Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings! Every Saturday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. Six queens survived their first Lip Sync for Your Life, while seven others remain under threat of being voted off. Who impressed us most in the premiere, and who has us most worried about their departure?
13. Elliott With Two Ts
Elliott’s Meet the Queens video impressed me least, and while I am intrigued that her entrance look was so different from her promo dress, I don’t think that made it good. (Tina Burner reads it up and down in a confessional: “Sis, you got a windbreaker on and some pants… Did you just go power-walking with my mom?”) Elliott came across a bit brusque in the premiere; for example, when she explained her dance experience, she said, “Not to Brooke Lynn Hytes myself,” prompting a frosty reaction from Ru. Her dance moves also didn’t work out well in her lip sync, as she faded into the background among the trio. Considering she was one of the last girls in the room among the losers, I also think Elliott is vulnerable to go home on this vote. (Yes, Kahmora Hall entered at the same time, but she has an ally in Chicago sister Denali.)
12. Utica Queen
Utica is one of the only queens to visibly miss a lot of words in her lip sync; it felt more like she lost than Gottmik won. But Michelle Visage was clearly already vibing with Utica, loving her eccentric story about her strawberry allergy as an explanation for the strawberry in her entrance look wig. It’s all very much straddling the line between endearingly quirky (yelling “I’ll get you for this, RuPaul!” as her exit line) and obnoxiously extra (her description of her personal style was A Lot). We’ll have to see which side she ultimately falls on. You know Michelle’s gonna expect to see “the real Utica” sooner than later.
11. Rosé
My impressions of Rosé from before and after her lip sync were entirely different. In the workroom and in her interview with the judges, she came across confident, charming and funny. (“RuPaul always says that if you wanna make money, you should wear a suit. I never understood that, so I wore this instead.”) But in her performance of “Ex’s and Oh’s,” she pulled out every trick in her book, some rather underwhelmingly—that was a rough dip—and still couldn’t get the win. Then came the face crack when she lost, complete with an irritated confessional: “I’m not sure what’s going on, but bye, I think?” It was a bit reminiscent of her sister Jan’s mini-meltdown when Gigi Goode beat her in the Madonna challenge last season. (Although, Rosé was cracking jokes in the Porkchop Loading Dock—a promising sign of her ability to bounce back.) If Rosé wants to make good on her pledge to last longer than Jan, she’s gonna have to roll with the punches.
10. Joey Jay
If I were basing power rankings entirely on confessionals, Joey Jay would be among the top of the class. Her sense of humour reminds me of Joslyn Fox’s: Ditzy and silly, but surprisingly smart and sharp with a punchline. “Y’all think I’m a basic bitch?” she said in one of her confessionals. “You’re not wrong. I can’t eat spicy food, I love Vanessa Carlton. But don’t underestimate us Vanessa Carltons.” I don’t think Joey can be counted out, yet—especially since, when it comes to the vote, she had the most time to bond with the rest of the lip-sync losers. She did pretty well in her lip sync. Her movements were graceful, and I loved the bit where she acted scared of the violins during the bridge. Still, Joey’s relative lack of experience has me dubious on her chances going forward, especially in such a strong crew.
9. Kahmora Hall
Kahmora is absolutely stunning, and has one hell of a drag sister: The reigning champion, Jaida Essence Hall. We’ve seen drag relatives do well before, although the last time a winner’s family came on the season immediately after their victory didn’t turn out well (Dax Exclamationpoint after Violet Chachki’s win). How will Kahmora perform in Jaida’s shadow? She was definitively second place in her three-way lip sync, but that wasn’t enough to reach the winners’ circle. If she can survive the vote and impress in the second premiere, she may just yet have a chance to thrive. And if she keeps breaking out the high-fashion looks (Bob Mackie!), she’ll keep Carson Kressley interested in her journey. Not a bad ally to have in your corner.
8. Tamisha Iman
I adore Tamisha. Her story is amazing—fighting cancer to make it onto this show!—and her confessionals are hilarious. (“The lady said go home!”) She also had her lip sync sewn up at first, nailing some Janet Jackson choreo in her performance of “The Pleasure Principle.” Unfortunately, she stuck to the same moves throughout, while her opponent Symone wisely ramped things up in the back half, leaving the more lasting impression. That, plus Carson’s implication that her 30 years of drag experience may make her inflexible, does unfortunately seem to be setting up a storyline where Tamisha fails to adjust to the rigours of this competition. I hope I’m wrong—we haven’t seen a veteran queen excel in far too long.
