Queen Priyanka, the inaugural winner of Canada’s Drag Race, has launched a brand new album, Devastatia.
The We’re Right here star has been working onerous at creating the hyper-pop album, which opens with a catchy and self-confident anthem, “I’m a Star,” that options the drag queen turned pop star telling the listener: “You might be ok / Now look within the mirror and say / I’m a star.”
The eight-track album, launched Friday, has been within the works for a very long time. “I’m so used to quick turnarounds and content material is content material that I didn’t count on for it to take this lengthy,” Priyanka tells The Hollywood Reporter, noting it’s been two years since she launched her EP Style Check. “I didn’t additionally count on to undergo what I went by.”
The singer says that trying again, she feels dangerous for herself and that’s “loopy to consider.” Nevertheless, she tries to remind herself to not throw a pity get together. “It takes a really harm individual to put in writing a tune referred to as ‘No New Mates,’” the singer says, referring to the album’s sixth observe. “It takes a really harm individual to put in writing a tune referred to as ‘Shut It Down,’ and it made me be like, ‘Huh, these have been a very robust few years since successful Drag Race, since releasing my first report, doing all of the issues that I’ve carried out.’”
Priyanka jokes that she beforehand didn’t perceive when artists would say issues akin to “this album is a web page out of my diary” when songs can be about ingesting or being in golf equipment. “Now I do know what these artists are speaking about,” the drag queen says.
Queen Priyanka for her new ‘Devastatia’ album.
Nick Merzetti
“There’s a lot me within the tales by way of the overarching theme is that this Devastatia character,” Priyanka provides, saying it was usually recommended she make stereotypical drag queen music. “[I was] like, ‘No, I wish to speak about my real-life expertise.’ When it got here to writing Devastatia, it was nearly like throwing that concept again into folks’s faces.”
Priyanka provides: “You need me to be in a field, and also you need me to say ‘tens throughout the board.’” She notes that the pre-chorus (“I can’t management myself / I’m reckless / you need to go save your self / The clock is ticking”) has a deeper which means. “That’s the devastation I felt with having to must put myself in any type of field,” she explains.
The We’re Right here star can be making ready for a tour throughout Canada and the U.S., which she says has been “actually onerous” as a result of she at the moment doesn’t have a supervisor. “I’m at the moment mainly doing all the things myself,” she explains.
“I’m doing a lot that making ready for a tour. It’s robust,” Priyanka says. She provides that the most important pop stars have been proper, saying: “You don’t get success except you do it your self, and as a lot as I hate that, it’s robust to search out those who perceive what it takes to placed on these type of reveals.”
Priyanka for her new album ‘Devastatia.’
Shaun Vadella
The Drag Race winner notes that she turned down the drag queen solid tour to pursue her personal tour. And when making ready for her stint throughout North America, the pop star additionally got here to the conclusion, “I’d truly make much less cash than simply happening a drag queen solid tour.”
“You truly lose lots by selecting your self generally, however you achieve ultimately as a result of I’m making a challenge that’s going to be one among many in laying down that basis work,” she says, including that Priyanka the drag queen and Priyanka the singer, though the identical individual, are completely different. “I didn’t know that a part of this business, and now I’m studying it, being like, ‘Oh, shit.’” She emphasizes that she liked her Drag Race expertise and also will be performing Drag Race songs.
Priyanka provides that her time on the award-winning HBO collection We’re Right here in 2024 has additionally knowledgeable how she makes selections and lives life since filming. “The whole lot that I’ve approached after it has been very… I’ve been extra sure,” she says. “Right here you’ve these queer youngsters dwelling in small-town America being like, ‘No, no, no, no, I don’t wish to run away to the large metropolis. I reside at house.’ I’m like, ‘Properly, I’m a bitch then as a result of I ran away to the town.’”