Sometimes winning isn't that cool

With the one and only Alaska. Hiiiieeee!

Things that kept me afloat during the pandemilovato: weed, luxury candles, and drag queens. Along with tons of podcasts/newsletters/digital series, there are roughly 73 new seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race to devour. While I’m aware of the discourse surrounding “drag burnout” I can’t say I agree with it. I personally consider it an honor and a privilege to be inundated with such delightful content. Like what should I be watching instead, the fucking news??!!

Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 has been a queen firmly wedged in my heart since she walked into the werkroom (slightly bow-legged, wearing a horse mask) back in 2013. She is now an international drag superstar and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, as well as a recording artist, extraterrestrial fashion It-girl and most recently, published author (her debut, My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?: A Memoir, is not just perfectly titled; it’s a fun, enlightening read with plenty of inspiration, glossy photos and much tea spilled between pages). But despite an explosion of fame, the Erie, PA native tells me they “never could have imagined” life working out this way.

Alaska came up in drag pageants and subversive shows around Pittsburgh. She did a stint in LA, booking gigs alongside legends like Heklina and Jackie Beat, before returning to the East Coast amid a tumultuous romance with fellow queen Sharon Needles (who would go on to win season four of Drag Race). After auditioning five years in a row, Alaska was finally cast on the show and immediately became an icon.

Both in the book and during our Zoom call, Alaska is candid about her time on the series. On a shelf behind her I spot a RuPaul Tweeterhead maquette, the official parting gift for eliminated contestants on the show. She finished in the top three of season five (which she considers “a blessing”) but felt a “really harmful” amount of pressure to win All Stars 2. Even though she took the crown, she admits that winning isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I famously don’t win things so I’ll have to take her word for it!

Alaska and I also chit-chatted about our shared love for Britney Spears, and the absurdity of gender, and the importance of queer representation in media, and the accessibility (or lack thereof) of today’s drag scene. Overall I can report that she is way cooler and far warmer than the state that shares her name. Keep scrolling!

Britt Stephens, a Fan™: First of all, it's great to meet you. Congratulations on the book! It was such a fun read.

Alaska Thunderfuck 5000: Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

BS: I'm sure it was tough to write given the nature of some of the stuff you get into, but I really admire how much you put yourself out there.

AT: Thank you. Oh my God, it's so true. We're doing the audiobook right now. And first of all, sitting still and speaking that much is very hard. But also just going through it all over and over again is like, really challenging.

BS: Hopefully reliving the trauma will all be worth it. So, the first chuckle you gave me is when you call your mom “Erie’s Elizabeth Taylor.” And you talk about some of the ways she tried to steer you away from feminine things. What does she think of the queen that you've become?

AT: Well, now my mom is my biggest fan. I did a show in Pittsburgh recently and she came and brought a bunch of her friends. I guess that's the power of drag in this moment — it literally invites everybody in and brings people together, and that's really powerful and really awesome. So, she loves this. She loves drag now.

BS: I mean, what's not to love? One thing that stood out to me immediately was that you capitalize Drag throughout the book. And I am really curious as to why.

AT: I just like it because, I don't know, drag is like a thing. It's like an art form. And I think drag can have a negative connotation as being a low art, which honestly is part of what attracts me to it, because it can be that and still be amazing. I like giving it that importance — we're talking about an art form that goes back for a really long time.

BS: It kind of reminded me of capitalizing the B in black; it adds power. It makes it feel more significant. I enjoyed that because it definitely changes the way you read the book.

AT: Thank you. Oh my gosh. Thank you for noticing.

BS: I also appreciate your Britney Spears anecdotes, specifically learning all her choreography in high school. During PE my friends and I would always be off to the side practicing the latest moves when we were supposed to be running laps or whatever.

AT: See, you were doing TikTok before TikTok existed. Now the kids do that choreo.

BS: You have a background in theater arts, which certainly explains why you killed every Drag Race acting challenge. How did that education prepare you for this career?

AT: Well, it's wild because I feel like one of the few college students out there who gets to actually use their degree. Seriously, I'm so grateful that I didn't get into a few of the schools that were higher on my list. . . the sort of prestigious, really actor-acting schools. Because at Pitt, you had to be really varied in what you studied. I had to do a course about costume design, and I got to do a makeup class, and I got to act and direct and write stuff, I got to drill sets and figure out how lighting and sound and everything works. What a blessing because drag is, at least for me, very hands-on. And I get to dip my toes into all these different things. So definitely, the University of Pittsburgh prepared me for that.

