Nymphia Wind, the banana queen of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 16, has peeled herself to reveal a winner, baby.
Taking her first steps as America’s Next Drag Superstar on Friday night at the Emmy-winning show’s crowning event inside a skyscraper nearly 1,100 feet above Manhattan, the Taiwan-raised, New York City-based drag performer literally gazes down upon the land she now rules as season 16’s reigning champion — and the first thing she does is push her crotch into the window overlooking the city while (fittingly) dancing to Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night.”
It’s a coronation performance that showcases the kind of bold lip-syncing talent (and penchant for zaniness) she’s possessed all season — but, having never landed in the bottom two, didn’t get a chance to flaunt until now. The live number came moments after the world watched as RuPaul crowned her at the end of the final episode, following Nymphia’s debut competitive Drag Race lip-sync against eventual runner-up Sapphira Cristál. Clad in a bubble tea-patterned coat (which she opened to unleash a horde of balloons representing boba pearls), Nymphia’s set might’ve registered as visual camp, but there’s a deeper significance that, as she exclusively tells Entertainment Weekly in her first interview as a winner — the U.S. show’s first East Asian champion — combines her showgirl attitude with a cultural through line that binds her aesthetic together.
Read on for Nymphia’s full interview with EW, in which she discusses the significance of representing for Taiwan, her relationship with third-place-finisher Plane Jane, and teases an upcoming meeting with her Snatch Game celebrity, Jane Goodall.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Being the first East Asian winner on the show, you got emotional talking about representing your country while talking with your mother on the finale. What does this moment mean to you?
NYMPHIA WIND: East Asians, or Asians in general in Western media, aren’t represented that much. Think of an Asian pop star in western culture. You can’t really name one. There are so few of them. It meant a lot to hold that representation and space in this competition. Being on the Main Stage and seeing my mother there, I got emotional because she doesn’t live in America and she had to travel from Taiwan. At that time, she was physically sick. It was a lot for her to travel, and she still made it. You see how supportive she is and how much love she has for her child.
You spoke a couple of episodes ago about being bombarded with Western beauty standards that led you to you not feel confident in your own appearance. What do you want to say to kids who feel that way now, and what does it feel like to have the validation of winning after going through that experience?
As an Asian kid brought up in Asia, we’re not taught to be vocal or voice ourselves. We’re taught to be subtle, quiet, and keep to ourselves. I’m not one to boast about being good at this or that. I’m a wallflower. Self-confidence has always been a thing throughout my life. Even after winning, you wake up some days and you’re not feeling yourself, and other days you wake up super confident. You have to remember to acknowledge the good and the bad and see it as a whole. When you have those bad days, remember the good days are going to come. The bad days aren’t forever. Be graceful, and know that people are out there just like you, even if they may seem confident in themselves. There are things in them you have to find time to see. Winning and this validation is beyond. I always wanted to be the first East Asian queen to win and now I’ve achieved that.
This episode featured your first competitive lip-sync on the show, and you did it as boba tea! Can you explain mapping out your approach to this lip-sync, and what connection boba tea has to “Padam Padam” by Kylie Minogue?
I obviously came here to represent my country, and…
This article was originally published by a ew.com . Read the Original article here. .