State Champ Radio Pride
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With only a few episodes left until the grand finale, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16 needed to take a short bathroom break.
On last week’s episode (March 22), the top six contestants were paired off into duos and asked to makeover gender-neutral bathrooms for an HGTV-style renovation comedy challenge. Designing a space rather than their outfits, the girls needed to come up with cohesive themes and larger-than-life presentations to make the judges laugh.
Thanks to their 1920s speakeasy-inspired bathroom — and a pair of well-crafted characters — Sapphira Cristál and Plane Jane nabbed a dual win, making them the two most-winning queens of the season so far (Sapphira with four wins, while Plane follows with three). Meanwhile, Dawn’s performance in the Museum of Modern Fart fell short of the judges’ high expectations, while Morphine Love Dion couldn’t find her spark in her her hellish commode.
Finding themselves in the bottom, Morphine and Dawn lip-synched to Megan Thee Stallion’s hit song “Body.” Weaponizing her curvy figure and slick dance moves, Morphine owned every second of the booty-bouncing track, earning her spot in the hotly contested top five. That meant Dawn turned to dusk, and the Brooklyn queen was sent packing.
Below, Dawn chats with Billboard about her time on the show, becoming the unofficial narrator of the season through her confessional clips, her explosive “doo doo clown” fight with Plane Jane, and why she thinks she never stood a chance against Morphine in that Lip Sync for Your Life.
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Dawn, you made it to top six! How do you feel about your run on the show?
Thank you, my greatest accomplishment! Looking back on the whole run, I have nothing but gratitude and happiness. I feel incredible, I could not be happier about how it all happened. Obviously, I didn’t get any wins, I guess I didn’t “make my mark” in that capacity. Like, there was no moment that was “about Dawn,” but even through that, I made it to top six on an incredibly stacked season! I have watched every single episode and been so happy and satisfied with what I was able to provide for the audience.
I hear you, but I wholeheartedly disagree on you not “making your mark” — because not only were killing a lot of these challenges, but your confessionals were maybe the most entertaining parts of every episode.
[Laughs.] I guess that’s my win — do they give out challenge wins for best confessionals?
You were the narrator of the season without a doubt, because you were simply unafraid to be unfiltered and occasionally unhinged in those clips. What was the energy you were trying to bring to those sessions?
OK, the keyword there is trying — because let me tell you, I was not trying to do anything! I rolled into that confessional chair and I was just excited, happy to be there, ready to cut up and shoot the s–t. Sometimes, I was definitely a little too comfortable in that confessional chair. But, it worked out for me, because what you are seeing is deeply authentic to me as a person. That’s how I talk to my friends and the people I love. I’m not sitting there timid, scared to say how I feel.
I mean you really came after us theater gays in that one episode.
I’m sorry! [Laughs.] There’s one specific moment of that particular confessional that happened — when I was about to start talking s–t, there is a twinkle in my eye, and then suddenly I go, “No, wait, I shouldn’t say that.” It was so funny.
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You also did one of my favorite things that queens do on this show, where you would walk into a scene, ask the other girls a very pointed question, and then slink back into the background to watch the drama unfold—
That was crazy, because I straight up didn’t even realize I was doing that until I watched the season back! What I like to say is, “I will never start drama, but I will make sure as hell that it never ends.”
But there was one exception to this trend, which was the now iconic “doo doo clown mess” moment between you and Plane Jane. You really just called her dress boring and she cracked. What was that legendary reading session like in person?
That might have been my favorite moment on this season, just the way that I said something so … benign, honestly! I just said “the dress is ugly,” and I figured she would just say, “Okay, I hate you,” and move on. She cracked so effortlessly! She stands up like a vulture and circles me, and I’m just sitting there cackling, like, “Yeah, girl, keep going!”
What’s so funny is she kept “reading” me, but ultimately she was just stating facts. She said I was dressed like a clown — correct, I was. You’re saying I’m wearing children’s fabric — also correct, and exactly the point of the outfit, thank you, girl. She was not saying anything that hurt my feelings, because I was like, “You understand the concept behind the outfit, amazing! Now please sit down!”
When this latest episode started, you and Morphine were the only girls without wins — how does that factor into your state of mind, especially this far into the competition?
Interesting. One thing I was feeling a lot around that time, probably like episode 11 to 12, was that … I don’t mean this in a pessimistic way, but I’d kind of given up on winning a challenge. My main goal, at that point, was just to have as much fun as I possibly could. In my experience, that is what would translate to the judges and to the audience. I remember thinking that I wasn’t letting go enough. In episode 11, I wanted to let go more, but then I got paired with Mhi’ya, so I said, “We will try again in episode 12.” And then I made it to the next week, and “Body” happened — so what’s a girl to do?
Oh we are going to discuss the “Body” of it all, but before we do, I just want your take on this challenge. I think this bathroom makeover HGTV parody might be one of the strangest main challenges Drag Race has done in a while — do you like it when the show gets a little unhinged with its challenges?
Girl, I haven’t been able to enter a public bathroom since this challenge, the trauma. I mean, I had Nymphia to reign in, who wanted to, like, paint poop on the walls! But there’s something about this show, where they’re sometimes telling us, “Please, let’s not do fart jokes, let’s not do piss jokes,” and then they ask us to decorate a bathroom and make it funny — we’re gonna make fart jokes, girl!
But all of this is to say: As absurd as it was, and as frustrating as it was to go home on this challenge, I also think that one of my favorite aspects of Drag Race is the absurdity of it all! When we get into these kind of challenges, it’s actually iconic.
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Which brings us to the lip sync. Once you were in the bottom, in that tight dress, against Morphine lip synching to Megan Thee Stallion’s “Body,” was there any part of you that thought, “I can win this?”