BS: It probably doesn't look like what you thought it would when you were in college. I'm sure that's exciting for you.

AT: No, I never could have imagined. But what a blessing.

BS: To the fashion. You write, “Clothing inherently has immense power. It can change the way a person presents themselves to the world just as easily as it can change the way a person feels in the depths of their soul. Clothing can be dangerous; wearing the wrong piece of clothing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place, can get you killed.” That resonated with me, and I immediately thought about people like Marsha P. Johnson and Trayvon Martin. I want to ask how you made that connection, and if there's a specific garment or accessory that you've always found most powerful? So, two-part question.

AT: I think my entry point to making that connection comes from, like, the absurdity of it. Like, what? Wait, wait, wait, wait. Even as a child it was, “So wait, you're allowed to play with Barbies, and Barbies have clothes, and they have cute clothes. But I'm literally not allowed; I'll get in trouble if I do that.” That's absurd. And my view of drag has always had a little bit of an absurdism to it because gender is really absurd. It's like, okay, well you stand up, you go in this bathroom and you go in this. What? It's really, very absurd to me.

One of my favorite pieces of clothing, and one that I think is very powerful, is a dress. First of all, dress is also the verb for wearing anything. You get dressed and you dress yourself. I watch Project Runway and I love just Michael Kors: [MK voice] "Oh my God, you put all the curtains into the one dressss!" I love the way it sounds. I think it's a very feminine word and very empowering, and also sort of disparaging for people who do drag. Like, "oh, it's a man in a dress." But even that phrase “man in a dress” is absurd!

BS: Even though it's like. . . isn't the pope wearing a dress right now?

AT: Thank you!

BS: We put little babies in dresses when we christen them. But then two years later it’s like, “No, you can't wear that. How dare you. But let's look back on this photo from your christening when we put you in a dress!”

AT: It's so wild. And it makes me so happy and excited that we're living in this time where you have someone like Lil Nas X or Billy Porter showing up and saying, “I'm going to wear a dress on a red carpet and be sickening.” And to me and my community and the people I hang out with, we're just like, she looks great. Yes. But how significant is that? It's so mind-blowingly important that that's the moment we're living in. We still have a long way to go, but what a leap in deconstructing harmful gender things.

BS: The more you see it, you realize just how normal it is. And eventually we'll get to the point where it's just like "hey, cute dress” without thinking about who's wearing it. I also love your answer, because there are a million types of dresses. Right? And then you have a dress shirt and dress pants and dress shoes.

AT: And my favorite night of a theater production is dress rehearsal. As a kid, I was like, "Ooh, that sounds so good. I get to wear a dress."

“. . . My view of drag has always had a little bit of an absurdism to it because gender is really absurd.”

BS: You famously create looks from unconventional materials, namely trash bags. When you're constructing a garment or working on one with someone else, what's your favorite type of fabric to work with? Is it even fabric?

AT: Well, I really like plastic. I just do. And when it comes to having something done by somebody who's amazing at making clothes, I still like to gravitate toward things like vinyl that look plasticky and have that shininess to them. I'm not a huge sequin person. I think sequins are awesome and I love that drag queens wear them all the time, but for Alaska it always feels kind of wrong. I like the shine of plastic. I like the fact that it's artificial and kind of space age. Wearing garbage bags and plastic tablecloths was really a choice that came out of necessity because I didn't have any girl clothes and I couldn't afford to buy fabric. But these things were cheap and easy to get and looked really cool. I just love how it looks. I think it's pretty.

I wish I could say that I sewed plastic. It's my own laziness, really, because I can pin it twice or duct tape it and then there it is. I understand that the earth is burning and I understand the environmental impact, which is why I also saved them and reused them. I use them many, many times. I get really protective over them.

BS: What you write about representation really struck me. "Growing up surrounded by media that doesn’t see you, doesn’t acknowledge you exist, can spark something inside you: a longing to be visible. Drag is the most visible expression of in-your-face queerness."

And later in the book you share something that Sharon told you during an argument, that you have “a tenacious need to be seen.” I’m wondering how that lack of media representation links with a need for you to be noticed personally, because I found that relatable.

AT: Yeah, that's wild. I wish that the media wasn't so important. And especially now, unplugging yourself from the machine of mass media or social media or whatever is so hard and so impossible. As a child, I was raised by television in a lot of ways. So when you're looking in this mirror that's telling you “This is what the world is and you don't exist in it,” that's fucked for a child. The message that places in you is really harmful, I think.

