The OG winner of Canada’s Drag Race, what’s her name….Priyanka has just celebrated her thirtieth B’Day, her fifth year doing drag and one year since the release of her debut EP, Taste Test.

Today she drops the video for the EP’s fourth and final single, ‘Snatch’ feat. Cheryl Hole. The track is a call-to-arms for everyone to take time out of their day and just reveal their true selves for a second. You do you, gurl! But it’s also an ode to the friends and friendships that allow these moments to happen. The song is a total moment of drag euphoria but don’t be fooled by the bops that she’s got because Priyanka is out to not just sing about throwing on a wig, but also her….emotions?!

While tucked up on a tour bus travelling across America, Priyanka tells Loverboy her opinions on Drag Race Canada Season 3, her upcoming queer rom-com and how in a gay slasher flick, she’d be an extra….as if!

 

Priyanka, where in the world are you talking to us from?
I’m on a bus travelling across America. I can see a lot of hills and bushes. Have you seen Wrong Turn? It feels very that.

I know you are on that bus with a bunch of other queens. So which of you would be murdered first in this movie?
Probably Crystal Method. I feel like she wouldn’t know what to do in a situation like that but I also feel like she might actually end up being the serial killer, you know?! Kylie Sonique Love would be the one to save us all. And me? I’m just an extra. No, I’m the Neve Campbell, the one that is not the best at fighting but just so adored. People would be saying, ‘But what’s going to happen to Priyanka?! She has to make it to the next movie!’

Well, before our Wrong Turn tangent, I’d actually meant to start out saying Happy 30th but also Happy Fifth Drag Anniversary!
Thank you. It’s wild to think how much has happened. My entire life has been fast-tracked. I came out pretty late, in my mid-twenties. Then I started drag. Then I won Canada’s Drag Race. Then I became a pop star! It all happened very fast. Whenever I get a project, I’m on it 100%. So the minute drag entered my mind, I was like, ‘I have to do whatever it takes to do this one thing.’ Then I did that!

So what’s the goal for your thirties then?
In my twenties I lived a very chaotic life. No structure. No sleep. Another bus. Another club. In your thirties you are like, ‘OK, I can achieve great things while also giving myself some love and some days off.’ Those are my goals but I’m so bad at it. I’ve worked from thirteen to make things happen. So whenever I’m resting, I’m like, ‘Am I allowed to do this?’

I had that same feeling when I moved from the chaos of London to the chilled vibes of Barcelona.
I was just in Spain for like ten hours, performing at Madrid Pride and people there are very relaxed. I was shocked at the fandom there. They were chanting my name after every song, they knew all the words…I was like, ‘This fandom in Spain is very different.’ They are very loyal. Even if they don’t know who the hell you are, they act like they’ve been following you since the day you were born.

Have you been watching Drag Race España?
Some of it but I have so much Drag Race to catch up on it’s disgusting. When we’re doing our makeup, I’ll throw it on and we all just zone out because we are focusing on our makeup, so we only watch about five minutes.

PHONE CUTS OUT…

Uh-oh we’ve lost Priyanka…

PRIYANKA RE-ENTERS CALL…

Phew, I thought the Wrong Turn drag queen serial killer had got ya, gurrrrl!
It was very dramatic! All of a sudden the bus just tumbles over, zombies come and eat me, and you’re like, ‘Just as she was about to promote her new music. Noooooo! We loved her. She was on the road to pop stardom, now she’s…dead!!!!’

Now you’re back from the dead, tell me how ‘Snatch’ came to be.
The four other songs on the EP are about boys, heartbreak and in my opinion just the easiest shit to write about. When we started ‘Snatch’ I wanted a dancehall song, an homage to Guyana where my parents are from.
At the beginning, we wrote an initial version that I came away liking but when I went back to it, I hated it! It felt like ‘Old McDonald Had A Farm.’ There are some lyrics in ‘Snatch’ that we kept like, ‘I’m gonna wap wap wap wap like Cardi’ and ‘Stompin’ like a stallion’ referencing Megan. But imagine if the whole song was celebrity references, it was like that. So annoying. I hated it.
Then we got into this conversation about how sometimes you can feel so down on yourself, you want to throw yourself a pity party and have everyone else feel bad for you too! That is what ‘Snatch’ is all about. ‘Scratch that itch, be a bitch.’ Be who you are! These are the kind of friendships we need in our lives that let us have these ups and downs.

And what about you and Cheryl? That wasn’t a duo I knew I needed…
Me either! It’s kind of crazy because she is one of those people, like Lemon, with whom I have an unconditional friendship. Cheryl was willing to do anything it took to get this song done. I’m like that too, that’s what makes us friends. We actually recorded that song on Zoom. I was in a moving vehicle, on my way to Ontario, my music producer was in Toronto and Cheryl was in England.  It was also fun having her in Canada for the first time to do the video. She wanted to try all the Canadian treats. She face-timed her husband trying poutine for the first time. It was so cute.

