With equal parts dynamic talent and pop star energy to spare, Tiffany Ann Co delivered consistent and infectious energy to this season of Canada’s Drag Race. With a name that is a nod to the luxury brand of the same name, Tiffany glistened during her time on Canada’s Drag Race and while she has departed, she has big plans for the future. We sat down to chat post-elimination about her Drag Race run, Asian excellence on Drag Race, and the impact of the Golden Beaver on Canada’s Drag Race!
Michael Cook: Condragulations on an amazing run on Canada’s Drag Race. You are arguably one of the sweetest contestants to hit that Werk Room in quite some time!
Tiffany Ann Co: Thank you! I thought I was going to come in rotted because in real life I am a monster, so I thought would be a lot more evil (laughs)!
MC: So you showed a lot more heart than you intended to; is that the kind of performer you typically are?
TAC: I put a lot of emotion into my performances and I think that when I am performing, that is my most authentic self I feel. I am glad that as a viewer you were able to see that and that it translated across the screen.
MC: What was it like to get to compete in the Lip Sync Slay Off and truly get to showcase what you get to do as a performer?
TAC: This is one of the challenges that I knew I really wanted to do. I think that coming from my track record of the last two episodes where I was in the bottom-whether or not I was supposed to be there-I think that for me, this was a great chance to prove why I was there. Why I was cast and and who I am as a performer; I was very excited to be a part of it this year.
MC: What is your go-to lip sync so when you perform?
TAC: Right now it’s “Juno” by Sabrina Carpenter. Before I promise you, it was “Exes” by Tate McRae. That is why I was like “I have to have this song”!
MC: What do you think are your rose and thorn of your whole Canada’s Drag Race experience?
TAC: My rose I would say is making ten new sisters. Coming into it, I was prepared to hate everyone, I mean it’s a competition; no new friends (laughs)! I think in the first five minutes, I instantly fell in love with so many of them. I may not have won $100,000, but I have won ten new sisters that will be part of my life forever; we have been bonded. My thorn is the highway robbery that we watched last episode of me getting sent home, that was my thorn.
MC: Wth that in mind, the Golden Beaver definitely adds a new layer to both the elimination portion and the competition as a whole. Do you think you might have preferred to compete without the Beaver looming?
TAC: You know it’s hard to say, because I never got saved by the Beaver. I know if I were in the bottom I would have appreciated it, so I am definitely mixed with her. I appreciate that she is gold now and has had a glow up, but I don’t appreciate that I never had her (laughs)!
MC: It is curious the Golden Beaver still hasn’t received an equally fierce name of her own don’t you think?
It’s Miss Beaver! We don’t need to name her because when you name something, that’s when you get attached to it. So we’re not gonna name her (laughs)!
MC: How did your career in drag get its start?
TAC: I think drag for almost everyone starts in one of two ways; Pride or for Halloween-I was a Halloween girl. My manager now was an event producer at the time and he discovered me. He wanted to book me to perform, I used to go go dance at his events and he wanted to book me as a drag performer. I didn’t even know that it was something you could do and then the gigs just started coming. It kind of started to snowball and has gone from there; it was never my intention.
I think especially at my age, I mean I am not the oldest, but you dont grow up thinking you’re going to be a drag queen. With today’s generation they have that privilege to grow up and want to be a drag queen because that is something that people see as a viable career. With us, that was not the case
MC: What do you think you want to do now with the massive platform that Canada’s Drag Race ?
TAC: Right now, I want to uplift a lot of Asian voices with my platform because that is something that I really do believe in representing. That is also why I am pushing my Asian Babygirl World Tour. I want it to be a full concert experience where everyone can get to see how I am as a performer, but you also get to live that pop star concert fantasy that I permanently live in, so I would love to do that. I am in the talks of building an EP right now also, I think “What is a pop star without an album”?
MC: What is it like seeing Asian excellence celebrated not just on Drag Race, but all over the globe now
TAC: I think it’s huge. It is because of opportunities like this for Asian people that we get to have moments like this where you are starting to see a big boom in it. I think before I always viewed it as “the one Asian girl spot”.Now having so many in the room with m,e I know that there is room for more than one of us. Minhi (Wang) and I represent so many things; while we are both Asian and represent that, we represent many things. I think it’s great for viewers that are Asian to see that representation in so many different ways.
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