Hello, hello, hello! As you’re probably chilling on the sofa, still digesting your Thanksgiving feast, we’ve got content from the queens to keep you company while you recuperate from the holiday in this edition of The Week in Drag.
The gifts are already rolling in, with digital Christmas celebrations featuring your favorite queens, a dreamy musical collaboration between Nina West and a Disney animator and the latest from a Drag Race UK sensation. Grab some leftovers and check in with the queens.
Do you have the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent to become America’s next drag superstar? If you’re ready to hit the runway, RuPual’s Drag Race wants you. Casting for season 14 of the show is on, so submit your video and start your engines.
Christmas might be celebrated a bit differently this year, but the queens have a special gift for you. Instead of the usual holiday tour, 10 legendary queens are bringing you some seasonal cheer with the Drag Queen Christmas VOD event, a virtual adaptation of Murray & Peter Presents' annual nationwide tour.
This year, Sasha Velour, Shea Couleé, Jaida Essence Hall, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Thorgy Thor, Jackie Cox, industry icon Lady Bunny, and Dragula winner Landon Cider will take part in the festivities with performances, while Trinity The Tuck and Nina West are set to emcee the production. Drag Queen Christmas is now streaming on demand at DragFans.com.
Speaking of Lady Bunny, she has a new song out, commemorating the holidays as well as the virus that’s keeping us safe at home this season, “Santa's Spreadin' COVID Around.” This festive and funny tune is just one of many demented holiday favorites from her upcoming show “What Child Is This?”, which begins streaming on December 4th. You can get tickets for this must-see spectacular through Voss Events.
Nina West is a huge Disney fan and, lucky for us, she has teamed up with animator Dan Lund (whose many credits include Frozen, Frozen 2 and The Lion King) to create a magical musical short titled “Quarantine Dream.” Nina and Dan, who worked together previously on the moving short “Coaster”, is the perfect blend of Dan’s 30 years of animation expertise with Nina’s passion for the performing arts and musicals paired with an original song written by Mark Byers, West, Lund, and Patricia Taylor.
The video was shot entirely from home during the second week of isolation in March 2020, with Nina in Columbus, Ohio using an iPhone, and Dan Lund, directing via Zoom from California. “Quarantine Dream” pulls inspiration from Nina and Dan’s shared love for classic Disney movies, like Mary Poppins, that seamlessly combines live-action and animation to create a timeless, charming escape.
If you are looking for something for the makeup lover on your list, Trixie Mattel has something for you. This week, she launched a new Mod About You blush palette (and restocked the Summer of Love palette as well.)
I am kind of “bah, humbug” about Christmas (especially this year) and am not one to watch any holiday movies, especially sappy rom-coms. That being said, I almost want to watch Netflix’s Princess Switch: Switched Again after listening to Trixie and Katya’s take on it on their latest installment of “I Like to Watch.”
Katya and Trixie talk about being sick, calling in sick and taking care of someone sick on the latest episode of “UNHhhh.” They also discuss the terribleness of food poisoning, questionable CBD claims, anti-vaxxers and more.
Do you like to watch random strangers fall down? Do you like Willam? If the answer to both of these is “yes”, don’t miss the latest “Best of Beatdown” featuring some of the best flops and falls to be caught on camera. We all need a laugh, so I encourage you to give this a peek (and feel free to giggle as much as I did watching this.)
Willam and her Race Chaser co-host Alaska have blessed us with a two-part video extravaganza, dubbed “Wig Gets Better.” Here, they take two costume wigs from Ru’s Party City collection and “Jaymes Mansfields” them. There’s a lot going on, but I kind of like the finished product (and I always love watching these two together.)
Of course, it’s always best to leave these things to the experts, so here is Jaymes Mansfield with another of her recreations of iconic looks. This time around, she takes a blond hairpiece and transforms it into a “Doralee dream”, serving Dolly Parton from 9 to 5.