No! [laughs] Are you kidding? What was going through my head was, “Which wig am I going to put in which suitcase?” Like, as much as I want to think and I want to say … actually, no, I won’t even say that! I am never going to beat Morphine to “Body” by Megan Thee Stallion! The BBL queen of Miami? It’s a wrap for me, sis! She could’ve been on her sixth lip sync with a broken leg, and I still would have gone home. I just have to be at peace with that!
Before I let you go, I’d love to know — what music have you been listening to lately?
I have been streaming Eternal Sunshine on repeat, no skips, over and over. It is crazy. My favorite songs are definitely “Supernatural” and “We Can’t Be Friends.” But other than that, I’ve also been listening to a lot of Beabadoobee, and I’ve been getting very into this first new song from Rainbow Kitten Surprise in six years. That’s been my playlist, lately.
It may be Cowboy Carter week, but the silvery disco ball strobe lights of Renaissance — the first act of Beyoncé’s presently unfolding trilogy — continue to illuminate the world. On Monday (March 26), the Human Rights Campaign debuted Renaissance: A Queer Syllabus, a sprawling collection of academic articles, essays, films and other pieces of media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies and directly inspired by each track on Queen Bey’s Billboard 200-topping dance album.
Curated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC’s HBCU program, the syllabus will serve as an educational resource designed to honor, analyze and celebrate the joy, resilience, innovation and legacy of the Black queer community. The syllabus will be shared with nearly 30 historically Black colleges and universities, including Howard University, North Carolina A&T University, Prairie View A&M University and Shaw University.
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Released in the summer of 2022, Renaissance was and continues to be a bonafide cultural phenomenon. A lovingly researched ode to the Black queer roots of dance music filtered through her intensely personal relationship with her late Uncle Johnny, the album captivated fans around the world and shined a much-needed light on the unsung movers and shakers of Black queer art and culture. The album won four Grammys — including a historic win for best dance/electronic album — housed a pair of Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hits in “Break My Soul” (No. 1) and “Cuff It” (No. 6) and spawned a record-breaking stadium tour and accompanying box office-topping documentary concert film.
From the economic impact of Beyoncé’s silver fashion aesthetic to career boosts given to Black queer icons such as Kevin Aviance, Ts Madison and Honey Dijon, Renaissance proved itself to be much more than a standard LP. The HRC understood that there was a chance to make a real impact across education and activism through the lens of the record.
“There are ways that we can embed the impact of her lyrics into real life. It was serendipitous for this to happen,” said Hall, director of the HRC’s HBCU Program. “All the anti-DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] laws were being introduced in the same states that she was doing concerts in. So, what would it look like for us to put our best thinking together to put articles, books, and movies to all of the songs on her album?”
On May 15, 2023 — just three shows into the Renaissance World Tour — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning DEI initiatives in public colleges. A month later (June 14, 2023), the governor of Beyoncé’s home state of Texas, Greg Abbott, signed a bill prohibiting DEI offices and the hiring of DEI staff at public higher education institutions.
The juxtaposition of rising anti-queer sentiments and Beyoncé’s Renaissance era anchors the syllabus’ arrangement. The syllabus begins with a brief statement summarizing and reiterating the HRC’s June 2023 LGBTQ+ State of Emergency statement, which they declared “for the first time following an unprecedented and dangerous spike in anti-LGBTQ+ legislative assaults sweeping state houses.” The final pages of the syllabus contain both a reprint of Beyoncé’s statement in memory of O’Shea Sibley — a young Black queer man who was murdered in Brooklyn back in July 2023 for simply voguing to Renaissance -—and an additional statement from the HRC denouncing hate crimes.
“I think when you preface something [with] a state of emergency, you get the lay of the land and how important [the] syllabus is,” said Calhoun, an HBCU program manager at HRC. “It brings a sense of urgency and realness to what’s actually happening to queer youth, especially black Queer Youth.”
Calhoun — alongside Hall and Lawson — began work on the syllabus in October 2023, dividing the album’s 16-song tracklist into different themes and building hubs of additional secondary resources that expound on said themes. Despite Calhoun’s initial concerns that breaking up the tracklist would “lose the flow” of the album — Renaissance is intentionally mixed and sequenced to emulate a seamless DJ set — he ultimately agreed that the approach helped the syllabus feel more like a lesson plan.
Six themes anchor the syllabus, ranging from “intersectionality and inclusivity” to “social justice and activism.” Fan favorite tracks like “Alien Superstar” and “Thique” rope in the origins of the body positivity moment and iconic speeches from Barbara Ann Teer (including the one sampled on “Superstar”) under the umbrella of “empowerment and self-acceptance.” “Energy,” the song behind the infamous “mute challenge,” gets new readings by interloping essays from bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins. Even less-famed tracks like “Move” (with Grace Jones & Tems) — which is paired with fascinating readings on the effects of colonialism on pre-colonial Africa and African perspectives on trans identity — get in on the scholarly fun.
Naturally, “Heated,” a song that had an intense, immediate impact on Renaissance listeners with deep ties to the ballroom scene, served as the crux of the syllabus, according to Calhoun. “It was the model child for how a section of the syllabus should look,” he explains. “There was so much to unpack in ‘Heated.’ You have Beyoncé’s Uncle Johnny, a Black gay man [living] during the AIDS epidemic — that lead to us [compiling different resources] about how we lost a generation of black gay men who were visionaries and people who paved the culture.”
The syllabus is a thorough resource, one that continues the HRC’s connection with Beyoncé’s Renaissance era. On Aug. 27, 2023, the HRC, with support from Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Foundation, mounted the Equality Ball in Las Vegas, NV – an event that doubled as actual ball complete with a “Bring It Like Beyoncé” category and an educational resource pushing voter registration and sexual health awareness.
