Once in a while, on RuPaul’s Drag Race, there is a lip sync for your life, your legacy, or for the crown that lights every cell in your body on fire and reinstills your pride that you are, indeed, a flaming homosexual.
Watching and re-watching the most legendary lip syncs on Drag Race — like Tatianna and Alyssa Edwards’ “Shut Up and Drive” and Dida Ritz and The Princess’s “This Will Be,” just to name a few of my personal faves — can remind you why terms for drag like “female impersonation” are outdated. These queens aren’t just trying to “impersonate” or otherwise replicate the divas that they’re lip syncing to; they’re actively redefining the limits of human performance by capturing every single detail of the song and amplifying it through dramatic lip quivers, campy gestures, and extravagant choreography.
Not to mention that these showdowns often feature blood-thirsty competitors who, despite the fact that they were all “sisters'' five seconds ago in the Werk Room, are willing to repeatedly smash their taints into the ground to claw an inch closer to the coveted title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” (And if you’re Widow Von’Du, you might even be willing to dislocate your shoulder and legs while making sustained eye-contact with the judges.) Reveling in the potential that someone might be figuratively “murdered” on the main stage is how I imagine it must feel for other people to watch professional wrestling or any other combat sport — except these gals are wearing big wigs and outfits that are stoned to the gawds. In the current queer lexicon, Drag Race’s lip syncs are simultaneously a sport, theater, a site for gender possibilites, and a realm where, at any given moment, a new assassin can rise.
The palpable feeling that a new assassin had emerged came over me not even five seconds into the lip sync showdown from Friday’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13. The two queens who had landed in the bottom from whiffing the week’s acting challenge were Denali and Kahmora Hall, and it was already a tense match-up. Both Chicago queens and dear friends from before the show, the two emerged onto the main stage wearing extravagant costumes that both depicted mythical creatures; Denali’s colorful outfit depicted the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcóatl, while Kahmora was in a Bob Mackie-inspired gold dragon number. But as soon as Crystal Waters’ infectious ‘90s house jam “100% Pure Love” started, and Denali tossed her train of feathers off the stage, it became clear that she was out for blood.
No longer impaired by figure skates, as was the case during the first lip sync of the season that she lost to La La Ri, Denali proved that she is straight-up one of the best dancers this show has ever seen. With each graceful flick of her fingers and pantomime of the track’s cowbell, she stole my heart — and that was before she launched into a vicious duck walk that stole the show. No shade to Miss Kahmora, either, who looked stunning in her gown, but was unfortunately constricted by its tight train that wrapped around her legs. (Anyway, she had already made her iconic mark on the show when she got into full drag to play a lesbian tree, even though she was literally wearing a green-screen suit.)
The contestants in the back hollered and cheered Denali on, too, and by the time she landed her final split, it seemed like RuPaul had already made up her mind. “I pity the fool who has to go up against you,” Mother Ru declared before telling Denali, “shanté, you stay.”
Of course, that meant Kahmora Hall had to sashay away, but the two friends reunited in Denali’s new video set to “100% Pure Love” called “Chicago Drag Excellence,” which sought to showcase members of their local drag community. It featured a couple of notable Drag Race alums, like Detox, Dida Ritz, the Vixen, and Laila McQueen, as well as a voiceover from Shea Couleé.
“As a gift back to the community that lifted me up to where I am now,” Denali wrote in the video’s description. “This project is queer joy presented through the most resilient drag scene that I am so honored to be a part of.” We stan a humble and talented queen.
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