RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Nine Preview

As I click play on my recorded episode one of RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine on March 24 –– Ru’s iconic voice booms over my TV:

“Gentlemen, start your engines.”

“And may the best women win”

This has been the intro for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for eight seasons. I became obsessed with the show freshman year. The show focuses on challenges about what it takes to be a drag queen – acting, dancing, clothing construction, etc.

When I first started watching it freshman year, the art of drag was not a widely-
praised career. However, with the rise of social media platforms like YouTube and Instagram, drag has spread and brought a whole new fan base that wasn’t there when I was 14. This has caused the competition to change over the years, and it seems like they never run out of amazing drag queens to compete – season nine was no let down.

I found the show during season four because my favorite Youtube star Willam was on the show and had posted about it. When I was an awkward freshman, I
looked up to these badass queer men who were pulling all these stunts, while performing as these hilarious personas. Now that Drag Race has grown, it has been exciting to wait for the hype of each new season and what nuance it will entail

Being the drag-obsessed freak I am, I had watched all the releases of what queens would be on this season and researched their work. If a drag queen is going to be big in today’s social media obsessed society, they usually have hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, so it was easy to find what each queen was about.

This year there is a good variety in style, pageant queens, comedy queens, performers, etc. From girls who came dressed as a mouse to those who looked like Vegas showgirls, the show had plenty of variety. Having a diverse group of girls is always important when it comes to any style of competition show. If you have the same type of person then there is no contrast, and it ends up being a drag.

I was able to pick out a few favorites before the show even started but everything changed after the first episode because I’ve gotten to see everyone’s personality. As someone who has also stalked Lady Gaga since I got her first album in my stocking when I was ten — I think my parents knew — I was looking forward to the premiere where Lady Gaga was a guest judge.

The first episode left me feeling disappointed about the season. There was too much of a focus on the fact Lady Gaga was the guest judge. I needed to see the flare of the queens but was left unsatisfied. I almost decided to stop watching there. I’m glad I didn’t.

Now they are on episode four and have turned the season around. The queens are giving me all the gags, looks and talent that makes the show amazing. Of course having a tinge of drama between drag queens Eureka and Trinity helps keep viewers on their toes.

This year the challenges have been shook up, and the runways are fresh. I always love when the queens are thrown a sewing challenge, because there will always be the one queen who doesn’t know how to sew and ends up with a disaster of an outfit. So far in the season we have already gotten to delve into the drag queens’ histories, personalities and dynamic. I would love to see the queen Nina Bonina Brown, who wears hip two feet wide hip pads and wild skull makeup, win.

I shouldn’t have doubted the host RuPaul for a moment, because of course they pulled out another fabulous season. There is the perfect variety of dumb and laughable queens and the witty, shady queens. The show gives each queen the opportunity to show an array of skills – one week they will be the winner, and the next in the bottom two. I love this show because of the dramatic cat fights, two inch nails, ten inch heels and jumping into the splits.