Although Parkwood Entertainment, Beyoncé’s production company, did not authorize or give “direct sign off” on the syllabus (Billboard reached out to representatives at Parkwood for comment), creating the resource was “a seamless process,” according to Calhoun. “We knew amongst the team which authors and which folks to go to for certain things, I don’t think any of us did many Google searches,” said Hall. “We knew where to go to connect the right [resources] to one of her songs [and] build a course out of it. It is really a testament to well-read, well-learned people. I feel obligated to say that because we don’t talk about ourselves like that. We’re smart. It would take folks with Howard degrees to put something like this together.”
From Pauli Murray and C. Riley Snorton to Audre Lorde and Sonya Renee Taylor, HRC’s new syllabus continues Renaissance’s mission of highlighting, amplifying and re-centering Black and queer voices. Of course, this syllabus is far from the first piece of Beyoncé-inspired coursework in higher education. Following the release of the Grammy winner’s culture-shifting album Lemonade in 2016, a slew of Beyoncé-themed classes debuted across higher education institutions — including the University of Copenhagen, Rutgers University, Arizona State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio.
For Hall, the rise of courses tackling social constructs through the lens of pop culture is only a good thing. “We’re in a powder keg right now, and it’s gonna pop around election time,” he says. “We have to get information to folks in younger generations. We need them to be connected to what’s really happening and a way to do that is through music and culture.”
Nonetheless, Hall and his colleagues aren’t oblivious to the fact that Renaissance exists in an intrinsically capitalistic context. “[It’s] something I grapple with so much,” notes Calhoun. “I had a teacher who once said that capitalism is the current structure and we have to live under it. This is how life operates. What is Beyoncé going to do to stop a capitalist structure? I just don’t feel like we’re at a point in the movement where we know what we want [people like her] to do.”
While there may be no current plans for a Cowboy Carter syllabus — “being from the Mississippi Delta, that would be dope, but it depends on Beyoncé,” quipped Calhoun — the HRC’s Renaissance syllabus is the ultimate proof that the Renaissance is, in fact, not over.
“We’ve made a course that adds to scholarship about Black queer futures and specifically ballroom and uplifting history that’s not as popular in academia,” says Calhoun. “It really adds to the academic cannon of Black queer scholarship in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Spring has officially sprung, which means it’s time to freshen up your warm weather playlists with some new tunes from you 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.
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From Remi Wolf’s groovy new single to Adrianne Lenker’s stunning new album, check out just a few of our favorite releases from this week below:
Remi Wolf, “Cinderella”
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Everybody needs a good fairy godmother in their life — so, Remi Wolf decided to be her own. With “Cinderella,” the first single off the star’s upcoming album Big Ideas, Wolf breaks down all of her different moods into colorful subcategories, narrating the rollercoaster of emotion she constantly finds herself on. As you listen, the ’70s-inspired groove will slowly ratchet up, giving you ample room to dance off even your greatest worries. And that’s largely the point, as Wolf sings on this deliriously fun song; “Baby girl, won’t you dry your eyes?/ Don’t stress because you’re doing it right.”
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Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future
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In a music landscape where overproduction can feel like the new norm, Big Thief star Adrianne Lenker is offering something antithetical. On Bright Future, the singer-songwriter’s latest solo project, Lenker gives fans a direct line to the creative process — every song on the new track was recorded directly to tape, live in studio. Typically armed with her voice (as well as the voices of a few collaborators) and delicate guitars, Lenker proves her less-is-more thesis is well worth listening to, especially when paired with her phenomenal songwriting skills. Bright Future makes a big promise with it’s title; fortunately for us, Lenker delivers in spades.
Fletcher, In Search of the Antidote
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Fletcher’s ready to sing about something else. After a career’s worth of songs about love and heartbreak, Fletcher’s latest LP In Search of the Antidote sees the singer-songwriter turning her gaze inward, asking herself questions about identity (“Ego Talking”), self-defeating mentalities (“Attached to You”) and yes, occasionally, romance (“Crush”). With her lyrical skills honed to a new level, Fletcher proves throughout Antidote that she’s ready for the next challenge life throws at her, whatever it may be.
Girl in Red feat. Sabrina Carpenter, “You Need Me Now?”
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What happens when you take two headline-making openers from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and put them together on a song? It sounds like you get a pop banger. Girl in Red teams up with Sabrina Carpenter on the cutting “You Need Me Now?,” a driving pop-rock single that sees the pair of pop singers going for their respective exes’ jugulars. With powerful guitars and frenetic drums, the duo let their former flames know that talk is cheap, and their time is officially up. So, to answer the titles question — yes, we definitely need more Girl in Red and Sabrina Carpenter right now.
Gossip, Real Power
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Nearly 12 years after they released their last album, pioneering indie rock group Gossip is back and ready for more. Real Power sees the trio taking on a wide spectrum on sound, be it disco-pop (“Give It Up For Love”), funk (“Don’t Be Afraid”) or sheer rock (“Real Power”). But even with a variety of sonic textures, the group remains committed to what makes them Gossip — high camp aesthetics and powerful lyrics meant to challenge what you accept as the “norm.
King Isis, Shed
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After giving fans a panoply of pop songs on their EP Scales, King Isis would like to dive into something a little bit darker. Throughout Shed, that is exactly what the up-and-coming artist does, turning up the grungy punk aesthetics but keeping the artistry that fans have come to love, crafting a breif, affecting tour through the angstier side of their musical output.
Check out all of our picks on Billboard’s Queer Jams of the Week playlist below:
There was never supposed to be a “proper” Gossip comeback. After releasing its album A Joyful Noise nearly 12 years ago, the band — made up of lead singer Beth Ditto, guitarist Nathan Howdeshell and drummer Hannah Blilie — decided to call it quits and return to their respective lives, both in and out of the spotlight.
