State Champ Radio Pride
With summer fast-approaching, why not fill up your warm-weather playlists with new songs from your favorite queer artists? Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
From St. Vincent’s raucous new album to Anitta’s exhilarating funk-flavored new LP, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
St. Vincent, All Born Screaming
[embedded content]
To distill All Born Screaming down to one particular concept is to misinterpret it as a work of art. Throughout St. Vincent’s stunning, self-produced seventh studio album, Annie Clark flits in and out of genres, themes and ideas with ease, instead opting to create an album that is at all times changing its shape while maintaining the artistry it took to make it. Whether she’s waxing romantic via art-rock banger “Flea” or giving nihilism a disco-funk makeover on “Big Time Nothing,” St. Vincent has never been more immediately herself than on this thrilling new project.
Trending on Billboard
Anitta, Funk Generation
[embedded content]
After proving her dominance as the premiere Brazilian pop sensation, Anitta is ready to help introduce you to her culture. Funk Generation, the latest LP from the Grammy-nominated artist, is a love letter to Brazilian funk music, as she showcases a formative genre of her home for an international audience. The entire album plays as a well-crafted ode to the sounds of favelas, but “Ahi” in particular stands out, as Anitta and guest Sam Smith give audiences a crash course in how to get down.
Salute feat. Rina Sawayama, “Saving Flowers”
[embedded content]
Salute wants you to immediately fall into the sounds of summertime with their thrilling new song “Saving Flower.” An ecstatic electronic anthem featuring vocals from British pop star Rina Sawayama, “Saving Flowers” is a song that refuses to take its foot off the gas, maintaining its fervent pop sound for a blissful three and a half minutes. Pairing nicely with Sawayama’s airy voice, Salute’s new song comes just in time to become your new favorite song of the summer. c
Trixie Mattel, “Shadow” (Ashlee Simpson cover)
Drag superstar Trixie Mattel delivering a stirring acoustic rendition of a 20-year-old pop-rock track may not have been on your bingo card for 2024, but that only makes her new Spotify Single that much more interesting. Taking Ashlee Simpson’s “Shadow” and transforming it into a heartfelt ballad, Mattel flexes her crystal-clear baritone voice, adding in just enough folk-flavored twang to make the song definitively her own.
Christine and the Queens, “Rentrer Chez Moi”
[embedded content]
After experimenting with his sound, his look and his persona for the last few years, Christine and the Queens would like to come back home. On his moving new song “Rentrer Chez Moi,” Chris returns to the quiet, echoing music that defined much of his early career, singing entirely in his native French about a relationship that’s run its course. The simple-yet-elegant production (the artist produced the song himself) matches Chris’ vocal fragility on this stunning new single.
Isaac Dunbar, Beep Beep Repeat
[embedded content]
Step into Isaac Dunbar’s time machine and allow him to transport you back to the musical universe of 1970’s New York City. That’s the world Dunbar thrives in throughout his new EP Beep Beep Repeat — one populated by transient bass, four-on-the-floor drums and theatrical vocals. For six songs, Beep Beep Repeat invites you to disengage from our stark reality and simply revel in some good old-fashioned house parties (“Apartment A”), hangovers (“American High”) and heartpounding rhythms (“Photoshoot Tonight”).
Durand Bernarr, “Unknown”
[embedded content]
Durand Bernarr doesn’t have time to wait around for you to make up your mind. On “Unknown,” the latest slice of smooth R&B from the fast-rising artist, follows Bernarr as he narrates the story of a frustrating, lovesick missed connection, where two people who could have been together missed their moment. The slick, pared down production certainly gives the track a boost, but as with every other Durand Bernarr song, the true star is the singer’s unmatched vocals; Bernarr dives into his soulful baritone just as effortlessly as he flips into a sonorous falsetto, making “Unknown” the best kind of sensual vocal rollercoaster ride that you could ask for.
Trinity the Tuck feat. Jujubee, “‘Til Death Becomes Us”
[embedded content]
In the immortal (literally) words of Meryl Streep, “these are the moments that make life worth living.” With her new song “‘Til Death Becomes Us,” Drag Race star Trinity the Tuck aims for revenge in a thrilling homage to 1992’s Death Becomes Her. With fellow Drag Race alum Jujubee, the pair deliver a slick, early-2000’s dance-pop banger based solely on that deep, petty loathing you feel for that one person who just won’t get out of your life. Add in their hilarious, campy music video, and you’ve got the recipe for a winning new song from a pair of drag superstars.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
Ricky Martin will headline LA Pride in the Park, which will return to the Los Angeles State Historic Park on Saturday, June 8. This marks Martin’s first-ever headlining Pride performance. Moreover, Martin will be the first openly gay Latin artist to take center stage at the popular Pride event.
The theme for this year’s Pride season is “Power in Pride,” which celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community’s ability to live authentically.
“I am thrilled to be headlining LA Pride in the Park because it’s an incredible opportunity to celebrate love, diversity, and equality,” Martin said in a statement. “LA Pride is a testament to the power of community, the power of visibility, and the power of standing up for our rights. Being part of this vibrant community fills me with pride and purpose.”
