Nina West’s “Drag Alphabet” Is a “Campy, Fun, Larger-Than-Life ‘Drag Race’ Take On the ABCs”

Nina West has the range. The reigning Miss Congeniality from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11 can turn out a creepy bop, she can bring the Christmas cheer, and her new single is here to remind everyone that she can also educate the children.

After touring the world and popping up in high-profile projects (hello, Elizabeth Banks!), Nina West’s “The Drag Alphabet” serves back-to-basics realness by putting a fierce twist on the first thing every kid learns. From “Absolutely” to “Zsa Zsa,” this new ditty will get your kids on their feet and also make you guffaw if you know your Drag Race references (“H” and “I” specifically).

But if you think “The Drag Alphabet” is just a kid-friendly pit-stop on Nina West’s pop culture journey, think again. It’s no surprise that the queen that frequently cites Pee-wee Herman and the Muppets as major influences wants to be the one to provide all-ages drag content that’s inclusive, informative, and fun. What does that look like going forward? Well, it could look like even more music videos, or it could look like something longer…

To tout the release of “The Drag Alphabet,” we checked in with Nina West to chat about kid-friendly drag, her Disney dreams, her Kristen Bell fandom, and the new class of Drag Race freshmen.

Decider: Well I’m excited to get to talk about this new single and video that’s coming out next week! What was the impetus behind the drag alphabet? How did you decide that this was what you wanted to do next?

Nina West: A ton of people that were following me and watching the different tours and different stuff I’ve been producing, I wanted to refocus everyone to remind them that I wanted to also be in the children’s space. I thought it was really important for me to go back to that building block and think, “Right, the alphabet is pretty basic but let’s go back here and let’s start right here, and here’s a really campy, fun, larger-than-life Drag Race take on the ABCs.”

“The Drag Alphabet” also gives a platform to two young activists, Daniela Maucere and Ivy Alona.

Daniela and Ivy are two incredible, incredible, incredible young people who are deaf and join me in this video. Ivy is transgender and incredible and brilliant. Their energy on set really informed a lot of what was gonna happen in the video. And taking that very important message of representation matters, as trite as it sounds and as simplistic as it may be to put into practice, it was very much the goal from the onset to make that happen.

When I released “Drag Is Magic,” my friend who has a deaf child said, “I would love for my child to be able to watch this video but it’s all subtitles. I love what you’re trying to do but it’s not all inclusive.” And that was like, “Oh my god, they’re right! This is not all inclusive,” and I was like, “Well I’m an idiot, how did I miss this?” And so the “Drag Alphabet” became the catalyst for wanting to really practice what I preach and enact a reminder that representation matters.

It’s also great to see inclusion of kids that are also part of the LGBTQ community. Conservatives wrongly think that all queer content is immediately adult content, and this video disproves that. It’s also about teaching lessons, the same as any children’s content.

Yeah! Ivy gets up everyday and she has to brush her teeth and she has to make the decision of whether or not she’s gonna share her toy with her friend or not, and that’s why I think it’s important that someone like me is able to come into the space and say, “Look, this voice matters too. She matters too.” And now someone else who’s like Ivy will have an access point to feel seen and to feel like they are worthy and they have value.

“The Drag Alphabet” and your championing of drag content for kids also speaks to the moment we’re in now, where there are a lot more drag-based shows coming out that aren’t Drag Race. We have the Dragnificent coming to TLC, we have We’re Here coming to HBO. Are we ready for a drag-centric kid’s show?

I think we are, and I can say that on a real world, practical experience. I have been touring, and while on the road I have done children’s story time. I’ve been in venues where parents are exposing their children to drag, so why not give them an option to watch content that is actually created for children?

There are variety of spaces within which people entertain. Chris Rock can do a stand-up show that is full of profanity and vulgarity, but he can also enter into the children’s space through doing voiceover work for the Madagascar. He’s capable of entering those spaces and acknowledging that he’s providing different work and different art for those spaces. The same is true for drag. There’s drag that exists, and rightfully so, in nightclubs, bars, performance venues that are for adults. I’m trying to push it and say, “Listen, I have a voice as an artist and sometimes that voice is for an adult-only audience and sometimes that voice is for children’s content, specific content that is for their education and entertainment.” And it becomes so easy for an argument on the right to say, “Well, this is perverse and”—well I’m sorry. I come at it from an educated and, I think, grounded standpoint that we are able to turn things on and off in spaces that allow us to wear a variety of different hats, or a variety of wigs, for the occasion.

When we talked last September, we talked about your desire to bring drag to Disney. Since then you’ve started going to Disney premieres and even taken photos with Disney CEO Bob Iger. How are things going on that front?

[Laughs] You’ll hear it here first: there’s nothing to report! I wish there was. I’ll be honest: I think it is a slow barometer to move and I think Disney is being very respectful of both myself, the space that I’m wanting to enter, and their brand.

View this post on Instagram

It was a very good night. @pixaronward @pixar @disney thank you for having me. 💙

A post shared by Nina West (@ninawest) on Feb 20, 2020 at 7:23am PST

As a fan and lover of the brand, I respect that and I think it is going to take time. I’m not impatiently knocking. I am saying that as a reminder that I’m still here and I’m still willing to be the one that you take a chance on.

Speaking of Disney+, have you been bingeing anything that you’re into?

I am a massive fan of the Kristen Bell show. What is it—?

Encore!

Oh my god! The first episode takes place in the time period that I was in high school and I was like, oh my god, it’s the class of ’97 or something. I forget what year it is, but I’m like, this is me, and it just felt very familiar. I’m a really big Kristen Bell fan. She and her friend Jackie Tohn are working on a lot of children’s content and that’s like another big dream, to work with Jackie and Kristen on something because I just think they’re really smart, savvy, and passionate—passionate people who care about the same things I care about, specifically the same issues.

Now I want to see your high school class on Encore! Season 2. What musical would y’all do if that happened?

We did a few musicals. We did Music Man my freshmen year and I had a bit part. We did Bye Bye Birdie one year and I was Conrad Birdie. That would be ridiculously, stupidly amazing!

I can’t not talk about Season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. What is it like seeing a new crop of freshmen come into the high school?

Oh my god, come on, it’s exciting, it’s exhilarating. You’re sitting there going, I remember exactly what this feels like. Especially for the most recent season, the Season 11 queens, it still feels so new. It doesn’t feel like it was all a year ago. Also so much has happened it’s like, “Okay wait, how long? It’s only been a year?”

Now I’m feeling the pressure to ensure that I am still producing, but it’s much more exciting now that the focus shifts a lot to the new queens. Now it gives me a little bit more opportunity to figure out the path that I’m continuing to carve for myself. Season 12 will allow me to really, hopefully, fine-tune my goals and my focus.

This interview has been edited for clarity.