Fate, Ditto has since learned, works in funny ways. A brief 10th anniversary reunion tour for their Rick Rubin-produced album Music for Men in 2019 got the group back in the rhythm of things. But it wasn’t until the early days of the pandemic that Ditto found herself recording a solo album with Rubin in Hawaii, missing her bandmates.
“We have such a language that we have developed together,” she explains to Billboard via Zoom. “When you’ve done it for 20+ years, you just know what the other person is saying. It happens in band practice a lot, with me and Hannah and Nathan.”
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Calling up Howdeshell and Blilie to come work with her on a new album, Ditto is happy to say Gossip is officially back in 2024. Real Power, the band’s sixth studio album (out Friday, March 22 via Columbia Records), is both a return to form and a breath of fresh air for the pioneering rock group. Continuing their time-honored tradition of blending Northwestern punk aesthetics with dashes of dance, soul and funk, the fabled trio spend much of the 40 minutes of their newest album addressing a world that has changed — both for better and worse — in the intervening decade since their disbanding.
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Yet when Ditto first asked Howdeshell to come write and play on what would have been her second solo LP, she hadn’t intended to stage a headline-making reunion. As the childhood friends worked together on her project, Ditto says she noticed reticence from Howdeshell.
“He was holding back, because he didn’t want to step on my toes, you know? He was like, ‘This is your record, so I don’t want to have too much say over it,’” she explains. “It didn’t feel right to have Nathan just play on the record, but not give him the credit that he deserved for it. I asked Rick directly, ‘Should this be a Beth record or a Gossip record?’ And he said, ‘Obviously you should do what you want, but this should absolutely be a Gossip record.’”
Thus began the “piecemeal” process of putting together a comeback album from the comfort of Rubin’s home in Kauai. With a global pandemic raging, the production team had little choice but to build makeshift vocal booths and find creative ways of soundproofing studio space so an island breeze wouldn’t interrupt a take. “I would have to wear my swimsuit in order to make it through a take, because it got so hot in there,” Ditto offers with a laugh. “That approach made it feel way cooler than it could’ve been at a studio where everything was at your fingertips. You had to work for it, almost.”
The ad hoc studio was so slapped together, that at multiple points throughout the recording process, power for the entire building would blow out. It happened so frequently, in fact, that the trio and their production crew invested in multiple generators to try and keep some semblance of electricity running.
“One day, Rick was downstairs and I was upstairs with our engineer Dylan, and he said, ‘Is that the real power on, or is that the generator?’” she recalls. “And I said, ‘Real power … that’s a good line for a chorus.’”
When considering what “real power” meant, Ditto immediately turned her attention to Portland, the place she’s called home for the last two decades. The city had been flooded with massive protests following the death of George Floyd in May 2020; unlike many other cities, though, Portland’s protests continued strong through the summer and into the fall, becoming a centerpiece of then-president Donald Trump’s calls for “law and order” in Democratic cities.
Where others saw chaos and disorder, Ditto saw her neighbors putting up instead of shutting up. “I’ve always been really proud of living in a city where, for better or worse, people are protesting against injustice, and they’re mad enough that they burned a couple of dumpsters,” she says. “That’s the f–king world I want to live in — that’s why I don’t live in the outskirts of Little Rock.”
“Real Power” serves as the central, invigorating anthem on its titular album, driving a dance-punk melody through evocative lyrics, all while conjuring up scenes of protest against an uncaring system. “People in the streets are getting rowdy/ Come here to make peace but dressed to kill,” Ditto growls on the song’s verse. “Feeling overcrowded but I like it/ Do you feel what I feel?”
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There’s an easily-spotted similarity between “Real Power” and Gossip’s breakout 2006 single, “Standing in the Way of Control“; both tracks wield uptempo beats and bass-heavy melodies to call out discrimination against disadvantaged communities. Yet Ditto says, to her, the two songs could not be more different. “I have trouble connecting with [“Real Power”] live, because it’s one of the first songs I ever wrote with a story and a picture I was trying to paint,” she explains. “Whereas ‘Standing in the Way of Control’ came right off the top of my head — it was purely emotional.”
Outside of “Real Power,” though, the new album doesn’t often revel in the insurgent politics that defined so much of Gossip’s early days. As descendants of the queercore genre and heralds of the riot grrrl movement, Gossip used their success in the mid-2000s to platform their pro-queer, feminist and body-positive beliefs, often to the dismay of conservative onlookers. With federal rollbacks of protections for reproductive rights, a renewed slate of anti-LGBTQ laws sweeping the nation and a high-stakes election on the horizon, fans would be forgiven for thinking a new Gossip record would more thoroughly address our current cultural strife.
When asked about this, Ditto offers two explanations for the lack of protest songs on Real Power. The first (and simplest) is that the album is already a few years old. “The album was done, finished, signed, sealed and delivered long before Roe v. Wade had been overturned by the Supreme Court (in June 2022),” she says. “Since then … it’s gotten to the point where I can’t even name all of the insane, regressive s–t that’s happened.”
But her second point, and the one she focuses on thoroughly, is that rebellion and nonconformity are already built into the DNA of Gossip by default. Their presence as a band of mostly queer, all feminist rock stars is itself a middle finger to systems of oppression everywhere. As she sings on the album’s defiant opening line, “Every beat of my heart is a merciful act of God.”
Even with the release of Music for Men 15 years ago, the singer says she received constant critiques about the project lacking the “anger” of the band’s earlier output. “The album’s literally called Music for Men with a d-ke on the cover and made by feminist queers,” she chuckles to herself. “I guess that’s too subtle for people.”