Trending on Billboard
“With his electrifying stage presence and chart-topping hits, Ricky Martin has long been an inspiration to millions around the world,” said Gerald Garth, board president of CSW/LA Pride. “His participation in LA Pride in the Park goes beyond mere entertainment; it symbolizes a powerful affirmation of queer Latin identity and a celebration of diversity within the LGBTQ+ community. We cannot wait to be ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca’ while beaming with Pride!”
Across 20 acres and with a capacity of 25,000, LA Pride in the Park is one of the largest official Pride concerts in the country. The nonprofit Christopher Street West Association has produced the LA Pride celebration for more than 50 years. General admission and VIP passes are now available to purchase at lapride.org.
Throughout his nearly four-decade career, Martin has brought Latin music and culture to the mainstream, paving the way for an explosion of crossover talent.
Born in Puerto Rico in 1971, Martin gained fame as a member of Menudo before embarking on a highly successful solo career, which has brought him two Grammy Awards and four Latin Grammy Awards.
Martin’s 1999 smash “Livin’ La Vida Loca” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks and received Grammy nods for record and song of the year. It was also nominated for record of the year at the inaugural Latin Grammys in 2000 – a show that became a reality because of the undeniable crossover success of artists like Martin, Santana and Marc Anthony, among others.
In May 1999, Martin appeared on the cover of Time in a story headlined “Latin Music Goes Pop!” In November 2006, at age 34, he became the youngest-ever person of the year recipient at the annual gala put on by the Latin Recording Academy.
Martin is also an accomplished actor, earning a Primetime Emmy nod for his role in FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and displaying his talent on Broadway. He starred in Jingle Jangle for Netflix, opposite Forest Whitaker and Anika Noni Rose and can now be seen in the Apple TV series Palm Royale alongside Laura Dern, Kristen Wiig, Allison Janney and Carol Burnett.
Regardless of where she placed, there’s no question that Plane Jane left an impact on season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
As one of the two most winning queens of the season, Plane entered the finale (which aired Friday, Apr. 19) with plenty of well-earned confidence. She showed off her performance skills with a solo number titled “Bodysuit” (featuring pop singer and TikTok star Chrissy Chlapecka on vocals), making fun of the judges’ critique on her fashion choices. But only two queens could advance to the final lip sync, and the Boston drag star’s time on the show came to an end.
Plane’s run on the show was certainly impressive — she nabbed a whopping four challenge wins, including in the iconic Snatch Game, and earned constant praise from the judges panel for her sharp wit and killer performer’s instinct. But the queen also earned a reputation — both among her competitors and the fans — for her catty behavior. Whether it was in the work room, during Untucked or even on the main stage, the queen reveled in taking almost every opportunity to throw shade and read her competitors for filth.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
Below, Plane Jane catches up with Billboard after the finale to talk about fans calling her “self-produced,” the viral meme of her comforting her cast mate, and why she’s proud of showing every part of herself on the show — or as she puts it, “the good, the bad, the gorgeous, the ugly and the nasty.”
Trending on Billboard
[embedded content]
The season is officially over, and you made it to the top three! How are you feeling after watching the finale?
It was a very exhausting, physically straining and draining weekend. But I actually feel really great. I’m so happy for my sister Nymphia for winning the crown, it was so well-deserved. She undeniably won … even if she didn’t do “the best” throughout the competition, she definitely brought it home during the finale. Her performances were absolutely fantastic, so I couldn’t be happier for her.
That being said, I’m happy for myself as well. I did a great job throughout the entire season, and I think I had a pretty good showing through the finale as well! There can only be one winner, so, all I can say is I did my absolute best, and I’m very proud of myself.
Your song “Bodysuit” was so different from the other top three numbers — it felt a little like hyperpop, and it had that Plane Jane blend of “fierce drag performance meets something that is at least a little bit stupid.”
Yes, exactly! Personally, it is my favorite song of the top three solo numbers. Not going to lie, I have been listening to “Bodysuit” all weekend. But yes, why take ourselves so seriously? Drag is supposed to be fun and dumb!
Every year we crown a winner, and we crown a Miss Congeniality, but I genuinely think there should be an award for the queen who brought us the best TV of the season, which you would have handily won. What was it like to watch yourself back as you created these heightened, dramatic moments on the show?
Well, it’s interesting because it feels like two completely different realities, living through those moments and watching them back. Honestly, there were some parts of the season where I would watch it and go, “Oh, God, I fully forgot that I said that, whoa girl.” And then there were moments that I thought would be so much more dramatic and intense, and they came across as tame! It was definitely interesting, I found myself cringing at some of the stuff I said and laughing at everything else.
[embedded content]
Part of that process means contending with what fans had to say about your performance as well. Fans had a lot to say, both good and bad — what did you make of their reactions to you?
Throughout the season, there were a gaggle of people online who were accusing me of being very self-produced, very calculated — I actually think it was pretty much the opposite. I was quite unhinged! If there was any element of self-production to what I was doing on the show, it was just me reminding myself to not hold anything back. Like, “this is your moment, and it’s time for you to show the world everything that you are.” I wanted to be unapologetic and unhinged, and I think that is what makes for great reality television at the end of the day. So, to those people, I would say that I acted the way that I did because that’s who the f–k I am, and I’m a star! That’s what got me ahead, babe.