Bimini was supposed to be working with you on this EP too, but she left you on Read! The audacity! Has she returned your message?
Ahaha…Bimini and I are still great pals. I originally DMed her about her verse and she sent me a voice-note with how her rap was going to be. It was amazing! Then she never wrote again!
But then when I saw her in person, she was so apologetic and said, ‘I am just in a whirlwind.’ I said, ‘No, you go and focus on being famous. Go scratch your itch, be a bitch, we’re going to work it out and it’s going to be fine.’ She’s got her own album coming out so us music queens are working our way up.

At the end of the ‘Snatch’ video we see ’New era loading.’ Are you working on new material already?
I am. There are so many amazing amazing stories that I am incredibly excited to share that the world has no idea about and it’s going to be great.

You’ve said you don’t want to perform drag music, but be more on a par musically with Little Mix and Black Pink. What do you see as the main differences?
Sometimes when you work with producers who don’t necessarily know you as an artist, they’re like, ‘Well you’re a drag artist, talk about snatching a wig and mama Ru!’ And I’m like, ‘I want to sing about real shit. I want my music to be more personal!’

Why are queens not getting support slots from the major pop girlies yet?
I’ve been playing a lot of music festivals and it’s funny because I think the Drag Race fandom is such a bubble. I’ve performed at festivals of Drag Race fans and I’ll get standing ovations, people chanting my name, they’ll know every single word to all my songs. But on the flipside I’ve done music festivals where I’m fifth on the bill and I’m just out there trying to sell my music like a regular artist. It’s still a hard sell for some people. I mean they’ll be vibing towards the end. Your girl is charming, she’ll turn it up. But there is still so much work to be done.
A lot of artists have had drag queens come on and be a part of their Grand Finale number, like Katy Perry did in Vegas, Charli XCX has done that before. But I’m like, ‘Give the queens that took three hours to get ready their own slot to perform!’ We all want to share our art and I think it’s so important to share the stage too. It’s slowly happening and I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll be one of the first!

Intriguing! Is there something in the works?
We’ve submitted to a bunch of major artists for me to be their supporting act on tour. So we’ll see who bites back because whoever says ‘Yes’, they feel like they are taking a giant risk. A lot of politics.

Another boundary you are breaking is into the world of LGBT rom-coms! Tell me about It’s All Sunshine & Rainbows.
It’s funny, what you manifest will come to be. At the beginning of this year I said, ‘I want to work on my voice, live singing, not lip-syncing….and I want to become better at acting.’ I like being on camera as you know.
Once I said that, the universe started rolling, the audition came in and I got the role. It’s this Hallmark-style, cheesy, fun movie. We’re poking fun at me being this drag queen that lives a normal life, but I never get out of drag, like ‘Let me just slip into something more comfortable’ and I come back in a show costume. My character is this drag queen that’s a weather girl, whose aunt dies and I have to go live on this farm and I meet this farmer. It’s going to be amazing….

OK, I also have dome Drag Race questions…of course! When Lemon got eliminated in the first round of UK VS The World, how did you react? Were you just sympathetic or was there a friendly cackle at the situation to move past the pain?
I was devastated! I just felt so sorry for her because when we were on Drag Race, she was selfless. So when it was my turn to support her for UK Vs The World. I was like, ‘Oh you’re Lemon. You’re going to win this thing! There’s no way you’re not!’ When she called me and told me that she went home first, I was shocked. It was sad. You want to see your best friend win, right?
But I was even more excited for her rap verse on ‘Come Through’ to be released. We recorded that before UK Vs The World. I knew that verse was going to be monstrous for her so I am happy she really got to win with that last year.

Totally. Season 3 kicked off last week. Who was your winner & loser for Episode 1?
I think Bom Bae won the Design challenge and her Twitter commentary is so funny. Halal’s wasn’t that bad either! And my loser? I don’t know, I would say Miss Moco wasn’t the best. It’s tough because it feels very Season 1-ish when you had so many strong competitors. Now it’s hard to send somebody home, which is exciting because we’re going to have another giant, monstrous queen come out of that show which is what I want for my girls.

I was kind of underwhelmed by Chelazon Leroux’s ensemble.
Yes, exactly.

What did you think of it?
I thought it was…fine. What did you think about it?

I see what you’re doing! Mind games! Lastly we are named after the biggest selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
‘Mine Again’, track number four from The Emancipation of Mimi. When Mariah Carey sings about love, it’s just…wow. I remember when I was twelve, I would take a broom, stick a remote control to it and perform it for my cousin in the basement. When there are moments and I think ‘How on earth did I become a pop star?’ I look back and I’m singing Mariah Carey out of key, not even hitting the notes, just wailing!

As a bonus question, last year I ordered a cameo from a Canada queen but had to ask for a refund. Who do you think it was?
Oh…my…fucking God, that is so funny. Was it Jimbo? It wasn’t? I think it was Jimbo or Scarlett Bobo. It was [Redacted]? Ahahaha….that’s incredible, I love it. That’s just between us girls!

‘Snatch’ & Taste Test EP are both out now.