But again, it's amazing that we live in a time right now when representation is so important. It's like we consciously are aware of it. And I'm so grateful for that. But yeah, growing up. . . I don't know. It's a mindfuck to feel nonexistent, and then you look at how it plays out. Substance abuse is really huge in the gay community, and also low self-esteem, and suicide. All these things come out of invisibility. So yeah, drag is fucking really visible. I am apparent, I am loud, I am ostentatious, I am queer, I am not normal and I am here. Which is part of what attracted me to drag, I guess.

BS: And because of that lack of representation. . . [phone rings] I'm so sorry, I've been getting like a million spam calls.

AT: I love those.

BS: . . . You find people to look up to where you can. You write about Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman as someone that you were able to see yourself in and express yourself through. What other pop culture icons have had the biggest influence on Alaska?

AT: I mean, Britney Spears. Hi. It all comes back to Britney, eventually. Britney Spears, Catwoman, Peg Bundy — I was fascinated by her. Comic books; the women of the X-Men cartoons that I grew up with. Just powerful and gorgeous women, bright colors, huge hair. I love it.

“I am apparent, I am loud, I am ostentatious, I am queer, I am not normal and I am here.”

BS: Speaking of huge hair, you write about seeing Heklina’s shows in San Francisco during the early days of your career, and being inspired by her cardboard convertible on stage: “This kind of Drag looked accessible, like anyone could do it. And more importantly, it looked fun. . . I didn’t need money to do Drag, and I didn’t need to be especially talented. It was a medium that allowed me to express myself using whatever I had on hand.”

Do you feel like drag is still accessible?

AT: I don't, because it's sort of the natural progression. Drag Race is the top reference point for what drag is. People see that as, drag should be like that. And so naturally as the show goes on and becomes more of a phenomenon, more money gets put into it because more people are watching. Therefore, the expectation of the contestants becomes "you have to put more money into it." I mean, girls are spending college education money on going on Drag Race, which is fabulous because now drag is a valid career choice. And it's exciting in its own way. I love getting to see Symone and Kandy Muse showing up at the VMAs in couture, looking sickening, being seen, and just looking so expensive and fierce.

But part of why I got into drag was that it was a rejection of wanting to be rich and fancy and fabulous. It was like, “No, I don't need to be that to tell my story and to exist. I can do it with what I have.” So, it's great. The clothes are really cool! But I wish some queen could show up with a bag of dirty laundry and win Drag Race, like in the olden days.

BS: In the book you detail some of the highs and lows of your time on Drag Race, and I appreciate how you explain your change in attitude from season five to All Stars. It was clear you had a different vibe and a different strategy, and you are open about how that helped and harmed you. What's the biggest thing you learned about yourself through that process?

AT: I guess it just comes down to the universal lesson that sometimes you don't know that a blessing is a blessing when you're faced with it. And season five. . . what a blessing that I got to go there and completely be absolved of any thought that I was going to win; to have it taken off the table. I'm like, there's no fucking way. I've watched this show since it started. There's no way that I'm going to win after [Sharon] just won for my city. It's not going to happen. So to remove that from the equation was great, fabulous. I got to just go and enjoy every single second.

Whereas with All Stars, there was an immense amount of pressure, feeling like this is your season doll, this is yours to win. That was really harmful, really horrible. And winning wasn't even that great; winning is not even that cool. That's the message I want to leave with young kids or people trying out for Drag Race or trying out with anything. Sometimes winning isn't that cool. Sometimes winning is just dumb.

BS: Since this has been such a wild year of social and economic upheaval, how has the current climate impacted your drag?

AT: A lot, and I think that the learning moments that a lot of people get to have right now are so important. And it goes to every level of existing in society — how to be more awake, more aware, and more respectful and empowering to people. So yes, it absolutely affects drag. And I wish I could go back in time and fucking slap the shit out of myself for some of the shit that I did when I was starting out in drag. But I'm also grateful to be in a moment now where I can see that I've learned a lot and I hope to help other people learn a lot as well. 👑

My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska?: A Memoir is available now for preorder and drops November 9. You can bang the new singles “wow,” “beautiful (night 4 a) breakdown,” and “Red” above and catch Alaska on her first-ever headlining tour across North America starting January 2022. (The Red 4 Filth album is also due early next year!!). ALSO she joined the cast of the Go-Go’s-scored musical Head Over Heels, currently co-hosts the hit podcast Race Chaser with Alaska & Willam, and has her own all-natural vegan vodka? Booked, busy, blessed!