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The Canada vs. The World star is ready to take the, well, world by storm.
One of the cruelest realities of Drag Race is that we’re often introduced to a queen only to have her sashay away too soon and before we really have the chance to get to know her. Thankfully with the advent of All Stars and the Vs. the World spin-offs, queens we craved more from are ending up back where they belong, on our TVs.Case in point: Tynomi Banks.
Tynomi shante’d into the Werk Room of Canada’s Drag Race in season one. The veteran drag it-girl had her fellow contestants absolutely gooped, gagged, and shaking in their designer stilettos. So it was shocking that she ended up suffering the fate of being an early out. However, she absolutely left her mark, like any star would, with the time she had.
Naturally, she was a perfect fit for a return to the main stage for Canada vs The World season two, where once again we were blown away by her innate star power, especially on display in the girl group challenge. She also brought the fun shade and drama to Untucked and her confessionals that we always love. So while it was sad to say goodbye to this powerhouse queen yet again, excitingly she is ready to take her star-power mainstream with a new pop era that includes dropping her own music and collaborating with the Nelly Furtado on her album coming this summer.
We caught up with Tynomi to get all the tea about her relationships with her fellow Drag Race sisters. Who she connected with, who she beefed with, and what the next evolution of Tynomi will look — and sound like. Let’s just say, the sky’s the limit for this queen.
Congrats on the Drag Race comeback. It was so exciting to have you back on our TVs! Do you have a favorite memory or experience from filming?
Just being in the room with these powerhouses [queens] Alexis... Kennedy, and Eureka, those are girls [who are] super celebrities for me. For me to be in the room and be amongst the crowd, and then have them say, they've heard of me and that they were excited to be with me, too, it's just such a validating thing.
That it's for Canada, [is exciting] too, because these girls don't get the same opportunities [girls from] the states get. So just being on that show alone and it being international... I was overjoyed, so happy. I went in confident, but it boosted me up even higher.
You’re that girl who traveled the world and performed with many people. Was anyone in the room you were excited to meet for the first time?
Eureka. I worked with her once a few years ago, and now that she's in an authentic self, it was really nice, it's different energies. She's just very calming, very supportive, very funny.
Alexis has such a fire and she loves drag. That moment when she fought with Eureka. She's like, 'No, this isn't a joke for me. I go on these shows to continuously get booked and be in the limelight.' I totally understand what she means by that because I do the same.
Kennedy, she's, oh! Just to find out about her family, and to get to know her. She's so interesting.
Speaking of queens you did know coming into the Werk Room, let's talk about Miss Fiercalicious, who seemed to be getting under your skin a little bit. How would you describe your relationship with her?
Definitely a family member that I could see once a year. [Laughs] She means well. She shows her kindness and love in such a backward way. We were fighting one time for like two months and then we just made up at DragCon. But no one knows because she was really mad at me. I thought she would write about it, she was actually mad, but we saw each other a DragCon and made up. After that, she'll text me to say, 'Come to my show, we should be together.' She does things in her own loving way. So, that's why I was like, 'Okay, you are definitely a family member. Not too much hate but love. The love is there.
I am so glad you made up. Where did the tension lie, was it from being on the show together?
When I get moody, and especially her talking to me, it set me off and I told her off. It was some mean things and she was just like, 'I'm not talking to you anymore.' I'm like, 'Okay.' She didn't block me on things, she actually stopped talking to me. But the funny thing is, we have so many gigs together that we got at the same time so we both said yes to do that. But I was like, 'Oh, but we're not talking so don't ask us to do anything.' And she said the same thing. She was like, 'I'm not talking to her but I'll do the gig.' [Laughs]
Speaking of gigs, what's next for you?
My song came out called 'Die For Love’, it's on all streaming services. It's special because I got signed to a company called Wax Records and it's the umbrella company of Universal.
Yes, she’s breaking into the mainstream!
I'm being played on radio stations! It's kind of surreal. And I’m on Nelly Furtado’s new album. I'm doing a feature on one of her songs and that comes out in September.
Oh my God, that's huge. Congratulations, the sky really is the limit for you! I cannot wait to see this new music era that you are unveiling.
Oh my god, that means the world, thank you so much.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