“Everything that we do — even if it is just a dance song or a fun, seemingly harmless song — is done in the name of queer emotion and joy and empowerment,” she continues. “When you listen to something as a queer person, for a queer person, by a queer person, about a queer person, then suddenly everything about this is radical.”
Gossip
Cody Critcheloe
That sentiment shines throughout Real Power — even when Ditto is singing about her divorce from Kristin Ogata on heartbreaking ballads like “Turn the Card Slowly,” or just calling for a joyful expression of romance on funk jam “Give It Up for Love,” every sound is punctuated with a sense of unruly insubordination.
It’s a feeling Ditto is glad to see other queer artists embracing in 2024. Thanks in part to the work put in by bands like Gossip, Le Tigre, Tegan and Sara and other queer-fronted acts from the ’90s, the state of LGBTQ representation across the music industry has dramatically improved, even in the years since Gossip took their indefinite hiatus.
“It’s so cool to be 43 as someone who started out in this industry at 18, and to see all the ways in which things have changed,” she beams. “Because that’s really why we do it — it’s not about your ego, it’s not about whether or not you’ll make a lot of money or get famous. To me, the most important thing is just that the world is moving into place, and it reminds me that we are always going to exist, whether people f–king give us the right to or not.”
Of course, she points out, there is still much more work to be done to preserve the future of queerness in music. Along with honoring groundbreaking queer artists of the past — Sylvester, in particular, deserves recognition “for creating entire genres of music,” she says — Ditto hopes that representation spreads higher into the music business, beyond just the current class of queer-identifying artists. “We wouldn’t have to worry about [executives] meaning well if they would just step aside and let us tell our own stories and advance one another,” she says. “Put us in the positions that we deserve, because those are the positions that will allow us to make change.”
As for the future of Gossip as a band, Ditto is choosing to live in the moment rather than establishing unnecessary expectations. “It feels good to be a part of something and to know that it actually matters,” she declares. Come what may, she says, “We get to be our truest selves right now and make the art we want to make. That matters, more than anything.”
Attention, staff! It’s time for us to circle back to the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, where the contestants brought all the corporate synergy they could to the main stage.
On Friday’s episode (March 15), the seven remaining queens of season 16 were tasked with performing in a series of employee training seminars to help the staffers of the world learn how to handle drag in the workplace. Whether they were giving a much-needed history lesson about the art of drag or teaching their corporate underlings what to do (or more importantly, not do) in the presence of a queen, the girls pulled together an informative all-hands meeting for their loyal viewers.
With a hilarious performance centered around teaching employees whether or not they are drag queens, Sapphira Cristál took home her third challenge win of the season, making her the winningest contestant of the season thus far. Meanwhile, after a pair of less-than-ideal showings, Morphine Love Dion and Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige were put under performance review by the panel of judges.
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Lip synching to Donna Summers’ 1979 hit “Dim All the Lights,” Dion and Le’Paige pulled out all of the stops (and in some cases, parts of their own costumes) to earn their employers’ adoration. At the end, Dion kept her spot in the company, while Le’Paige was handed a cardboard box and asked to collect her things by EOD.
Below, the Queen of Flips breaks down the art of lip synching, what it means to be season 16’s unquestioned lip sync assassin, and how it felt being labelled the “quiet” queen of the season.
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You made it to the top seven on this season! How are you feeling about your run on the show?
I’m feeling good about everything. I know I made my family and my friends proud, and Florida. I feel like I could have done better, but you know, it is what it is!
Well, you made history by joining a very elite group of Drag Race queens who won three or more lip syncs, including queens like Jujubee, Alexis Mateo and Coco Montrese, among others. What does it mean for you to be in that esteemed company?
I’m so honored, first and foremost. Yeah, I hadn’t even thought about that, if I’m being completely honest! But the names that you just said, it is an honor to be a part of that group of girls. It’s great to be a lip sync assassin, I’ll be honest. [Laughs.]
Yeah, it felt like the girls were genuinely scared to be in the bottom with you, and rightfully so.
Yes they were! They even told me, on the show, that they never wanted to go against me in the bottom. Like, with Dawn for example … I kind of told her that if she was in the bottom because of me this week, and we had to lip sync, I said that I was going to beat her. But if the judges said, “Mhi’ya, shantay you stay,” I would’ve refused and asked them to let Dawn stay. I felt like she deserved it more, and it was my fault we were in the bottom.
I’m always fascinated by the art of lip synching and what makes them so entertaining. So, as someone who nails almost every lip sync you do, what do you think is the key to giving a top-tier lip sync performance, on or off the show?
For me, when I was lip syncing, it was all about selling the song to the judges. Whatever song I was lip syncing to, there were a couple of things I had to make sure I was doing; I wanted to make sure I was on beat, I wanted to make eye contact with the judges, and I wanted to take over the whole stage. That, to me, is what it’s all about, is dominating the stage and pretending like no one is there but you and the judges.
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Which brings us to this particular lip sync, where you were definitely aware of the other queen on the stage, to the point where you threw your detached train onto Morphine mid-song. Between that, and her throwing her chicken cutlets at you, this felt like peak Drag Race shenanigans. How aware were you in the moment about the iconic moments you were both serving?
Oh, let me tell you, none of that was planned for this lip sync. I knew that the train was detachable, so I knew at some point it was coming off. But when I saw her down on the floor, I said, “Oh, okay, here’s my chance to throw her off her game.” So I spun around and threw that train! It kinda became a little catfight. [Laughs.]
We absolutely also need to talk about that Cher-meets-Kermit the Frog impression you attempted while on stage. After you filmed that moment, did you anticipate fans running with this moment as much as they have since?
