This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race concluded with an early bedtime for Joella, the self-proclaimed “Premier Slaysian Diva,” after her mattress-inspired runway look elicited snoozes from the judges. She spoke to Newsweek‘s Parting Shot Podcast with H. Alan Scott about her time on the show, her sense of confidence and her respect for fellow Los Angeles-based Asian Drag Race alum Kim Chi.
“I just feel like I’m the best at being me. And as long as I’m me, I’m going to shine,” Joella told Newsweek.
During the episode, Joella and the Season 17 queens played back some of the series’ greatest hits in a compilation album challenge for “Bitch I’m a Drag Queen” Vol. 1 and 2. Harkening back to the TV commercials of the 90s, the contestants got glam and gritty in turning classic Drag Race moments from seasons past into tongue-in-cheek music videos. On the runway, the queens incorporated patchwork into their drag to emulate the category of “Quilted for your pleasure.”
Joella got her gospel on when evoking Season 3 queen Mariah Paris Balenciaga for a play on her iconic “We write the stories,” quote, but failed to dazzle the judges during deliberation. Even more devastating was her runway look, however, which showcased Joella’s face in a small cutout of a huge mattress.
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Judge Michelle Visage said Joella’s look demonstrated her “wasting her time on the main stage,” and guest judge Julia Schlaepfer remarked the quilt was “just not doing it for me.” Joella was voted in the bottom alongside Kori King, and due to a combination of her bulky, inflexible outfit and her not knowing the words to the lip sync song, she was asked to sashay away.
Despite an early elimination, the Slaysian diva’s spirits are higher than ever. “Drag Race is drag racing, and Joella stock is rising,” the queen told Newsweek. Joella is not shy about her self-confidence, as evidenced by her, well, everything. During last week’s episode of Untucked, Joella even had the gall to tell fellow bottom queen Lucky Starzzz that she felt confident she wouldn’t be eliminated. And she was right! But this week, she wasn’t so lucky.
Her sense of self stems from the stars, she says. “I feel like as a Scorpio, I have a bit of narcissistic traits,” she told Newsweek. Those traits flared up on the show, leading to her memeworthy “I’m literally known for my looks, I’m known to be opulent,” line during the “Monopulence!” episode. “I sometimes really do feel like I am the best,” she added.
But Joella wants to set the record straight about her status. Some members of Drag Race community have reacted to her proclamation as the “Slaysian diva of Los Angeles” with confusion—mistaking it for her saying the Asian diva of LA—since fellow Asian Drag Race alum Kim Chi also lives in LA. “What I really meant by that was in Los Angeles drag—local drag, not like all drag—being a local queen, I’m definitely not in the same realm as Kim Chi, like she’s a different kind of drag artist,” she said. “Even now, to me, she’s such a legend and I am such a newcomer to this whole world.”
“When I was saying it in my confessional, I wanted to say, ‘the Slaysian diva of LA drag.’ But I had to just say LA because that’s what they told me to say,” she continued. “I’m also not saying I’m the top Asian queen, I’m saying I’m the Slaysian queen—in my drag, it’s very Slaysian because of the way I present myself.”
Though her time on Season 17 is over, Joella doesn’t plan on leaving the limelight anytime soon. “I want to do more reality TV, whether that’s this show or another show,” she told Newsweek. “I just want to do a show where like—I mean I could do drag and compete in drag, that’s fine, I love that—but I also just want a show where I get pretty and then I just talk a bunch of shit and start problems.”
The star power and the confidence is clearly there, so whether it’s Drag Race All Stars, Drag U or another show entirely, Joella hopes to stay on the screen and in the spotlight.
“If that’s the purpose of the show, I’m telling you, that’s gonna be a good show,” Joella said. “If you put me on that cast, it’s gonna be sickening.”
