After turns on both Canada’s Drag Race and UK vs The World Season 1, Lemon’s stint on Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. The World 2 has proven to be her sweetest one yet. The newly crowned Queen of the Motherpucking World showcased an elevated aesthetic on the runway and kept her eye on the prize throughout the competition, and now has her eyes on a possible small-screen future post-win. I. sat down to chat with Lemon about her Canada vs. The World experience, her roots in the New York City drag scene and what she learned from those performers, and finally, the lessons she learned during her previous Drag Race runs that helped her soar to victory this time around.
Michael Cook; Condragulations on being crowned Queen of the Motherucking World and winning Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World 2! Was there a moment where you thought you just may win the competition?
Lemon: I think it was after Episode 4, we had just finished the roast. We were having that little fallout moment after the elimination. Someone asked me how I felt and I just felt so much pride. I had that moment of crying and having a little bit of a breakdown because I just felt, for the first time in so long I was just so proud of everything that I had done. It was a really overwhelming feeling. I think sometimes we don’t have the space to handle all of the feelings and that’s what happy tears are for. They were definitely happy tears but that was definitely one of the moments that. I was like “I’m here, there is one week left, and I could make it all the way to the end”. It was a crazy feeling but Drag Race is so unpredictable. You really just have to take it one minute by minute, anything is possible. I could’ve lost one of the lip syncs and been sent home at the finale too. The only time that I thought I could really win was when I was standing at my viewing party waiting for Brooke Lynn (Hytes) to announce the winner.
MC: Watching the videos of the winners be officially announced as the winner are always heartfelt and emotional to watch and yours was no different. For things to change they need to change; what was different this time?
L: I really think preparation is key, especially in a competition. I felt so prepared to be there and I felt so ready for any of the challenges. I feel like I was at a place emotionally, mentally and physically where I could do anything that they threw at me and I could stand confidently in who I am, what I am presenting, & what I am able to do. I think preparation was the number one thing. I kept saying to my friends that I have to be undeniably cunt. I had to be so good that the judges aren’t even to say “Well, you could have done this”. I just wanted it to be so solid that they have no notes for me because they were like “Yep that was exactly what we wanted”. That is how I entered into the competition.
MC: What was it like for you to join the cast of Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World 2 and see Cheryl again, who you become fast friends with during and after UK vs The World Season 1?
Lemon: It was crazy, Cheryl and I actually met way before UK vs The World. We were party girls, we both got booked to be the guest stars at Jan’s show. We all got absolutely wasted and the three of us sat there saying that “One day, they are going to make international versions of Drag Race. I’ll be on the Canadian one, she’ll be on the UK one, and you’re going to be on the US one and we’ll all meet up together on International Drag Race”. And you know what-we’re kinda right! It was so nice to see Cheryl, it is so nice to see someone that, while it is a competition, it’s nice to see someone who you know has good intentions, a good heart and is a good friend. I was ecstatic to see Cheryl there. It is one of the most stressful situations ever, so to have someone who is a real friend, it really makes it so much easier.
MC: Lemon what does it feel like to have watched your evolution since your original season to now winning Canada vs The World 2?
L: It feels crazy because we all have that little bit of imposter syndrome that tells us were not as good as this girl or that one, but it is nice to be validated in the art that we do. This is beyond one kind of form of art, because drag is not just visual, what you say, how you act or how you perform. It is every kind of part of yourself that you have to give to your audience and it takes so much out of you. When we were both eliminated on UK vs the World Season 1, we were both so crushed because we had so much more to say, show, and add to this competition. I think Cheryl is one of the funniest queens I know and I think I’m pretty funny too; I wanna have a good chuckle, have a laugh, and I want to be able to perform. Getting to be able to come back for a third time, I couldn’t be more grateful and thankful for this opportunity. At the end of the day, I know that it was my time.
MC: Miss Fiercalicious, right up through the finale episode, kept the Untucked lounge buzzing, even tangling with her Canadian sisters, you included. In addition to being a fierce competitor, is that just who she is?
L: Fierce is a very emotional person and I definitely get that she was upset. Is she gonna sit on the couch the whole episode and fake it that she is so happy? No that’s just not fierce. She’s gonna let you know exactly how she feels whenever she feels it; I think thats just Fierce. The thing that people have to remember is that the cameras cut everything down to about an hour, but Fierce behaves like that twenty four seven; thats always her. At that point in the competition we were all used to it, that’s why I just laughed.
MC: Your grandmother Kizha Carr congratulated you for your win online and she is a New York City drag legend. What is it like to receive accolades like this from the people who helped bring you up onto the NYC drag scene?
L: It’s crazy. Kizha Carr and Jasmine Rice LaBeija are huge drag family and they are the best. It really is down to them that I have had so many lessons that they have taught me. Kizha once came to one of my shows and she came up to me after and grabbed ne on both shoulders and she just said “Will you stand still for two fucking seconds”!? I realized “Oh yeah I guess don’t do that”. That moment where she was like, “You’re gorgeous, you don’t need to be doing all that. Relax for a second, let them look at you, watch you lip sync and then you can start dancing”. Then I was like “Oh right”! Before that, I had just been treating lip syncs like a dance competition, but things like that made me realize that I could do that too. Jasmine also has given me the best advice also as well. She is the one who helped me learn how to sew so for the sewing challenges this season I wasn’t struggling.
It is an honor to have them as drag family because I respect them so much and I look up to them. My success is very much thanks to Drag Race and that is one thing. Their success is very much because of hard work and going to the bar and putting the work in, building up a fan base and people to come back and see the show week after week after week. That perseverance and level of hard work is very inspiring to me. Kizha contines to push the envelope and has started discussing that they need to raise the level of how much performers are being paid in New York City and across the country. People like that, the trailblazers in this industry, that is what is going to make the change and that is what is going to make it better for everyone. I love them and it is an honor to be related to them; I am a Carr-dashian (laughs)!
MC: The music you have released and your content itself truly sets itself apart and a great deal of that seems to be because you come from a truly authentic place with your music, is that fair to say?
L: My big thing when I am planning a song is where I want to be when the song comes on and how do I want it to make me feel? A lot the music that I write is based on “Okay this is for when we are all hanging out and we are home after the party smoking weed, this is the song I want to play”. Other songs are something I want to play at a pool party where everyone is really hot and wearing skimpy little bikinis, this is the song I want to be playing. It’s personal because there are moments of my life that I have had and want to have again. I say this a lot about art in general, I feel that we put a lot of value on art that makes us feel negative emotions. If something can make you cry or feel sorrow it’s good art, but we don’t pay comedy or things that make you have a good time the same respect. Yes my music is about feeling sexy and about being a bad bitch, but for me there is still so much value still in that. Because that is still something that we need to feel. I want to put the song on and pump through the mall and feel so confident, alive and sexy. We all deserve that as much as we should feel the beautiful sorrow that comes with a play.
MC: The world is absolutely at your finger tips and you are breathing truly rarified air. What is next that you want to do?
L: My real dream is to be in a scripted comedy series. I have aways loved shows like Superstore and Parks and Rec where it’s just absurdist comedy. I feel that drag really lends itself to that world where its fun silly goofy crazy scenarios. My dream is to continue to write shows and hopefully star in something one day. I used to be so good at making audiences cry as a dancer it was truly one of those things where every time I would perform someone would come up and say “It was so beaituful”. Now when I finish a show and people are crying because they were laughing so hard, their cheeks hurt and their abs hurt like they’ve been working out all day, that to me is the reason I was put on this earth for, to give people that feeling. Yes, scripted comedy would definitely accomplish that!
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