I mean, I made literal merch out of it, and everywhere I go, I am asked to do that Cher impersonation. Everywhere I’m going people are asking me to do Cher on the mic, and people just fall out when I do it. So, I’m happy to see it!
Throughout the season, I noticed you got more than a few critiques, either from the judges or the other girls or even the fans online, about you being a “quiet” queen. Did that ever feel difficult to hear, either on set or online?
Yeah, it was definitely difficult to hear the judges say it as much as they did. But, I will say, there were times when I would try to come out of my shell, and prove to the judges that I’m not as quiet or timid as some people might think I am.
I mean, Snatch Game seems like a pretty excellent example of that!
Yes, I was so proud of myself after Snatch Game. Honestly, before we started filming, I was fully s—ting bricks. I was so, so nervous, and had no idea what I was going to do. But once they said action, something just came over me, and it really felt like I became this other person. It was so much fun.
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Before we let you go, I’d love to know — what music have you been listening to lately?
Oh, the album I’ve listened to every day for the last few weeks is Doja Cat’s Scarlet. I love it so much. The song, though, is probably “Ouchies” — I am obsessed with that whole song.
Reneé Rapp won outstanding music artist at the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards, which were presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Thursday, March 14. Rapp prevailed in a highly competitive field which included four artists who were nominated in Big Four categories at the Grammys on Feb. 4 – boygenius, Janelle Monáe, Miley Cyrus and Victoria Monét – and two more who have been nominated in Big Four Grammy categories in past years – Brandy Clark and Sam Smith.
The other nominees in that category were Billy Porter, Kim Petras and Troye Sivan.
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David Archuleta, who rose to fame as the runner-up on American Idol in 2008, was named outstanding breakthrough music artist. He prevailed over Ice Spice, a Grammy nominee for best new artist on Feb. 4, as well as Chappell Roan, Fancy Hagood, G Flip, Iniko, Jade LeMac, The Scarlet Opera, Slayyyter and UMI.
RuPaul’s Drag Race, starring RuPaul, won outstanding reality competition program.
The GLAAD Media Awards are presented in two parts on both coasts. The second part will be presented on Saturday May 11 in New York City.
Here’s a list of the categories that were presented last night, with winners marked.
Outstanding Music Artist
Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa (Island UK/Republic Records)
boygenius, The Record (Interscope)
Brandy Clark, Brandy Clark (Warner Records)
Janelle Monáe, The Age of Pleasure (Atlantic Records)
Kim Petras, Feed the Beast & Problematique (Amigo/Republic Records)
Miley Cyrus, Endless Summer Vacation (Columbia Records)
WINNER: Reneé Rapp, Snow Angel (Interscope)
Sam Smith, Gloria (Capitol Records)
Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other (EMI Australia/Capitol Records)
Victoria Monét, Jaguar II (Lovett Music/RCA Records)
Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist
Chappell Roan (Atlantic Records/Island Records)
WINNER: David Archuleta (Archie Music)
Fancy Hagood (Fancy Hagood Enterprises)
G Flip (Future Classic)
Ice Spice (10K Projects/Capitol Records)
Iniko (Columbia Records)
Jade LeMac (Artista Records)
The Scarlet Opera (Perta/Silent Records)
Slayyyter (FADER Label)
UMI (Keep Cool/RCA)
Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release
All of Us Strangers (Searchlight Pictures)
American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios)
Anyone but You (Columbia Pictures)
The Blackening (Lionsgate Films)
WINNER: Bottoms (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
The Color Purple (Warner Bros.)
It’s a Wonderful Knife (RLJE Films)
Knock at the Cabin (Universal Pictures)
Moving On (Roadside Attractions)
Shortcomings (Sony Pictures Classics)
Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Blue Fox Entertainment)
The Blue Caftan (Strand Releasing)
Blue Jean (Magnolia Pictures)
How to Blow Up a Pipeline (Neon)
Joyland (Oscilloscope)
L’immensità (Music Box Films)
WINNER: Monica (IFC Films)
Our Son (Vertical Entertainment)
Passages (Mubi)
Summoning Sylvia (The Horror Collective)
Outstanding Drama Series
9-1-1: Lone Star (Fox)
The Chi (Showtime)
Chucky (SyFy/USA Network)
Doctor Who (Disney+)
Good Trouble (Freeform)
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
Quantum Leap (NBC)
Riverdale (The CW)
Station 19 (ABC)
WINNER: Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Outstanding Comedy Series
And Just Like That… (Max)
Good Omens (Amazon Prime Video)
Harlem (Amazon Prime Video)
Harley Quinn (Max)
Our Flag Means Death (Max)
Sex Education (Netflix)
Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
WINNER: Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)
What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
With Love (Amazon Prime Video)
Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series
Black Cake (Hulu)
Bodies (Netflix)
The Confessions of Frannie Langton (Britbox)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
WINNER: Fellow Travelers (Showtime)
The Full Monty (FX on Hulu)
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Amazon Prime Video)
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (Netflix)
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix)
Transatlantic (Netflix)
Outstanding Reality Competition Program
The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula (Shudder/AMC+)
The Challenge: Battle for a New Champion (MTV)
Drag Me to Dinner (Hulu)
Love Trip: Paris (Freeform)
My Kind of Country (Apple TV+)
Next in Fashion (Netflix)
Project Runway (Bravo)
WINNER: RuPaul’s Drag Race (MTV)
Survivor (CBS)
The Voice (NBC)
Outstanding Children’s Programming
“Any Way You Slice It” Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City (Netflix)
WINNER: “Blue River Wedding” Ada Twist: Scientist (Netflix)
Bossy Bear (Nick Jr.)
Firebuds (Disney Jr.)
