Soundtrack Of My Life: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Detox

June 5, 2020

The first album I owned

Madonna – ‘The Immaculate Collection’

“I was basically birthed loving Madonna because my sister Heather, who’s seven years older than me, was a huge Madonna fan. This was her first greatest hits album and I was probably only five or six when it came out, but I can remember we played the shit out of it. Really, Madonna’s been the soundtrack of my life for as long as I can remember.”

The song I wish I’d written

Lil’ Kim – ‘Queen Bitch’

“You know, Heather and I are gangsta at heart and Lil’ Kim is our queen. Every time we listen to these songs we feel like boss bitches. Literally, any time we need to get ourselves pumped up for anything, we put on Lil’ Kim’s ‘Hardcore’ album and it totally amps us. And every time we see Lil’ Kim, which has been a lot lately, we run over to say how much we love her. Heather and I are both tall, and Lil’ Kim is small, so it’s like two vultures standing over her being like: ‘You are our queen!’”

The song I can no longer listen to

Lady Gaga – ‘Born This Way’

“I mean, I hear so many of the same songs over and over again because I perform all over the world and queens do the same numbers everywhere, but ‘Born This Way’ I could probably stand without hearing again – especially because it’s so contrived. I feel like she didn’t get much shit [about the song] to begin with, except from Madonna fans, so maybe that’s why I feel the way I feel about it. But you know, I’ve been hearing it in every gay bar all over the world and at every Pride event for so long now – anything that’s trying to be inclusive to the LGBTQ community, it’s always ‘Born This Way’ they’re amping.”

The first gig I went to

Bob Carlisle, 1990s

“He’s this religious singer who sang a song called ‘Butterfly Kisses’ that every white girl got married to in the ’90s. I remember my mum took me to a Bob Carlisle concert and the audience was a bunch of old white women and then somewhere in there my blatantly feminine closeted-ass going: ‘Werq!’ But aside from Bob Carlisle, I consider myself really lucky that my first really big show was seeing Madonna’s Re-Invention World Tour in 2004.”

The song I want played at my funeral

Shakespears Sister – ‘Stay’

“It’s so over-the-top, dramatic and amazing – it’s all about yearning for your unrequited love to stay with you. In my head I imagine this really crazy, extravagant funeral where there’s angels and devils and everyone’s wailing and hugging each other. This would have to be the song choice for that kind of funeral, I think.”

The album that I’ll never get bored with during quarantine

Lauryn Hill – ‘The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill’

“We’ve been listening to this album a lot during quarantine, but I guess we listen to this album a lot anyway – it’s kind of a constant in this household. It’s filled with so much beauty, inspiration and incredible lyrics that I don’t think you could ever really get bored with it. I’ve also been listening to a lot of Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, who’ve both been really integral artists to our lives – they just did a Verzuz battle on Instagram Live which was really amazing. Oh, and we’ve also been listening to Róisín Murphy on Spotify. To me, Róisín Murphy is an icon and a legend and just incredibly talented.”

The song that reminds me of home

The Righteous Brothers – ‘Unchained Melody’

“I heard this song so much as a kid because my dad really loved it. It’s one of the first songs that I learned by heart and could sing along with. To this day, it still resonates strongly with me and the rest of my family. It’s been a pivotal song in my life.”

The song that reminds me of RuPaul’s Drag Race

RuPaul – ‘Jealous of My Boogie’

“Here’s the thing: because I do all the RuPaul’s Drag Race ‘Werq The World’ tours, all you hear is fucking RuPaul music. And I remember when I finally got cast on the show, part of my audition tape was me saying: ‘Please can you put me on the show so I don’t have to learn any of your fucking music any more!’”

The album that saved my life

Madonna – ‘Ray Of Light’

“I would say that this album saved my life. My dad had a mid-life crisis and moved us from Arizona to this tiny town in North Carolina and it was the first time I was made aware of racism and bigotry and stuff like that, and I got bullied for being different. This was all happening at the time the album came out, so of course being a huge Madonna fan I bought the album – it was basically the only thing that kept me going. There were multiple suicide attempts in that time, but this album was the only thing that kept me out of that negative head space and focused on positivity. I think ‘Ray Of Light’ was a precursor to me owning my sexuality and owning my individualism and trying to work through that.”