As the season went on, fans also watched you get vulnerable with the other queens and the audience, which in some cases required you to disengage the more cutting parts of your persona. What helped you get to that place while filming?
Being on reality television for the first time, for anybody, is a learning curve. I came into the competition being very hyper aware of my environment, and I realized quickly that I was being a little too intense with the shade and the reading. So, like I said, I had the thought about wanting to show all of the parts of myself, and that there was much more to me than just being a shady, c–ty, bitchy drag queen. I mean, there was a lot of negativity that I was … I don’t know, I guess “spewing,” if you will? So when I realized it was getting a little out of hand, I just had to remind myself that I was supposed to be having fun, and so were the other girls. That’s what got me to reel it in a little bit.
That vulnerability also gave us one of the most out-of-control memes of the season with “Mama, kudos for saying that, for spilling.” What has that been like, to watch this heartfelt moment between you and Q get spun out into a meme?
Apparently, I have a very unique way of showing vulnerability! [laughs] I think it’s so funny. What’s weird is it did show this culturally relevant thing about how a lot of gay people speak nowadays. We’ve developed such a particular lingo within our community, to that point where, even when we’re comforting each other, it’s so wildly different than how the boring straights do it. It’s special!
Looking back, you had a lot of big standout moments throughout the season — is there one in particular that stands out as the Plane Jane moment on Drag Race?
It is hard to pinpoint one moment, because all of those memories are special. But honestly, I would say the moment where I thought, “Oh, she’s taking it,” was definitely Snatch Game. It was a situation where, as we were in it, I knew that both Sapphira and I were killing it up there. Like, we were both doing so well that I genuinely didn’t know which one of us would take the win. So, when Ru said my name, that gave me such a huge boost of self-confidence. It’s such an iconic challenge to win, so it really felt like I was leaving my mark on the show with that performance.
[embedded content]
Even Jelena Karleuša herself reposted the clip and said that she loved your impression of her.
That was so awesome. I feel like the winners of Snatch Game end up getting immortalized in the universe and lore of Drag Race, and it was such an honor to portray somebody who I am truly such a big fan of. To see her living for it and to know that it would be a huge part of Drag Race history was so cool.
As you’ve been watching the show, are there any particular songs you’ve found yourself listening to a lot?
I don’t want to say this is “old school,” because we don’t want to offend the oldies out there, but I’ve been re-listening to the Pussycat Dolls’ PCD album a lot lately. I mean, that album was genuine pop perfection. “Don’t Cha,” “Beep,” “Buttons,” it’s just hits. It feels like such a sexy, early-to-mid 2000s pop class.
With Drag Race over, what can fans expect to see next from Plane Jane?
More tomfoolery, buffoonery and shenanigans. I’m somebody who wants to do it all, as you saw on the show — I’m a jack of all trades. And I’m actually kind of happy now that the season’s over, because it means that I can move on to do literally whatever I want from here.
Kim Petras is taking a break to heal. The 31-year-old superstar took to social media on Wednesday (April 24) to announce that she is canceling her scheduled festival performances this summer. “My buns, I’m devastated to be writing this but I’m going through some health issues and under medical advice I have had to make […]
Billie Eilish had a major revelation last year while working on her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft: she loves women. Like a lot. “I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina,” the 22-year-old singer tells Rolling Stone in a new cover story.
The profile delves into some of the songs on the album, including the second one, “Lunch,” described as a “sexy, bass-heavy banger where Eilish is crushing on a girl so hard she likes sex with her to devouring a meal.” It was while recording that song that Eilish says she became acutely aware of who she really is, recording some of it before she’d ever been with a woman and the rest after her first same-sex experience.
“I was never planning on talking about my sexuality ever, in a million years. It’s really frustrating to me that it came up,” she says of a 2023 Variety magazine interview in which she mentioned that she was attracted to women “for real.” The quote went viral around the globe and on a red carpet a month later Eilish was asked if she had intentionally come out in that story, telling the interviewer, “no, I didn’t,” but then thinking to herself, “‘wasn’t it obvious?’”
Trending on Billboard
She followed up with an Instagram post thanking the magazine for her Hitmakers award and also for “outing me on a red carpet at 11 a.m. instead of talking about anything else that matters. I like boys and girls leave me alone about it please literally who cares.” Eilish has typically kept her love life private and was only ever publicly linked with men, including The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford, who she broke up with in May 2023.
Now, Eilish says, she think the post was a bit of an overreaction. “Who f–king cares? The whole world suddenly decided who I was, and I didn’t get to say anything or control any of it,” she says. “Nobody should be pressured into being one thing or the other, and I think that there’s a lot of wanting labels all over the place. Dude, I’ve known people that don’t know their sexuality, or feel comfortable with it, until they’re in their forties, fifties, sixties. It takes a while to find yourself, and I think it’s really unfair, the way that the internet bullies you into talking about who you are and what you are.”
For such a global megastar, Eilish is refreshingly candid in the cover story about sex, saying it is what she likes to do to decompress. “I basically talk about sex any time I possibly can. That’s literally my favorite topic,” she says. “My experience as a woman has been that it’s seen in such a weird way. People are so uncomfortable talking about it, and weirded out when women are very comfortable in their sexuality and communicative in it. I think it’s such a frowned-upon thing to talk about, and I think that should change. You asked me what I do to decompress? That s–t can really, really save you sometimes, just saying. Can’t recommend it more, to be real.”
