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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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 […]