RuPaul’s Drag Race has been called both the biggest drag stage in the world and the Olympics of drag — and with good reason. It’s a place where incredible queens test their mettle against one another while a legion of fans watch on, cheering passionately and sadly sometimes jeering with just as much fervor.
It offers incredible rewards, but with a lot of risks — especially for returning queens who made a great run of it on their first (or even second round), as was the case with Alyssa Edwards (RuPaul’s Drag Race US), Kween Kong (Drag Race Down Under), and Miranda Lebrao (Drag Race Brazil), all of whom join Global All Stars after they either made it to the finale or left a massive impression on the fandom. So to come back and risk those reputations, they would need a good reason.
For Alyssa Edwards, who became instantly iconic in season five and solidified her fan-favorite status on All Stars 2, this time around the choice to compete was personal.
“This is a global stage, and...it’s been eight years since I’ve returned. This was a personal goal. I didn’t return for validation or vindication, and I think after losing the crown, but ultimately getting, ultimately the bigger win in the end, I wanted to click that refresh button,” Alyssa tells PRIDE. “As a teacher myself, it’s something I teach my students. Knowledge is power. Power is key to success, and 12 queens from 12 countries would be an opportunity for me to learn a little bit [about] how drag is celebrated in each culture, and each part of the world.”
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Not that she hasn’t seen her share of the world, as she is the first to say. “I’ve gotten to travel the world, and my pumps have touched all the soil, all the grounds, but this was an opportunity for me to grab a little bit of more knowledge,” she says, explaining that simply being in the room with her competitors like Kween Kong and Miranda offered her a chance to grow and learn, and even pick up makeup tips from her sisters.
But she was also excited for the world to see how she’s grown and changed since we last were treated to her tongue-popping presence on our screens. “Evolving is inevitable, right? I’m very proud of the work that I’ve done with this character, that I thought that I knew [but when] I stepped into the Werk Room, I learned very quickly that this is a very powerful space that you have so much more to learn and from all sorts too,” Alyssa shares. “I’m very proud of the Alyssa Edwards that I’ve become, and I just wanted to share that with the world and challenge myself.”
Like Alyssa, Kween is excited for audiences around the world to see how she’s grown since season two of Drag Race Down Under, where she made it to the finale but missed out on the crown. “I think I got in my head, and I stopped myself from taking that crown even though I had everything within my being to snatch the title,” she tells PRIDE. “This time coming back, I put less pressure on myself. [I thought] let’s prioritize fun and joy at the forefront of what you’re about to bring, and just trust the process that you are excellent and that you’re going to represent where I come from at the best of my capacity. That little shift in mentality really dictated how this journey went for me on the season, without giving anything away.”
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Part of the reason fans first fell in love with Kween, aside from her incredible performance skills — and, let’s be honest, she’s gorgeous in and out of drag — was the vulnerability she shared with the audience when she opened up about her mental health struggles. Today, Kween hopes she can inspire those same people to see what’s on the other side of addressing those issues head-on. “The thing that anyone struggling with mental health will see is that it is really about aligning yourself in a great way and having great role models. Ru and Michelle gave me some really big life lessons that I needed to hear and because she’s got lived experience that I respect, because she’s a queen of color [they] really were things that helped me sort out some of the things that I was not dealing with in my pedestrian life,” she admits. “So coming back, I wanted to show everybody growth. I wanted to show everyone a little bit more glamor and also just unapologetic Kween being Kween and having fun — and being a dickhead.”
Miranda Lebrao is another example of a queen who blew us away with her avant-garde artistry, and her personal story of persevering against unbelievable odds. As a child she experienced pain and suffering no one should: in this case, severe burns at the hand of a family member that resulted in an injury to her arm which continues to lose strength and mobility. But surviving that situation also imbued her with a fighting spirit that is both relatable and aspirational. Returning for Global All Stars was a chance for Miranda to celebrate her art, and show the audience that she’s not done fighting — but she’s learning to do it even better. “Sometimes I’m really tough, and I was always thinking that every fight should be a tough fight, and now I’m learning graciously how to understand my fights,” she tells PRIDE. “For me, doing drag, it’s really hard because I’m losing movement in my body, and it’s getting stronger every year, this disability, and for me to understand how to work with that and keep doing drag.” She has no plans to give up, and Global All Stars has become her declaration to the world that she isn’t going anywhere. “I’m still fighting, and then I’m still learning how to live and how to present myself, even though sometimes it’s hard for me,” she confides. ”It’s my biggest point when people see Miranda from Drag Race Brazil, and Miranda from Global All Stars.”
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The wonderful thing about drag and Drag Race is that in one moment it’s incredibly poignant and moving, and the next it’s pure shade and fun. When asked to play a quick game of M.F.A. (Marry, F*uck, Avoid), the queens had a blast with it.
“I would definitely marry Soa [de Muse]. We are like soulmates,” Miranda began. “I would definitely eff Pythia for obvious, clear reasons. And I would avoid, I have to say, I would avoid myself sometimes.”
Despite being a pageant queen, Alyssa kept it real — and hilarious. “I’m going to marry, for sure, Gala [Varo], because I don’t think she understands everything I’m saying. So I feel like she would just sit there and just listen, and then she would probably say, ‘Porque?’ It’s not a secret that I’m my biggest fan. So, I think I would have to marry someone that would also be just a fan.”
“I’m going to avoid Tessa Testicle because it might be a single white female situation going on over here. This lady’s trying to take all of my gigs, my drag, my identity,” Alyssa laughs. “I gotta be careful with her. If I go missing. Y’all know who to call. Kween, you’re my sister. I want y’all to call the embassy and say, call Tessa, she’s got Alyssa locked up over there.”
“The F word... Now, I am a lady. I cannot believe y’all asking me this,” she pauses to think. “I don’t know who I would pick, because I need to know y’all’s credit scores first, no tea, no shade. I’m a much more seasoned lady than all of y’all. I’ve already had many of those nights. I’m not interested, baby. So I want to say ... I’m probably going to have a three-way — because if one doesn’t work out I could switch over — it’s going to probably be Eva [le Queen] and Kween.”
Finally, Kween also had fun with the question, starting off by returning the favor to her sister. “Marry: Definitely Alyssa, because Alyssa got the coins and the good credit score. Mama Alyssa will be Daddy Alyssa and fund my incredible lifestyle, I won’t be working and doing drag ever again,” she says while a delighted Alyssa screams. “Avoiding: All of them! Except for Miranda. I’ll be avoiding the rest of them because I’ll be living a high life with Alyssa. And who would I fug? I would probably make sweet, sweet love to Jamal Sims.”
Once again, relatable.
