Across all franchises, there are 32 seasons of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in total. Do we need that many seasons? No. Can I name an iconic moment from most of them? Yes, yes, I can. Since the only person I talked to about “Drag Race” at school last year graduated, I am now subjecting our Upper School and whoever reads this “Scribbling” article to sit and read about my personal “Ins” and “Outs” of “Drag Race” for 2024. Quick warning, this article will contain spoilers for RuPaul’s “Drag Race” season 16, so please read at your own discretion.
IN: Public Challenges
I would love to spend this article talking about RuPaul’s fracking controversy, but more importantly we need to discuss bringing back public challenges to “Drag Race”! Throughout this decade we have seen over and over again that old trends are making a comeback. Continuing the idea of gaining inspiration from the past, we must make the “Drag Race” episode formula more interesting by reintroducing public challenges. “All Stars 1,” which aired in 2012, was the last time “Drag Race” fans enjoyed an ‘in-the-street’ challenge. For that specific challenge in AS1, the queens were instructed to prank random people walking around. It was refreshing to see the queens in a setting that wasn’t the studio and have them compete in an outside-of-the-box challenge. I understand that because of “Drag Race”’s rise in popularity and people leaking episode information this challenge would be difficult, but if we really wanted 2024 to bring in new ideas, public challenges is one idea we could use.
OUT: The misuse of the word “robbed”
Nothing irks me more than when people use the word “robbed” for when their favorite queen doesn’t win a challenge, their runway look doesn’t win, or they lose a lip sync. It’s all up to personal opinion whether or not someone was robbed, yet how can someone be robbed of something that was never theirs to begin with?? Valentina (Season 9) and Mirage (Season 16) are two contestants that people like to refer to as “robbed.” They both left their respective seasons in a similar fashion, for being in the bottom two while wearing a good outfit and not knowing the words to their lip sync song. They have been given the “robbed” treatment because viewers believe that they both left their seasons too early and weren’t able to live up to their potential. What I’m about to say might sound harsh, but if you are lip syncing for your life and you don’t know the words, you deserve to be eliminated. Lip syncing is literally one of the most basic steps when it comes to performing. I declare hence forward that using “robbed” incorrectly is now a punishable offense with a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail!
IN: RuPaul performing
In 2024 RuPaul is showing out!! Ru is back to performing and promoting her music, and honestly I’m here for it! Not only did season 16 premiere on January 5 but also did Ru decide to release his album “Essential Vol. 3” the exact same day. I first started liking Ru’s music when I watched Tyra and Raven lip-sync for the season 2 crown to RuPaul’s “Jealous of my Boogie.”As of right now “Jealous of my Boogie” deservingly has over 11 million streams on Spotify and counting. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for Ru’s music!
OUT: Not knowing how to sew??
Every season there is that one queen who doesn’t know how to sew. I know it’s interesting for the plot to see how a person can tackle a sewing challenge without knowing how to, but my question is why would you audition/be a contestant on RuPaul’s “Drag Race” if you don’t know how to sew?? The Ball Challenge, a challenge where the queens have to design at least one look by themselves, is the longest running maxi challenge in the “Drag Race” franchise. It’s an excellent way to show off your own personal style and taste, so not knowing how to sew completely ruins your chance to fully display your talents and personality. Obviously, there are other challenges for queens to show off their strengths, but the ball challenge is too iconic of a challenge to fail.
THE END
Thank you so much for reading my “Ins” and “Outs” for RuPaul’s “Drag Race,” and I hope this article inspires you to start watching the show! Each season has its own unique queens, and even though I expressed some of my complaints when it comes to this franchise, every episode is entertaining and is a perfect way to end my week by watching a new episode air every Friday night. Cheers to 2024!
[Image via Refinery29]