different being the producer and being in charge of costumes and everything too. It definitely makes you feel like there's a little bit more high stakes when your product is finally finished, because you put all of this love and effort into it. It's kind of like when you raise children for 18 years and then you're like, “Please, don't be an asshole when you grow up.” (Laughs)
How many episodes are in the series so far?
So, this first season was kind of like a pilot season, so it's about six episodes right now. If we get green lit, I'm hoping for 12 more. So, there's only six, but. It took a while to film. We filmed it from July to…I think we just wrapped up like last month. It was a lot. And you'll see my makeup change and you'll see my weight gain.
Did you gain the “COVID 19” like the rest of us?
Not even 19, like full 30. I remember getting onto camera and I was like, “Is this a fish angle lens?” (Laughs)
I know that your character is based in anime and becoming a superhero seemed like a natural extension of your brand. Who are your favorite superheroes?
Hmm…if if I had to really think about it, I love She-Hulk. She’s basically the cousin of the Hulk, but she's also a lawyer and she's green, but she's also a supermodel. So, like there's a real power in that. I love Batman, because I love men with money who punch things. I think that's really cool. And I also really like Thor, because we all love a good “himbo”.
I know that the series is about you trying to find your superpower, but in real life, if you could have a superpower, what would you want it to be?
That is such a good question. Oh my God. See, this is hard. I was going to say if I could transform into drag or makeup just instantaneously, but I think the best thing for me, because – I don't know about you, but I am terrible with time management. I woke up five minutes ago and you have no idea. (Laughs) But since I’m terrible with time management, I would want to be able to stop time. For sure. Then, I could spend 30 minutes on tucking my junk, giving it the real attention that it deserves and needs. I would just put on lights and candles and then put on some classical music and then just tape it like a lady, you know?
Exactly. I love it. Did you discover anything surprising about yourself while you were working on the series?
Yeah. I just discovered that I'm really bad at acting. (Laughs) One thing that I really discovered about myself is that I have the potential to write a show, which is one of those things where if you think about movies and film, it's always so daunting to think that you could either be a writer or producer for these shows.
One thing that I really learned from this experience was how to collaborate with other people, to create a product that is scripted. And, also too, with this whole thing, I grew up with YouTube. I've been on YouTube since the first year it was there, and I really grew up with YouTube sketch comedy. And I wanted to be able to create like a sketch comedy show that was on YouTube circa 2005, 2006, like really old YouTube – and I learned that it wasn't that hard.
We talked about the potential of a second season. Where do you want your character to go from here from the original series?
Only downward. I definitely would love a downward trajectory for superhero Rock because the character that I'm really trying to portray in the series is vapid and I feel like the Rock that I portray on the show is what people think that drag queens on Drag Race think they are, like, they only care about social media numbers. They only care about how they look. They only care about what the other queens on the show are doing and how do you get noticed and stuff. So, I would love to see their career just spiral and tank. And then eventually, maybe a super villain story.
You mentioned YouTube and I watch your tutorials and you've done a lot where you recreate other queen’s looks – I saw your one where you did a Gigi Goode look recently. Who would you want to give a Rock M Sakura makeover to?
Oh, I would have to makeover someone that's like completely different from Rock style, just like completely, utterly different. So, RuPaul. RuPaul. I'm not able to get within like five feet of her, not even 30 feet. So, it would be weird to like, hold a giant stick that's tied to a brush and just be working on her face. But if I had to pick a queen, maybe I would pick Violet Chachki, because I would love for her to just tear into me while we're doing makeup and just makes me feel like garbage.
What else do you think the future holds for you – or what would you like to happen?
Beyond the show? I would love to start doing work in actual television as an actor, maybe a stand in for a table or, you know, anything. As long as I'm there – maybe working the craft food services or I can clean the toilets at Universal!
Rock M. Sakura Answers the Socialite Seven
Who has been the biggest influence on you in your career so far?
Hmm, the biggest influence on me and my career so far…I think it's probably the Colonel from Kentucky Fried Chicken, mostly because he’s made at least 80% of my total BMI.
Are you an original recipe or an extra crispy?
Extra crispy. I’ve got to have that crunch every time I eat, it's just in front of an ASMR microphone. You should get the full experience. Getting extra crispy is very much like Dolby surround sound in your mouth.
What type of music or an artist that you listen to frequently, do you think your fans would be surprised to know that you're a fan of?
The thing is a lot of people know, I like J-pop, they know, I like K-pop. A lot of people might be surprised that I listen to country music. I really love Patsy Cline. Right now, I really love Orville Peck. I don't choose a lot of the country specifically by the artists, but I'll listen to good country songs, mostly from TikTok! Also, I don't tell people about the country thing, because I already look like Trixie Mattel and if I tell people that I listen to country, they're going to say I am her.
What is your dream lip-sync song?
I love to do the song from Education Connection – that one commercial one that goes “get connected for free with education connection”!
What talent would you like to wake up with tomorrow?
Oh my God. Oh, come on in with all the good questions. Okay. If I could wake up tomorrow and have any talent in the world, it would be, I would love to just get this. It's no different. Um, if I can have any talent, um, tomorrow it would probably be the ability to really just move people with singing or just amazing singing talent. Cause I'm like here and everyone else is here.
What are three things that you can't live without?
Three things I can't live without are, I would say, um, the internet, black eyeliner and, um, mental illness. (Laughs)
What is the weirdest question you've ever been asked?
I had a guy once at a show…I had just finished performing. I was doing dips and I was doing jump splits and everything. And this guy came up to me at the very end of the show. He looks me up and down and then he grabs my ankle and says, “Is this real?”, like my leg was fake! He literally grabbed my leg and asked if it was fake. I think that was probably the weirdest question because I thought I did a pretty good job dancing.
Looking back at the videos, I was a little stiff, but he didn't have to do me like that. And this is the first year that I did drag too. So there wasn't like tights or anything on it to make it like, look really, really slick there wasn't um, I didn't have like a big pair of boots on. I had like these chunky Rock boots with leg hair. There was no reason he had…other than to make me feel stiff and robotic.
What's the best piece of advice you've been given?
I'm not going to make a joke on this one, but the best piece of advice I've been given is be true to your style and what you want to create in your art in the world, no matter what it is. My drag mother gave me that advice and it's helped me persevere as an artist. I come from an area where not a lot of people get on Drag Race, not lot of people get on TV and I knew I wanted to get on to Drag Race, but I wasn't sure whether or not I should maintain my quirky anime cartoon style.
My drag mom assured me that if you work hard and you do the things that you love and you put the art that you really just want to do out there, people will recognize it. And people will celebrate you for it. And that's a mantra that I always give to the kids that are asking for advice or people that are asking to start drag is know your style, what you want to do and do it no matter what anyone says.
What are you most grateful for?
I feel like I'm most grateful for having a roof over my head. I come from a very poor family. We couldn't eat every day, so we were, like Trinity K. Bonet would say “Good Times poor.” We were pretty poor, so it's just nice to be able to use drag to have a place for myself and have a place for my art. Another thing I'm really grateful for is my big fat dump truck ass.
Check out new episodes of Rock M. Sakura Sexy Superhero Sickening Spectacular on WOW Presents Plus. Follow Rock M. Sakura on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and Twitch and support Rock with a personalized message on Cameo a tip on Venmo or some amazing merch.
