While most commoners’ Pride months are filled with parades, drinking, and rainbow memorabilia, for drag performers, the month of June can be quite the marathon. It’s all about the gigs and looks, the bookings and boys. It may be cliché, but to quote Lady Gaga, it literally is, “No sleep, bus, club, another club, another club, another club, another club, plane, next place.”
For Trixie Mattel, it’s felt like Pride since 2015. First gaining attention for her turn on season 7 ofRuPaul’s Drag Racewhere she placed sixth, the superstar used that moment as a launch pad. She has since won season 3 ofRuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, become a YouTube darling, judgedQueen of the Universeon Paramount+, and most recently premieredTrixie Motel: Drag Me Homeon Max. She’s released music, is a successful DJ and podcast host, and has a makeup company. She’s the Jennifer Hudson ofDrag Race, taking a non-winning finish and milking it for all it’s worth. (EGOT for Trixie when?)
“Kelly Clarkson probably could still be Kelly Clarkson if she hadn’t won,” Mattel says. “Winning is a bonus, and I say that as somebody who’s won as well. Drag, for me, has never been about waiting for other people to tell me when it’s my moment. It’s never been about waiting for other people to give me my chair or my flowers and say, now you’re the star. I’ve never felt like I needed that validation. I just always believed in myself.”
Here, Trixie discusses the new season ofTrixie Motel, a brand new Pride video with YouTube, her upcoming break from drag, and how the art form has evolved and changed.