And then, Eilish goes on a deep-dive into another favorite, often taboo topic for women: masturbation. She says pleasing herself has boosted her confidence and is an “enormous, enormous part of my life, and a huge, huge help for me. People should be jerking it, man. I can’t stress it enough, as somebody with extreme body issues and dysmorphia that I’ve had my entire life.”
In case you had questions, Eilish also describes liking to masturbate in front of a mirror, partly because “it’s hot,” but also because it allows her to have a “raw, deep connection” to herself and her body. “And have a love for my body that I have not really ever had,” says Eilish, who notes that at this point she should basically have a “Ph.D.” in onanism. “I got to say, looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking ‘I look really good right now’ is so helpful. You can manufacture the situation you’re in to make sure you look good. You can make the light super dim, you can be in a specific outfit or in a specific position that’s more flattering. I have learned that looking at myself and watching myself feel pleasure has been an extreme help in loving myself and accepting myself, and feeling empowered and comfortable.”
Having lived in the hot spotlight for nearly her entire adolescence and young adulthood, Eilish says while others have been dissecting and contemplating her sex life for “years and years,” she is only now figuring it all out. “And honestly, what I said was funny, because I really was just saying what they’ve all been saying,” she says.
Given the chance for a do-over, the singer says she would have ignored the question, even though she knows it could have been way worse. “I’m lucky enough to be in a time when I’m able to say something like that and things go OK for me,” she says. “And that’s not how a lot of people’s experience is.”
The interview also touches on how her upcoming third album is a return to the darker sounds of her 2019 debut, When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Hit Me Hard and Soft is due out on May 17.
Sapphira Cristál entered the RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 finale as the clear frontrunner for the top prize. As she tells it, she walked away a winner — even if she wasn’t declared America’s Next Drag Superstar.
In the high-octane finale (which aired Friday, Apr. 19), Cristál nearly nabbed the $200,000 cash prize, advancing her way to one final lip sync showdown with Nymphia Wind to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam.” But Wind swept away with the title in the end, despite Cristál’s hilarious, vampiric performance.
But all was not lost — before her showdown with Wind, Cristál made Drag Race history when she and Xunami Muse both won Miss Congeniality, a title bestowed on the queen deemed the kindest by her fellow competitors. It also marks the first time that a finalist has won the prize since season one, when Nina Flowers was crowned as the show’s inaugural Miss Congeniality.
Trending on Billboard
Below, Cristál chats with Billboard about her performance on the show, her love for character shoes, her strange connection to Beyoncé and how she hopes to use her platform to promote unabashed self-love.
[embedded content]
Congratulations on making it to the final lip sync, and on your Miss Congeniality win! How are you feeling after watching this weekend?
I’m feeling great. There were two possible outcomes, and the one that I didn’t wish for was the one that we got. But … as Xunami said [during the finale], “I might not have won the crown, but I have won the crowd.” I did win the hearts of America, and I really love that.
I’m very proud of Nymphia, I’m constantly in awe of her talent. She is really quite a beauty, quite a queen, and I cannot wait to see what she does with this platform. And I know that, as part of the top two, I have a platform, and we are going to do many great things with it.
If I’m being honest, it felt like an absolute no-brainer that you would take home Miss Congeniality. With that title being voted on by your fellow competitors, what does it mean to you that they picked you?
I feel very seen! Not only to be Miss Congeniality, but to also still be in the top two with that prize, is huge — that hasn’t happened since season one of the American seasons! It feels amazing to know that people knew everything I did was genuine, and that they didn’t think I had some ulterior motive. Honestly, I was just being me, and they could see that. Some people had some things to say about how nice I was being at certain times in the competition, but at thFee end of the day, if someone comes to me asking for help I am going to give it to them. If they don’t ask me for help but I can see that they need help, I’m going to give it!
There really was a running theme of you being the “mother” of the season. Is that a role you’re used to playing outside of the show, or did that come about while you were filming?
Oh, I am a mother of quite a few drag children. But I am also the only Libra on this cast, and I do seek balance at all times. If I see that things are imbalanced, or if people are having moments where they’re just not in it to win it, I gotta get them out of there. Because I was not there to compete with people who were stuck in their own way, I wanted to compete with people who were in the game.
Out of the four challenges that you won, which one stands out as your favorite?
Definitely the “Power” performance. Not only was that song about inspiring people to vote, but I also just loved getting to sing, and to dance, and live my full blown fantasy! And now I’m getting to do it in real life — I just teased my new single “Enough” and a six song EP, and y’all are not ready for this music! When I think about the kinds of things I want to do as a performer, it always comes back to inspiring people with my music and performances, and helping people know that they are enough — and that’s what we did with the “Power” number.
[embedded content]
A really important question I have for you — did your character shoes survive the filming of the show?
