"I think Loverboy is a great idea. I think it’s going to take off. People are ready."
We hung out with Ru Paul’s Drag Race Season Three Winner, Raja, earlier this year when she flew over for The Meth Lab at The Black Cap. The day after her show we took Sutan out for lunch. It was nowhere exciting or glamorous, just the local Pizza Express which was empty except for our grumpy Russian waitress. And we didn’t really take him out for lunch seeing as we ate most of our Fiorentina. And dough balls…with extra garlic butter. Anyway it was all part of the grand plan, because as we were busy stuffing our face, Sutan poured the tea.
Did you find there was a lot of support for you as you came up into drag?
Um, I think so I’ve been doing this the last 20 years and I’ve seen the gay scene evolve. The attitudes we have towards drag have changed. Now it’s a lot more popular and it’s accepted once again. Before that it just did not exist. In the early 2000s every gay man wanted to be an Abercrombie Zombie. Everyone wanted to fit in. There’s this whole other movement that’s going on and drag is the catalyst once again. People are allowing others the creative freedom of being gay. When I first started doing it we were looked at as being disgusting. It was like “Why are you still doing this? This is the antiquated idea of being gay. You’re putting out a negative image of gay people and cross-dressers.” Now that’s not really the case, everyone wants to be a drag queen. Everyone is using the language. The draglossary is just coming out.
We’re six series into Drag Race now…
I know! When will we reach the saturation point? Honey, we’ve already reached it. Ru and I were having a discussion about this the other day and she pointed out to me that in January there will be 75 RuPaul Drag Race Queens. That actually put a little bit of a fire under my ass. I was like “OK Sutan, you can’t just sit here and wait and be pretty anymore. You have to think about what your next step is as an artist. Do you want to be part of this herd or do you want to be someone who is set apart doing their own thing or do you want to follow someone’s career mimicking something that already exists?” So that’s been the conversation I’ve been having with myself and sometimes the voices wake me up in the morning. The voices scream in my head like, “Bitch, wake up. What is next?”
We just dressed Francois Sagat up as Madonna.
Get it! I think Loverboy is a great idea. I think it’s going to take off. People are ready.
What age did you first become interested in the female wardrobe?
I think I was three, I can remember that far back. We had moved to Indonesia and we were at my Uncle’s home. There was this driveway full of these large pebbles. I remember putting on my father’s long soccer socks right up my thigh and I put the rocks in my heel because I wanted the height.
That sounds like some torturous Chinese feet binding experience.
Right? But not in my mind. They were thigh high stockings with a high heel. I’d always been fascinated by it and when I was a kid I used to play in my Mum’s closet. I’d spend a lot of time alone in there just wearing her shoes. My Mum didn’t have a lot of sexy things but she had a lot of beautiful things like kaftans, because we lived in indonesia and it was very tropical there. There were just these big colourful pieces of fabric that I would twirl around and I was probably four or five years old.
Do you see yourself in upcoming queens?
Oh yeah, absolutely. To me that is one of the most wonderful things. The only thing I really want out of this life is to leave a legacy. I don’t want to die without anyone realising I existed. I don’t have to be rich or that powerful. I just need people to know I was here because there are so many billions of ants and some infest this Earth.
Do you think the older generations help the younger ones enough?
I feel like I am the older generation now. I am almost 40. I am technically a Daddy. I am taking that responsibility. I am influencing a lot of people. I don’t know what anyone else is doing. I’ve had a lot of chats with kids who are transgender. I want them to live their lives. I want them to be fulfilled.
Some queens I know spend a lot more on drag clothes and don’t give a shit about their own clothes.
Not me. I don’t agree with that at all. Unless you want to be a woman all the time – then that’s what you do. But I don’t. There are two deities that live in one vessel. I don’t think I should neglect my male side just because she gets to be more beautiful. I got really fed up with people saying how beautiful I was in drag. People would say “Raja you look better in drag” and to me that is the biggest insult. I’m like “What I look like a piece of shit walking down the street?” I’m 40. I want to embrace those two sides.
What did you think when you first walked into Season Three’s Green Room?
Well I’d planned it all out of course. I was like “OK I am going to make a first entrance so I am going to make one that is really going to piss people off.” I knew what type of queens I was going to have to deal with. I wanted to piss people off and I wanted people to notice me immediately. I consciously decided not to wear any breasts and something that was very comfortable because that first challenge is the one where they fuck you up. They set you on fire, throw you off a building, whatever. I thought of myself as an athlete, I was like “OK I’m ready.” I wore something very comfortable but the hat choice had to be different. I was like “OK I need a kooky reveal.” So that’s how that came about.
How much longer can they do the show?
I don’t know. I know that this next season is going to be fantastic. I am a giant Courtney Act fan. Does she need the show? Sure she does. Sure Gaga’s video was in her club and she’s had coverage but why not have more? Out of sight, out of mind. The more we do, the more awareness people have of us. With someone like Courtney, he is not just a visual thing. He is a talent. Shane has an amazing voice. He is brilliant. He is a very spiritual guy. I am such a huge fan. I wish him a lot of luck because he is fabulous.
Who are you tightest with since leaving?
Manilla and I smoke marijuana together and come up with amazing ideas. We drink white wine. Both of us are illustrators so we just talk and draw and laugh all day long. Delta does her own thing. She lives with her boyfriend in another city. Carmen, we don’t get to see very much but we are very close. We fight. We laugh. We’re like sisters. Is it like Sex and the City? Yes, I’m Carrie of course. The self-obsessed one. It’s all about me. She writes, she’s creative, kooky, smokes…
There’s a petition going round for Carmen to be a Victoria’s Secret model. Is the fashion industry ready for that? Is it just because she is trans?
I think it’s all of the above. This is the time that really embraces that idea. I’ve always said that the next RuPaul is going to be someone who is trans. People are going to like the drag queens and think “Wow, that’s cool.” But the actual person who is going to take the big step and take something from being provocative to being mainstream is going to be someone trans, whether it be male to female or female to male. Carmen could be that person or the catalyst to that person. I am so proud of Carmen Carrera. I am in love with Carmen Carrera. She’s like my soulmate or my sister. Everytime we’re together we’re like little bunnies cuddling together.
Is there a goal for Raja?
My ultimate goal is to be happy and find enlightenment and do that through my art. it will evolve and change over the years. i don’t know how to set a goal to be honest. Anytime I’ve set a goal, it’s never happened. I’ve always changed direction. I thought I was going to be a hugely successful makeup artist for the rest of my life and who knew that drag would be so big for me?