7. Denali
Drag Race on Ice! Denali’s loss in her lip sync surprised me on first watch, since she had more tricks up her sleeve than LaLa Ri seemingly did. And the cartwheel in ice skates was a thrill. But Denali suffered from having a lot of her best moves either shared or overshadowed by LaLa, like the slow walk from the back of the stage during the bridge (which they both did) and her lip-syncing upside down, then slamming onto the floor (which LaLa did a split alongside). It was a close battle, and I may have judged it differently, but I can’t say Denali was robbed. However, her relationship with Kahmora and amount of time in the Porkchop Loading Dock should keep her safe from the vote.
6. Gottmik
I didn’t love Gottmik’s “Rumors” lip sync, but in fairness to her, she admitted she’s not a Lip Sync Assassin. On the other hand, I very much loved her entrance look, especially the makeup, and instantly fell for her personality. Extra points for my favourite entrance line of the bunch (“Time to crash the cis-tem!”), and for her impressive résumé as a makeup artist before the show. Heidi Klum! Cindy Crawford! That aspect in particular is reminiscent of Gottmik’s fellow Los Angeles queen Raja, who was the last queen from the City of Angels to win a regular season all the way back in Season 3. Can Gottmik become the next L.A. champion, as well as Drag Race’s first out trans winner? I’m hopeful, but I’ll note she does seem most determined to overcome the expectation that she’s “just” a makeup queen. She’ll be fine as long as she doesn’t lose the forest for the trees.
5. LaLa Ri
Denali was the best among the losers, but that doesn’t automatically make LaLa the least impressive among the winners in her lip sync performance. She commanded attention without tricks on the main stage, and nailed a killer split on the drop at the end of the bridge. Moreover, in her personality and confessionals, I was all-in on LaLa. “LaLa Ri is an Olive Garden pasta, with Popeye’s chicken tenders on the top, for the razzle dazzle,” you say? Yes, absolutely, I’m punching my stan card as we speak. I do agree with Denali that LaLa’s entrance look was a little simple, but that simplicity paid off big with the lip sync twist. She was a lot more maneuverable than Denali was. This was a very good first week for LaLa Ri.
4. Olivia Lux
Olivia’s warmth is absolutely infectious. I found myself smiling just watching her smile and having a blast watching her perform. She pulled off the biggest upset of the episode by beating Rosé, proving that her one-and-a-half years of drag experience (or “10 seconds,” as Tina Burner jokingly put it) won’t hinder her in this competition. Her balance of graceful movements, funny bits (running from the “ghosts” in the chorus of “Ex’s and Oh’s”), and even a costume reveal made hers one of the winning lip syncs. If there’s an underdog to go very deep into this competition, I’d say it’s Olivia.
3. Symone
As someone who believes in declaring my biases—with the understanding that my favourites may and often do change over time—Symone is my pick to win this whole thing right now. She’s incredibly fashionable, has a great Drag Race connection (she’s close with Gigi Goode), and can perform with the best of them. Her “The Pleasure Principle” lip sync was so subtly perfect, with so many great moments of giving face and playing with the notes of the song. She also had a killer entrance look: A dress made of Polaroids of herself. Another thing I loved was how positive she was. She noted Tamisha’s a “motherly figure,” but also noted that she’s there to slay. She clocked Tina as competition even though she’s a campy queen. Symone feels like someone who will entertain without tearing other queens down, and that’s exactly the kind of energy Ru looks for in his favourites.
2. Tina Burner
Tina’s performance was a very pleasant surprise! Lip syncs with three participants tend to be too chaotic to really stand out in. I can count the good three-way lip sync performances in North American Drag Race off the top of my head. There’s Aquaria in “Bang Bang,” Jaida Essence Hall in “Survivor,” Shea Coulée and Jujubee in “Make Me Feel,” and Priyanka and Scarlett BoBo in “You’re a Superstar.” And all of those are finale lip syncs! So Tina deserves major credit for smashing her performance of “Lady Marmalade” despite the competition on stage. She commanded attention, cracked the judges up and delivered a quality lip sync. Symone was right to clock what a threat a strong comedy queen can be; Tina is real competition for these other girls.
1. Kandy Muse
KANDY! Kandy is IT! Not to go full Wendy Williams, but she is the moment. She proudly declared herself “a star” in her intro package, and she was very right. Kandy was the first queen to enter the workroom, cracking jokes, feeling herself, and even spilling some tea about her relationship with Season 9 and All Stars 3 competitor Aja. Then, in her lip sync to “Call Me Maybe,” Kandy showed off her technical precision as a lip syncer, with lots of specific, detailed movements (the violin! flipping the coin into the well!). She also successfully undercut Joey’s impressive split by doing a Monét X Change-style fake-out at the same time. A great start to Kandy Muse’s journey, and a great first impression for the season as a whole. This Dominican Doll is going places.
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