Yes, they survived, they are alive and well … and I also already had two other pairs! Listen, the thing about the character shoes is, yes, I am going to wear them all the time. I am not 150 pounds — I have to wear something that is going to properly support my weight. I have broken many a shoe, because I am a stunt queen and I do many things that make it so I constantly bust my shoes. Also, I need to make sure I can do all the same stuff I do now when I’m 40 … and I’m 35! [laughs]
You got so creative with all the ways you managed to disguise your shoes throughout the competition, it almost became a fun game for viewers!
Exactly! I mean, if you think about it, there are so many girls who wear the same shoe over and over on the show. They’ll paint it one week, they’ll add some glitter another week, they’ll do what needs to be done. I had a lot of shoe covers, because I knew that I was going to wear these shoes many many times. Like, these are $300-$400 shoes. I’m not trying to own 50 different pairs of these!
Your solo performance for the finale, “Dance!,” was so fun — tell me a little bit about how you approached putting the whole number together.
Yeah, I loved that number. What happened was we gave them a lot of references from our time on the show, laying out what we wanted to talk about in our numbers. And I wanted to talk about self-love, coming into oneself and accepting who you are, because that is very much my platform. Especially in this world of social media, it’s really hard to compare yourself to others and to not feel less-than. So I wanted to make sure the song was a big self-love anthem, and I was so happy with how it turned out.
[embedded content]
It was so good, as was your performance in the final lip sync. When you started thinking about this final battle, how did you come up with this lusty vampire concept?
Well, we knew the final song was “Padam” — and let me be very clear, I did not know the song that well, because we were all off filming when the song absolutely blew up! So when they gave us the song, we were like, “Wait, what is this?” Everything is different when you’re a part of the sensation as it’s happening, and we were not part of that sensation. So, coming into it without knowing what’s happening, it gives you a fresh perspective.
The more I thought about the line, “I can hear your heart beating,” I was like, “Who really hears and listens to hearts?” Because of that, and because it’s such a seductive song, I started thinking of Blade, of From Dusk Till Dawn, of Interview With a Vampire, all these kind of sexy vampire movies! I was laughing the other day because I saw a meme of my face that said, “The new Nosferatu looks sickening.”
I know you mentioned a few of your upcoming projects, but what else do you have coming up for fans to look forward to?
I have been so focused on my new music and my tour coming up. The Cristál Ball Tour is going to be a magical, musical comedy extravaganza touring in July and August — it is really just my everything right now, and I cannot wait for fans to see it.
Anything music in particular you’ve been listening to a lot lately?
Cowboy Carter, obviously. So much of my career and my own music has been inspired by Beyoncé — and fun fact, Beyoncé and I went to the same high school! What’s interesting is the song “Caro Mio Ben,” which she sings on the background of “Daughter,” is a song that every single freshman at our high school had to sing. For the first recital, every single freshman would sing “Caro Mio Ben” back-to-back. So I did have this very special connection when I heard her singing it, because I know that when she was a freshman at my high school, she had to sing that song.
After a competitive season filled to the brim with drag performers at the top of their game, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 finally crowned its winner on Friday (April 19) — and fans are going bananas.
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
After a series of solo lip syncs and one final Lip Sync for the Crown to Kylie Minogue’s “Padam Padam,” Nymphia Wind was officially crowned America’s Next Drag Superstar and the winner of season 16. The fashionable, yellow-loving queen triumphed over her sister Sapphira Cristál in the final lip sync, dressing herself up as a massive cup of bubble tea and delivering a series of iconic outfit reveals to earn the competition’s coveted prize.
In winning, Wind made history for the show — with her ascension, the queen became the first East Asian performer to win RuPaul’s Drag Race, and the first Asian queen to take home the crown since Raja was crowned on season three, 13 years ago.
Trending on Billboard
Accepting her scepter from RuPaul, Nymphia addressed the audience during the finale. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and have the courage to live your truth,” she said, before declaring “Taiwan, this is for you!”
Below, Nymphia chats with Billboard following her victory, breaking down her excellent showing throughout the season, her love of bananas, her reaction to the President of Taiwan congratulating her, and how she created her memorable finale lip sync.
[embedded content]
Congratulations to you, our current reigning! How are you feeling after a weekend of celebration?
Well, I have two answers. First, I feel very excited to have won this dream of mine, and it’s crazy to be able to live this out for my community and my country. It really means a lot to me to be able to live this. But second, in reality, I am dying. [Laughs.] I want to sleep! I have no feelings anymore! I am dead inside!
I can only imagine that the last 48 hours has been a lot for you.
Yes, it has been a lot, and the problem is it’s getting to be more and more of a lot. But there are worse problems to have. I am enjoying this torture, because I’m doing something I love.
You spoke before the finale about wanting to break the “Asian curse” on Drag Race, since no East Asian queen had ever won the show, and the last Asian winner was Raja in season three. What does it mean for you to be the one breaking that curse?
It’s truly amazing. That’s why that win means so much to me, because it’s a win for the entire community. Because I remember when I was younger and I would watch the show, I said “I want to be the first East Asian to win this show.” Fast forward to now, and here we are — thinking about it is really crazy. You can dream big, and it will work itself out!
Even the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen congratulated you for your win and thanked you for “living fearlessly.” As someone who has been championing Taiwan throughout this competition, what was that like to see the president say that?
