By Dustin Shrader
Bebe Zahara Benet is larger than life. The original Next Drag Superstar legend has conquered the globe more than once since claiming her crown. Currently working on her new live show, Queendom, Bebe caught David Atlanta up on all the goings on of her crazy life, including the deets on the new show, her thoughts on this season and seasons past of Drag Race and what she has in store for her headline appearance at Augusta Pride.
David Atlanta: Hi Bebe! How are you today?
BeBe Zahara Benet: Hey! I’m well! I have a big show coming up, a huge live show with a band and all that stuff. I’ve been in rehearsal. I was moving all the different pieces together to make it happen. Tired because of that, but excited at the same time, so it’s all good.
DA: The show is called Queendom, is that right?
BeBe: Yeah, the show’s called Queendom, and it’s me in concert. It’s me with my live band, live singers and dancers and different aerial acts and fire blowers and all that crazy stuff.
DA: Oh, wow, sounds like a full production!
BeBe: It’s definitely a full production. It’s my very first live production in Minnesota. I do a lot of live stuff in New York City. Since this is where I started, this is where I started my drag career, I thought it was very important to come and do that showcase here, and obviously create my own space over in Minnesota.
DA: What life has been like for you the past six years since your debut on Drag Race?
BeBe: It’s been exciting. It’s been trying. It’s been a mixture of so many things. It’s been challenging in the sense, not to other people, but more about myself, being able to challenge myself to take my craft to another level and being able to venture in other spaces that I never ventured in. I always tell people that Drag Race gives you a platform. But Drag Race does not create your career. Yeah, you have to take that platform, and then you have to take and increase that career for yourself. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past year. After Drag Race, I moved to New York City. I moved to NYC because I wanted to launch myself as a live act, because what a lot of people do not know is that I actually am a singer, and music has to be in such a strong foundation of what I do.
DA: Did you get your start in the music industry before or after Drag Race?
BeBe: Just to give you a little history, when I was back in my home country, our way of performing was me being in the church choir and being able to do a lot of church productions. Then, as I was getting older I became a choir director. I did that for a long, long time. When I moved to this country and obviously discovered the art of drag, the first thing I realized was all of the drag entertainers I got to see were lip syncing, everybody was lip syncing music. I was like, “Oh, what am I going to do with my music? What am I going to do? Drag is what I want to do, it’s what I want to use as my art form, but I don’t see anybody using their voices to sing. I don’t want to sound like a woman, I just want to sound like me.”
Even prior to Drag Race, I was already in the studio, and I was already recording material. I didn’t even know Drag Race was even in the universe. I had already started working and worked with some producers and stuff, and so when Drag Race happened, it was that platform that said, “Okay, now this is a good way to launch that music, live part of my thing.” Don’t get me wrong, I don’t stop lip syncing, because I still feel like there is an art in lip syncing.
DA: It’s refreshing to hear that you’re in tune with your voice. Especially in the past few seasons, a few girls have come out who are actually really great singers, like Courtney Act, Adore Delano, and Willam Belli. Do you see drag leaning towards the musical-oriented?
BeBe: Girls like Courtney Act, that’s what I was talking about, about having the opportunity of showcasing those that actually sing, not those that just come out and feel like they’re part of the machine and they have to release a single, but no, but those that actually sing, that have a real voice. Unfortunately, our season did not really cater to showcasing that part of the craft. When people would come to New York City, and see my live show, they would be expecting BeBe to do this fabulous lip sync drag show. Then they’re so blown away, because it’s a live band, it’s live music, it’s live singers giving you four-part harmonies, and they’re like, “Oh my gosh.” That’s what made me stay for six years in New York City, being sold out all the time with my live shows, is because the music is music. They are not parodies, it’s just music. I take pop culture songs, put a worldly twist to them and people love it!
DA: Did you get your start in drag before you moved to the US?
BeBe: You know what? Back in my country when I was growing up, I knew I was going to be some sort of star, I really was. I did know, because I knew I loved to entertain. I didn’t know it was going to be through music, dance, fashion or through hair. I just knew that I was so involved with the art. Obviously, back in Cameroon, I never had the opportunity to explore whatever that side of me was. I had the opportunity of traveling to Paris to be in a fashion show, and doing a little modeling gig where I had to take the place of some of the models that never showed up for a show.
I actually was put in drag, but it wasn’t drag. I would call it androgyny. However, my very first drag, full on drag experience was in Minnesota. I went to the Gay 90s where they have the biggest drag show in the city, and was watching these entertainers perform and I thought, “This is what I am supposed to be doing,” because everything came to life.
