Yvie Oddly has not hit the ground since she won the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” earlier this year on Season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The uber-unique Denver queen has been touring, making music, meeting fans, and causing a bit of a commotion every step of the way since her crown-snatching big night. As she takes her place among other Drag Race legends on this year’s Voss Events-produced Werq The World Tour, I caught up with her about what life has been like since her win, working with her Drag Race sisters on the Werq The World Tour, and she goes deep on her love for the fans, as well as keeping a little time for herself.
Michael Cook: You snagged the crown on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11, and now you have joined the upcoming Voss Events-produced Werq The World Tour, where you will get to feature you own talents next to fellow winners like Aquaria, finalists like Kameron Michaels and even judge Michele Visage! What is it like being part of such an illustrious tour?
Yvie Oddly: Yeah, it is going to be absolutely nuts. I am so excited to be a part of it.
What are you most excited about to join a tour that includes so many of your Drag Race sisters all together on one stage?
I am excited to literally, get to Werq the World! I am pretty jazzed to work with so many queens from different seasons. I have formed a very strong bond with the girls from my own season, and now I am excited to see what it is like to work with all of these other queens who have gone through this process before me. I am excited to see what it’s like to do this tour with queens that have been doing it a bit longer, to a lot longer than me. I hope to make some new friends and no new enemies (laughs)!
What is it like to look around at girls that were not on your actual season and have the opportunity to take in the legacy that you are truly now a part of?
I think that is ultimately why I am really excited. For example, I got to do World Pride this year with a number of different girls and it was a really refreshing experience who have gotten to do this and to really just shoot the shit with veterans. I got to see how everybody handles this, what everyone likes to do for fun, and I like to meet new queens in general. To get to meet people who were previously just television personalities to me and to get to form some pretty cool bonds with them is really exciting.
What queen has given you the best advice that you have been able to take from them and truly apply?
Nina Flowers. I remember right after I got back she told me to make sure that everything, no matter what I do, I have to be making sure that I am happy. Don’t be worry about what other people are going to say as long as I am making myself happy. It is really simple advice, but it is so easy to get lost in the whirlwind of things.
Brandon Voss’ Voss Events is producing the Werq The World and he is known as one of the premier promoters of the Drag Race events and his tours and productions are consistently top notch. What does it feel like to truly be a part of the premier event for Drag Race girls?
You know it truly is fantastic. His shows are next level, his productions are next level, and the respect that the other girls have him for him is really fantastic. I am excited to be a part of such a really massive production and get to put on, quite literally, the show of a lifetime.
You are going to get to meet a number of fans and have innumerable interactions with them. Does any previous fan interaction stand out for you in the whirlwind you have been in since the past year?
I actually cannot pick out one specific one, but rather a group of interactions that I’ve had. I feel like any time I get to meet someone else who is either struggling with the same condition that I have, Ehlers-Danlos, or other chronic pain, I always get really touched. I know how hard it is for me to come out and perform at the clubs, and I do it because I love it. It is amazing that other people have not only been inspired by my story, but are pushing through a lot of the really difficult challenges that they have because they are so inspired. They want to come out and see someone just like them; representation is such a beautiful thing.
You made recent remarks about taking pictures after a show with fans, and many people had plenty to say about your comments, including some former Drag Race contestants and winners. Were you surprised that your remarks got so much attention?
At first I really was. To be quite frank, I was definitely in a mood about it. I had just been traveling with all of the girls for the Season 11 tour and after every single show we would get bombarded by fans who wanted to take pictures. Every time I said no to someone, there was always at least one person who would act “incredulously” to put it lightly, about me having boundaries and about me being an exhausted performer. When it first blew up, I was really confused. I did not understand how people could not get that even though we have been on television and we are “famous” or whatever excuse there is, we have boundaries. Now that it has been a second, I totally can see that my words themselves were a little bit sharp. However, that is also just who I am, and if people have not learned to deal with it and just get over it by now, it’s gonna be a long career of bitches hating me (laughs).
It’s a very fine line to ride for Drag Race girls, and any performers for that matter, who while being public personas and performers, you also should be allotted your own degree of privacy and respect as citizens, don’t you think?
Well the most amazing part to me is that some of the fans, fans and queens alike actually, who have said that not only do I owe it to the fans to give them all of my time and energy and that I knew what I was signing up for, but “without the fans I would be nothing”. I think that is a disgusting viewpoint to have. I was something before Drag Race. If I had never made it onto Drag Race I would still be something. I loved myself before and I love myself now. If people cannot get over the fact that that self-love means they don’t get all of my time, energy and space, they are going to have some really difficult issues in life. They can’t treat people like property.
As “America’s Next Drag Superstar” after winning Season 11, you have been on the road meeting fans and performing shows all over the world.. What do you think you have learned the most?
I think I have learned that this is going to be a difficult journey that only I can define in my certain ways. I feel like I have always been a very subversive person and a subversive drag queen and I just kind of forgot about that, because of specifically the mostly positive interaction that I was getting for the longest time. Now, I am getting to learn that no matter what I do, there is going to be someone that doesn’t like it. I just have to keep having fun and keep doing exactly what I want to do, as long as it’s not intentionally hurting anyone else.
All pics courtesy of Yvie Oddly Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/oddlyyvie)
For Werq The World tickets & info, check out https://vossevents.com/events/werq-the-world/