I fully gagged. I screamed so loud, that was truly so crazy. It was such a sweet message, and to be able to get that recognition was absolutely amazing. I mean, she’s the literal President of f–king Taiwan! It makes me feel like I was successful in actually making my country proud. Ugh, it’s so beautiful.
Congratulations to you, Nymphia Wind @66wind99, for being so accomplished in the difficult art form of drag, and for being the first Taiwanese to take the stage and win on @RuPaulsDragRace. Right after being crowned queen, you said “Taiwan, this is for you.”Taiwan thanks you… https://t.co/hrbG7Vnovd— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) April 20, 2024
You recently explained your obsession with bananas, saying that you look good in the color yellow and you wanted to combine that with some campy, phallic imagery. How many bananas or banana-themed gifts have fans brought you so far?
Girl, too many! No, it’s really fun to see the fans bring banana things, I love it when I see it. I will say, when they bring me actual, real bananas, I have to tell them that I can’t take them. Like, I will sometimes eat them in front of them because that’s fun, but if you give me a bunch of bananas during a meet-and-greet, I’m sorry, I can’t take those. But I will sign it! Like, traveling with bananas is not happening, sorry. But it is really cute seeing fans bring all these bananas to the shows, because ultimately, Nymphia Wind is a cult! I’m going to make everyone yellow bananas!
This was a truly phenomenal season for you as a competitor, especially when it came to your runways. You have such a good eye, not only for creating haute couture, high-concept fashion, but for always giving it that little twist that made it so camp. The pussycat wig look comes to mind.
Yeah, usually, I got to read the brief on each runway theme and let my imagination run wild. The question always starts with, “What can I do to make this cool?” And then you build off of that. The inspiration really comes while I’m in the process of making the looks, so the full concept is always still in development while I am putting things together.
That pussycat outfit was originally made for Chinese New Year celebration for the Year of the Rabbit, and it was supposed to be finished in January. But I wasn’t able to finish it in time for the celebration, so I just kept working on it here and there, but didn’t end up wearing it anywhere. So then, when I got the brief for the pussycat wig look, I just knew I needed to fit something into that slot. So that’s where that look came from.
There was a running theory on the show amongst your competitors, where they were convinced that every time you complained about being stressed heading into a challenge, you were never actually concerned and were really just playing mind games with them. What’s the truth?
I, 100%, felt like I had no idea what I was doing during filming. The other girls were definitely a little annoyed at me and kept saying that I was crying wolf, but I had truly no idea where they were coming from at the time. That is my natural process — I complain, I whine, I stress out, I self-doubt, and then ultimately, I know what I need to do and manage to pull it together. Being on Drag Race is genuinely scary and daunting, because you’re living with this fear of going home or someone outshining you, and the challenge is about pulling yourself together and making it work. So, the work room really became the place for me to get all that panic out of my system.
It did give us some of the most iconic moments of the season, where you would just do and say truly unhinged things on a regular basis. Have you continued your Spanish lessons with Morphine?
Nope! “Dame más leche” is still the only thing I know how to say in Spanish!
[embedded content]
This finale reminded me a lot of season 9, where we have a finalist who never lip synced on the show, and then absolutely demolished their first proper lip sync of the season. How did you come up with this bubble tea-inspired concept for your “Padam Padam” lip sync?
I knew that I was either going to be up against Plane or Sapphira, and with Sapphira, I knew that her looks are always these big, parade float-style looks. I knew I needed to come in with something big, too. I also knew I wanted to represent my country with this lip sync, but I didn’t just want to stick a flag onto my dress and call it a day. That, to me, is a bit too cheesy. So, I thought, “Maybe I should be a giant bubble tea,” because that’s the national drink of Taiwan. I talked with a designer, and they came up with the idea of the balloons floating up.
Then, I knew I wanted to have a second reveal, and I wanted to do it while doing a cartwheel at the same time, because I wanted to make each reveal a little more interesting. We literally built the look with the cartwheel and the stunts in mind, and the rest ended up working itself out.
Before we let you go, what can fans expect to see during Nymphia Wind’s reign as America’s Next Drag Superstar?
Honestly? Expect the unexpected. There’s nothing to expect — all you can do is sit back and watch.
With season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race officially in the rearview mirror, it’s time for fans of the franchise to look forward … to even more new episodes of the hit series. On Tuesday (April 23), Paramount+ announced the official cast and release date for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season nine. In the new […]
When you’re finished listening to Taylor Swift’s Tortured Poets Department, why not dive into some new tunes from your favorite queer artists? Billboard Pride is proud to present the latest edition of Queer Jams of the Week, our roundup of some of the best new music releases from LGBTQ artists.
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
From Joy Oladokun’s reflective new song to Lava La Rue’s rallying cry against oppression, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Joy Oladokun, “Questions, Chaos & Faith”
[embedded content]
For anyone dealing with the problem of existentialism, Joy Oladokun doesn’t have any answers for you — but she does hope you’re not alone in feeling lost. On her stunning new single “Questions, Chaos & Faith,” the singer-songwriter wrestles with the big questions of life, death, God, endings and all of the intermediate things between. With a set of stacked vocals and an acoustic guitar strumming behind her, Oladokun aims away from certainty, knowing that she can’t provide it over some chords and a pleasing melody. Yet when she delivers the chorus’ opening line, “Nothing is certain, everything changes,” there is no sadness in her voice; just a soft, beautiful acceptance of all those things she cannot change.