One of the entertainers working there introduced me to Cyndi Lauper, who was preparing for a show and needed an accompanying entertainer. For some reason, I was casted to be that entertainer. Then the rest is history.
DA: What can the audience expect from you in Augusta?
BeBe: What else are they going to expect apart from being fabulous, darling? I don’t think I’ve ever done Augusta Pride, so it’s going to be exciting. I’m excited to meet the people, I’m excited to perform. I haven’t decided exactly what I am going to do, but anything I do is going to be fabulous. You should just expect fabulousness, yeah.
DA: So what does gay pride really mean to you?
BeBe: I don’t even know if it means anything to me, you know what I’m saying? I feel like when it comes to the gay community or when it comes to anything LGBT, the struggles are still there. Pride doesn’t necessarily solve the issues, but I know the one thing that it does, it brings so many different fragments of the community together.
I like the aspect of togetherness. I like the aspect of celebration. I like the aspect of coming back and reminding each other that this is still a community, and it’s a community that still needs a lot of work. So, it’s very important to create opportunities where all these different communities can come together and create that fluidity. It’s a reiteration of do not forget what the struggles are. That’s the beauty of the pride festivities.
DA: No, I agree with you a hundred percent, because in the gay community, we do walk a fine line between pride events, celebrating, and honoring those who come before us and all the work we have to do and not letting it become one big party, one big drink fest.
BeBe: I’ve done a lot of pride, I don’t think the younger generation gets the fact that there is a struggle, there is a fight, there’s still so much to be done. I think they look at it as a time they can go out and party until they can’t party anymore. Sometimes it saddens me when I don’t feel like they get why this started in the first place. Do you know what I mean?
DA: I do. Playing off of that, with Drag Race season seven, a lot of younger girls were not very experienced. What were your thoughts on this season?
BeBe: I am excited for the entertainers who had the opportunity to get on this season and be contestants. You can never take someone’s license away from them, so I’m excited for those entertainers. Did I think it was the best season? No, I don’t think that. I don’t think this season was the best season that Drag Race has had. I feel like after you have listened, after you have traveled to so many places, you’ve traveled around the country and world, and you have met amazing entertainers, one will always wonder why those amazing entertainers do not even get the opportunity to be in a show that can elevate that platform that they need so that they can spread their wings and fly as a beautiful bird.
No, it lost its spark. That’s what it did, it lost its spark. The thing is, I’ve done a lot of interviews with Queendom coming out, and people ask me, they say, “Would you have ever done the other seasons if you had the opportunity instead of season one,” and I said, “No.” I said, “I am very, very, very blessed that I had the opportunity to be in season one and be able to start a trend, or not even a trend, start a journey, an adventure.” Season one did not have to be overproduced. People could still be their authentic selves, people could be their authentic brands, whether you liked them or not. People could still be authentic in what they did, and that gave us those ratings to be able to create all these other seasons that have come up.
DA: Wondering about your personal life. Are you seeing anybody, is there a man in your life?
BeBe: Oh my gosh. First of all, I am keeping that personal life locked, and locked. Let’s just say this: I’m happy.
DA: Happy. I like that. That’s all anyone can ask for. What makes BeBe, BeBe today compared to the beginning?
BeBe: I think my inspiration, it’s from so many things, and so many people, and so many experiences. I don’t know if it’s one particular thing, or one particular person, or one particular sound if it comes to music, or one particular style or passion. I always tell people when they ask me, “What is your brand,” I say, “My brand is savage beauty meets glamour.” I fuse savage beauty and glamour together, even in my sound. Even with my style of music, I mix a lot of my heritage with a lot of pop culture. When it comes to my fashion, I mix a lot of my tribal sense of fashion with old Hollywood glamour. All of these come from, it could be icons that I look up to, or it could be me walking down the street and I see something that I’m inspired by. I derive my inspirations from so many different topics.
DA: What else is coming down the pipe for BeBe this year?
BeBe: Prior to even being a drag entertainer and creating the BeBe Zahara Benet brand, I was working as an event/wedding planner then I discovered the art form of drag, and I was like, “I’m going to put you on hold.” After doing what I do, producing my own shows, I’m trying to consolidate everything now in one business and get back to that. In the fall, I will be launching my own company Rebel Entertainment, and basically we will be creating fantasy experiences, so people can also bring their over the top fantasies to life. That’s going to be my major, major project alongside with me doing my life experiences.
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