Monster High (Nickelodeon)
Pinecone & Pony (AppleTV+)
Princess Power (Netflix)
Ridley Jones (Netflix)
Summer Camp Island (Cartoon Network)
Work It Out Wombats! (PBS Kids)
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Animated
Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake (Max)
Craig of the Creek (Cartoon Network)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
The Ghost and Molly McGee (Disney Channel)
WINNER: Hailey’s On It! (Disney Channel)
The Loud House (Nickelodeon)
Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (Disney Channel)
Nimona (Netflix)
The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (Disney+)
Transformers: EarthSpark (Paramount+)
Outstanding Video Game
WINNER: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)
Goodbye Volcano High (KO_OP)
Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores (Guerrilla Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment)
Little Goody Two Shoes (AstralShift/Square Enix)
Overwatch 2 (Blizzard Entertainment)
Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical (Summerfall Studios/Humble Games)
Tchia (Awaceb/Kepler Interactive)
Thirsty Suitors (Outerloop Games/Annapurna Interactive)
This Bed We Made (Lowbirth Games)
Too Hot to Handle 2 (Nanobit/Netflix Games)
Outstanding Comic Book
Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent, written by Tom Taylor (DC Comics)
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain, written by Tini Howard (Marvel Comics)
Hawkgirl, written by Jadzia Axelrod (DC Comics)
Killer Queens 2, written by David M. Booher (Dark Horse Comics)
The Neighbors, written by Jude Ellison S. Doyle (BOOM! Studios)
New Mutants Lethal Legion, written by Charlie Jane Anders (Marvel Comics)
The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, written by Tate Brombal based on an idea by James Tynion IV (Dark Horse Comics)
Poison Ivy, written by G. Willow Wilson (DC Comics)
WINNER: Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, written by Alyssa Wong (Marvel Comics)
Tim Drake: Robin, written by Meghan Fitzmartin (DC Comics)
Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology
Blackward, by Lawrence Lindell (Drawn & Quarterly)
Carmilla: The First Vampire, written by Amy Chu (Berger Books/Dark Horse Comics)
Cosmoknights (Book Two), by Hannah Templer (Top Shelf Productions)
WINNER: Four-Color Heroes, by Richard Fairgray (Fanbase Press)
Heartstopper Vol. 5, by Alice Oseman (Graphix/Scholastic)
Light Carries On, by Ray Nadine (Dark Horse Books)
Northranger, written by Rey Terciero (HarperAlley)
Parallel, by Matthias Lehmann (ONI Press)
Roaming, by Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki (Drawn & Quarterly)
Us, by Sara Soler (Dark Horse Books)
Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage
The Advocate
Billboard
People
Variety
WINNER: Out
Outstanding Scripted Television Series
4 Estrellas (RTVE Play)
WINNER: Las Noches de Tefía (Atresplayer)
Las Pelotaris (Vix)
Sagrada Familia (Netflix)
Sin Huellas (Amazon Prime Video)
Outstanding TV Journalism
WINNER: “Adolescentes trans relatan su experiencia” Noticiero Telemundo (Telemundo)
“Celebrando el orgullo” Noticiero Telemundo (Telemundo Chicago)
“Entrevista con Jesus Ociel Baena” Noticias 24/7 (Univision)
“Fe en la comunidad LGBTQ” Despierta América (Univision)
“El mes del orgullo” Univision Contigo (Univision Dallas)
“La directora Aitch Alberto presenta: ‘Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe’” Ojo Crítico (CNN Español)
“La rapera Villano Antillano habla con Jorge Ramos sobre cómo su música está rompiendo estereotipos” Al Punto (Univision)
“‘La Sala’ brinda un lugar seguro para jóvenes de la comunidad LGBTQ+ en Washington Heights” Noticias 47 (Telemundo)
“Spirit Day” Hoy Día (Telemundo)
“Sufren en silencio” Noticias 52 (Telemundo)
Forget about the dog days, the “Days of Girlhood” are here! TikTok personality Dylan Mulvaney kicked off the week with the release of her debut non-holiday single “Days of Girlhood” (March 11) and followed that up with the unveiling of the track’s official music video on Wednesday (March 13).
“Calling women of all ages / Girls like me gotta learn the basics / Last look, quick change, sip champagne / Playin’ catch up ’cause we missed the pre-game,” she croons over a thumping pop-rock arrangement crafted by Nick Monson. Co-penned by Mulvaney and Skyler Stonestreet, the sugar-sweet pop single finds the influencer exalting the clichés of girlhood and honoring the impactful women in her own life.
Later in the song, which bears its title from that of her viral TikTok vlog series, Mulvaney appears to reference her Bud Light controversy, chanting, “Boys on the dance floor, it’s finally clear / The patriarchy is over, you can hold our beer!”
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The song’s Kajal-helmed music video opens with Mulvaney taking the dreaded “walk of shame” before assembling her girlfriends to start a recovery process that includes bubble baths, glasses of champagne, fun choreography by the swimming pool, and a strong commitment to pink, Barbiecore aesthetic. Several influences appear in the clip, including Gigi Gorgeous Getty, Veondre Mitchell and Loren Grey.
On Tuesday (March 12), Mulvaney shared a lengthy vlog reflecting on her second year of publicly transitioning to her Instagram and TikTok profiles. At the end of her reflections, she highlighted The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQIA+ suicide prevention, saying, “Every time that you stream my song or use it on a social media app, any profits that I make through Pride Month, I will be donating to The Trevor Project.”
Mulvaney’s debut pop single comes a week after Lady Gaga came to her defense. In celebration of International Women’s Day (March 8), Mulvaney shared a photoset of her and Lady Gaga posing together and interacting on the set of a photoshoot. An avalanche of transphobia ensued and on Monday (March 11), the Oscar-winning “Shallow” singer rebuked the vitriolic trolls.