Trending on Billboard
Lava La Rue, “Humanity”
[embedded content]
In the opening moments of her new music video, Lava La Rue delivers a message directly to her audience: “Be very skeptical of anyone who promotes the narrative that in order to care about the humanitarian right of one group of people, that means you don’t care about another group.” It’s a simple, and extremely effective thesis for the song that follows. “Humanity” tracks La Rue’s own difficult relationship with the concept of collective conscientiousness, wondering why, exactly, we seem to have lost the plot on caring about the people around us. Mixed with her signature groove and pared down for an intimate listening experience, the song poses a question that will ring in your ears: “So many humans, and where’s the humanity?”
Debby Friday, “To the Dancefloor”
[embedded content]
If you’re ready to unplug and just feel yourself for a minute, electronic star Debby Friday’s got you covered. “To the Dancefloor” brings a superbly-produced dance track designed to get you out of your feelings and into your body. The scintillating beat and echoing vocal production brings about a thrilling vibe, while Friday’s commanding-but-casual voice draws you even further into her sonic world. You heard what she said — get to the dancefloor, already!
Wafia, “Background”
[embedded content]
Indie pop darling Wafia is back, and she’s ready to stand firmly at center stage. With her latest single “Background,” the singer-songwriter sings to a lover who wants to share the limelight with her whenever she can. Through softy-strummed guitars and some delicate synths, Wafia communicates that she’s more than happy to share, and even take a backseat in order to help them feel the warmth of the sun. “if you need me now,” she sings, “I’ll be in the background.”
Pillow Queens, Name Your Sorrow
[embedded content]
Packing as much thematic content as they could into their latest album, Pillow Queens are ready to have a frank conversation about the emotinal ebbs and flows of living today. Name Your Sorrow follows through on the promise of its title, with the group diving headfirst into complicated, aching songs about heartbreak, grief, loss, and ulitmately elation, all encompased in cozy, occasionally haunting indie-rock stylings. But don’t let the title fool you, either — Name Your Sorrow may deal in hardship, but it’s a joy to listen to.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
How did an oddball pop song versed in queer theory get on the Billboard Hot 100? Specifically, how did Chappell Roan, a rising lesbian pop star, get on the Hot 100 for the first time and break the “gay famous” ceiling (as SNL puts it) seemingly preventing likeminded acts MUNA and Girl in Red from crossing over to the main chart?
With nearly seven million streams in its first week and a stint in the Spotify Top 10, Chappell Roan’s spry new single “Good Luck, Babe!” has the makings of a runaway hit – No. 77 may not seem like a particularly impressive debut if you’re an A-lister, but for someone who’s been in and out of the major label system for almost a decade, it’s a noteworthy, well-deserved breakthrough. It helps when you have a touring slot with Olivia Rodigo, a cannily timed Tiny Desk concert, and a Coachella performance that, unlike a certain other Coachella set, went viral for the right reasons. In the midst of this, maybe any new song from her would have charted, but it matters that “Good Luck, Babe” is the one that did, and the one that may continue rising even further next week as her upward trajectory continues.
Trending on Billboard
To understand how we got here, it’s important to know Roan’s perilous journey, encompassing all big three major labels. Born in Missouri and raised in a conservative Christian household, she was signed to Warner’s Atlantic Records and positioned as the next Lorde after a video of her 2017 single “Die Young” went viral, and moved to L.A. to pursue her pop career. When “Pink Pony Club” came out in April 2020, Atlantic didn’t know what to do with an off-kilter gay club song in the middle of lockdown, and promptly dropped her.
After a brief stint back home, she moved back to L.A., releasing her next few singles through Sony’s indie distribution arm AWAL. It’s here where she further developed her long-term partnership with “Pink Pony Club” producer Dan Nigro (then blowing up from his work with Olivia Rodrigo), who produced singles like 2022’s ebullient sexual awakening anthem “Naked in Manhattan.” Nigro ultimately signed Roan to his Amusement Records imprint in 2023, with an Island Records contract shortly following. Up until last summer, she was still working at her old sleepaway camp, teaching songwriting while living a double life as a pop star influenced by drag; Roan frequently compares herself to Hannah Montana because of this duality.
[embedded content]
It wasn’t until her Island-released debut last year, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, that Roan emerged fully formed. She immediately gained a following among the kinds of pop superfans who champion Rina Sawayama and Caroline Polachek – neither of whom have charted on the Hot 100, but both of whom have successful careers anyway. What set Roan apart was how unapologetically fun and silly her music was; there’s not another pop musician right now on any level of fame that will open an album with a song called “Femininomenon” and include the line “get it hot like Papa John” in the chorus. Her lyrics were frank about her sexuality, particularly in a viral line from Midwest Princess song “Red Wine Supernova”: “I heard you like magic? I got a Wand and a Rabbit!” Yet there’s also a goofy down-to-earth quality – in the same song, she cheekily boasts about her twin-sized bed and her roommates, who cheerfully interject “don’t worry, we’re cool!”