Jaymes also performs her magic on a fan-submitted wig (a surprisingly not horrible lacefront from Wish.)
Last week, Alexis Mateo released her new single, “Esta Noche.” This week, she debuted the video, which is muy caliente, and features appearances from Kahanna Montrese and Coco Montrese.
It’s always fun to listen to Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change on their podcast “Sibling Rivalry”, but this week the fun is doubled as Willam and Alaska join the conversation.
Of course, Bob talking to anyone is a gift and she and Peppermint are great together. The pair recently did a post-election live stream, and their joy is contagious.
Bob, still on her quest to become a YouTube sensation, brings us another amazing makeup tutorial. If you’ve ever wanted to recreate Bob’s signature beat, this is the video for you.
Busy queen! Bob also welcomed special guest Naomi Smalls to her YouTube channel to give her a makeover (and got her skin prepped with a very complete routine.)
Yuhua Hamasaki and Kameron Michaels get us caught up and rate the looks of the queens of season 10 on a “Where are they Now?” episode of “Bootleg Opinions.” Of course, I love these queens, but I didn’t realize how cute Dusty Ray Bottoms is out of drag. I need more of The Vixen and Monique Heart in my life.
Heidi N Closet, serving “Heidi Aphrodite” realness talks laughter on the latest “Gap Chat.” In between the truly groan-worthy Dad jokes, Heidi talks about the importance of laughter in life, relives her family BBQ sketch from season 12 and discusses her favorite comedians.
She’s not feeling very attacked this time…get to know more about season 6’s Laganja Estranja as she is the latest in the hot seat, talking to Joseph Shepherd on “Exposed.” She talks growing up in Texas, her time on Drag Race and working as a choreographer with Alyssa Edwards.
The always lovely Violet Chachki has returned, and she’s here to show you how she gets out of drag and takes care of her skin.
One of the best things to come out of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK was the Frock Destroyers. The girl group formed by Baga Chipz, Divina de Campo and Blu Hydrangea, whose debut single, “Break Up Bye Bye” hit #3 on iTunes and entered the Big UK Top 40 at #10. The trio also made ‘herstory’ by becoming the first-ever Top 10 hit in the UK charts to be performed by a drag group. The band is back together and has released a new single, “Her Majesty” and album, FROCK4LIFE, which drops December 11th via World of Wonder Records.
Baga Chipz, says: “Oh my god I'm so excited about our new album, Frock4Life, I just can't believe it. We've worked so hard and we've spent nearly a year on it all in lockdown and it's FINALLY HAPPENING. It's going to be amazing; we love all the songs and I think especially coming closer to Christmas time, we all need a bit of cheer and want to put smiles on people’s faces. The fans have been so amazing so I think now is the right time to FROCK DESTROY and we're going to take over the world! We want to thank you for all the support. Big fat Baga kiss.”
Blu Hydrangea, says: “Break Up Bye Bye and Frock Destroyers was like catching lightning in a bottle and showed the world what British drag is capable of. We want to build on that iconic moment and take over the music industry as the slaggy drag-band that we are! Baga, Davina and myself were handed a golden opportunity to frock destroy everyone with new music and you better believe this album will leave everyone despunked and begging for more!”
Divina de Campo, remarked: “I'm so excited about the album, it's a bit of a Steps going to dinner with Little Mix hosted by three drag queens. There are proper bangers with some tongue in cheek foolishness and great vocals. I cannot wait for everyone to hear it.
You can check out “Her Majesty” below and pre-order the album HERE.
2020 has delivered its share of gut punches, and one of the worst was the passing of “Hey Qween” co-host Lady Red Couture. Some of her best moments have been compiled into this lovely tribute, featuring a bunch of your favorite queens, including Honey Davenport, Latrice Royale, The Vixen, Peppermint, and more.
That’s all for this week. Hope you had a great Turkey Day and, until next week, stay safe, stay healthy and say LOVE!