“It’s obvious we still have to do as a society to make room for transgender lives to be cherished and upheld by all of us,” she wrote. “I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence… I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally.”
While “Days of Girlhood” marks Mulvaney’s first proper pop single, it is not her first musical release. Last year (Dec. 15, 2023) she released a gloomy holiday single titled “Blue Christmas.”
Listen to “Days of Girlhood” and watch the music video above.
Renée Rapp used her time on stage at Thursday night’s (March 14) at the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards to speak her mind about the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. While accepting the award for outstanding music artist at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles in front of a star-studded crowd, Rapp urged for an end to the hostilities that began after members of militant group Hamas stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, murdering, raping and assaulting more than 1,200 Israelis while taking more than 250 hostages.
“We’re in a room of very influential people, very privileged people, which is exciting and also a huge privilege to be a part of that,” Rapp said while reading a statement from her phone to applause from some in the room at the event hosted by Wayne Brady that also honored Niecy Nash-Betts, and Oprah Winfrey. “Having said that, I’d like to take the opportunity to show support and call for an immediate ceasefire and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.”
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The “Not My Fault” singer and Mean Girls star ended by urging the audience to “continue to advocate for yourselves, continue to advocate for your friends, your queer friends and for those who can’t advocate for themselves.”
To date, Israel’s deadly military response to the Hamas attack has reportedly killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank — many of them women and children — and displaced nearly two million Gazans as the war has dragged into its sixth month with no end in sight. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a ceasefire to end the conflict that has also caused a massive humanitarian crisis, with the UN warning that more than half a million Palestinians are facing famine-like conditions in the territory where nearly all infrastructure has broken down.
To date a number of other celebrities have also called for a ceasefire, including Gigi and Bella Hadid, Susan Sarandon, Kehlani, The Weeknd, Annie Lennox, Hunter Schafer, Hozier, Pedro Pascal, Angelina Jolie, Mark Ruffalo and Boygenius. On Thursday, Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer called for new elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu, saying the hardline leader’s government “no longer fits the needs of Israel.”
Schumer, who is Jewish and a long-time vigorous supporter of Israel, said, “As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice. There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after Oct. 7. In my opinion, that is best accomplished by holding an election.”
See video of Rapp’s statement below.
Pride Month is only three months away, which means the latest batch of headliners for the annual festivities are finally being announced.
On Wednesday (March 13), OUTLOUD Music Festival at WeHo Pride announced their official lineup, featuring superstars Kylie Minogue, Janelle Monáe and Diplo as the official headliners. The two-day music festival will take place on Saturday, June 1, and Sunday, June 2, at West Hollywood Park in Los Angeles.
Produced by entertainment agency JJLA, the festival will also feature additional performances from artists including Doechii, Ashnikko, Noah Cyrus, Trixie Mattel, Big Freedia, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, VINCINT and more. The event will also feature a special dance music stage, with additional performers to be announced at a future date.
In a statement released alongside the news, OUTLOUD CEO Jeff Consoletti said that the event was originally created to “support emerging queer artists who gain invaluable exposure alongside some of the most iconic names in music,” and thanked the city of West Hollywood for “allowing us to amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ artists and celebrate our community together.”
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The annual event is one part of WeHo Pride Weekend, which is set to take place from Friday, May 31, to Sunday, June 2. Along with the OUTLOUD Music Festival, the celebration will feature a street fair, multiple parades, and Friday Night @ OUTLOUD, an additional concert with details around performers to be announced soon.
In her own Instagram post, Minogue celebrated the news with a candid picture of her stepping out of a trailer in an emerald green gown. “Oh hiiii @officiallyoutloud,” she wrote. “Come celebrate ALL the lovers with me at @wehopride.”
Passes for the event officially go on sale Friday, March 15, at 10 a.m. PT on OUTLOUD’s website. Check out the full lineup for OUTLOUD Music Festival 2024 below:
If you come for one of Lady Gaga‘s Little Monsters, then she’s going to bring her claws out. A few online trolls found that out the hard way on Monday (March 11) when Gaga shared a lengthy retaliation against critics of Dylan Mulvaney.
In an Instagram post, Gaga — who recently posed for a photo with the transgender influencer in honor of International Women’s Day — called out a wave of commenters who flooded Mulvaney’s post with anti-trans rhetoric. “It’s appalling to me that a post about [International] Women’s Day by Dylan Mulvaney and me would be met with such vitriol and hatred,” she wrote.
The “Born This Way” singer went on to share that news outlets shouldn’t be calling the transphobic response to Mulvaney a “backlash,” and instead refer to it for what it is: “Hatred is hatred, and this kind of hatred is violence,” she wrote. “‘Backlash’ would imply that people who love or respect Dylan and me didn’t like something we did. This is not backlash. This is hatred.”
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This isn’t the first time Mulvaney has found herself in the eye of an anti-trans publicity storm. Following a promotion she did with Bud Light in 2023, both the influencer and the brand received a massive influx of hatred, resulting in a boycott of Bud Light led by artists such as Kid Rock, Ted Nugent and others. Mulvaney later criticized the beer brand for turning “a blind eye” to the vitriol she received from their promotional clip. “For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all,” she said.
In her post, Gaga took the opportunity to speak about the “immense work” that still needs doing when it comes to transgender acceptance around the world. “I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence,” she wrote. “I certainly do not speak for this community, but I have something to say. I hope all women will come together to honor us ALL for International Women’s Day, and may we do that always until THE DAY that all women are celebrated equally.”
Closing out her post, Gaga urged her audience to “honor the complexity and challenge of trans life,” and once again reminded people to use the proper phrasing when speaking about transphobic speech. “I love people too much to allow hatred to be referred to as ‘backlash.’ People deserve better.”
Check out Gaga’s full Instagram post here.