Roan’s mischievous theatricality made her an apt fit to open Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour; the two don’t just share a producer but a bratty spirit. From there, her momentum picked up, culminating in a Tiny Desk concert and an acclaimed performance at Coachella. With Spotify streams steadily increasing, the end of her trek with Rodrigo was the best possible time to drop a new song, but an unlikely one for a relative risk like “Good Luck, Babe.”
What makes “Babe” fascinating is that it’s hard to place; online pundits have compared it to Kate Bush, Wham!, and recent alt-rock crossovers The Last Dinner Party. With its slower tempo and straightforward arrangement, it’s closer to the lo-fi alt-pop charters like Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” or even Clairo’s “Sofia” than Roan’s usual music. But the best comparison might be Cyndi Lauper; it’s the big voice, the big hair, and of course, the big choruses. Lauper didn’t have a more mature midtempo song until “Time After Time” was a last minute addition to her debut She’s So Unusual, and that became her first Hot 100 No. 1. While it announces a “new chapter” for Roan, (and while Lauper already had a massive hit with “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”), “Good Luck Babe” functions similarly for Roan, showing a previously unseen depth to her sound.
[embedded content]
The actual content of the song finds Roan breaking up with a girl not ready to come out. Written quickly in a fit of rage, the song follows Roan warning this girl that she’ll be unhappy if she denies her own emotions: “you have to stop the world just to stop the feeling,” she sings. Her, Nigro and ultra-successful queer songwriter Justin Tranter then spent months hammering away at the song, even if it’s hard to tell from a cursory listen. It’s noticeably lighter on its feet than the maximalism of Midwest Princess; the percussion is limited to a drum machine, and there are no gang vocals or cheerleader chants. In the past, Roan might have been swallowed up by Dan Nigro and company’s production, but here she has room to breathe and gets to show off her impressive falsetto in the chorus. It’s that accessible quality that might have allowed “Babe” to better connect with listeners.
It’s not just a culmination for Roan, but a mainstream moment for a concept mostly known to queer theorists and Tumblr addicts up to this point. Compulsory heterosexuality, coined in 1980 by Adrienne Rich, is a term describing the societal imposition of heterosexuality on women. Online sapphics of a certain age might know the concept because a Google Doc circulated for those questioning their orientation; the infamous “‘lesbian’ masterdoc, which fellow queer icons Kehlani and Renee Rapp have alluded to in interviews. Those themes become vital to understanding “Good Luck Babe”, where Roan is a casualty of her ex lover’s comphet, and knows the other person isn’t happy: “You can kiss a hundred boys in bars/ Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling.”
Rapp’s own Tranter co-write “Pretty Girls” mines similar territory for laughs (“Yeah, that bitch is gay”, Rapp quips at the end), but Roan’s is mired in a sincere grief and worry for the other person. Most of the song is closer to tough love than an outright diss, making it easy to be in both people’s shoes — the jilted lover, and the scared, closeted ex. Roan even tweeted “good luck, bitch” at an image of her past, pre-drag self, alluding to her own history with overcoming comphet. She said herself last year that though she was dating a woman, she was too scared to kiss that woman in public.
That’s not to say the song is wholly gentle: the bridge depicts her ex in a loveless, empty marriage to a man, “nothing more than his wife.” At the end of the bridge, Roan roars “I told you so,” and it’s the rawest moment in anything she’s released so far. “Babe” comes into the world in the midst of both increasing acceptance of LGBTQ people and a severe anti-LGBTQ backlash; it’s hard to blame someone for being too scared to come out, and behind the lyrics about this “sexually explicit love affair,” Roan clearly knows it. She’s not gloating at that ex, she’s angry at the ex not taking the leap with her, while understanding how it feels to hide in the closet. After a series of frothy pop songs, embracing more complex emotions might have been the push she needed all along. She wouldn’t be the first person in recent years to hit it big by getting messy — there’s a reason she’s opening for Olivia Rodrigo, after all.
[embedded content]
Due to UMG’s TikTok feud, there’s no official sound clip available on the app, but like songs by some UMG contemporaries, the song is going viral anyway: true to its message, “Babe” is persevering through any external forces that may impact it. With her recent success, Island is positioning Roan not as a cult fave, but as a pop star, period. Tellingly, Roan currently has multiple songs scaling Spotify’s Daily Top Songs USA chart – with “Supernova” even climbing into the top 50 – showing that this is not a fluke, but a full-on femininomenon phenomenon.
There’s a lot to learn from Roan’s success. She didn’t pander to TikTok or get lucky on Spotify algorithms (though TikTok obviously played a huge role), she just had a label that knew how to use her and a live show that sparked genuine word-of-mouth. The hardest part of the music industry at all levels is getting people to care about your music, and Roan has given audiences reasons to care – whether it’s the music, the over-the-top aesthetic, or the inspiring backstory of a woman from Missouri coming to terms with her identity.
With “Good Luck, Babe”, those fans are finally being rewarded, but it’s bigger than just one great song by one promising artist. Along with Rapp and Victoria Monet, Roan leads a new class of young queer pop stars garnering fame without compromise, and it’s not a huge stretch to imagine this being the rising tide that finally gets their gay contemporaries the success they deserve. Not even stopping the world will stop them.
