Drag queens have long been part of the Eurovision song contest. Now drag performers will have their own chance to compete in a new singing contest. Queen of the Universe will be produced by RuPaul’s Drag Race production company World of Wonder. The show will be hosted by UK Eurovision commentator Graham Norton.
The series was first mentioned back in February. Now more details have been confirmed with an announcement in Variety magazine.
While lip-sync performances are a common part of drag acts, Queen of the Universe will strictly involve live signing. Drag performers from different countries will compete to be crowned Queen of the Universe.
Further details of the show format have not yet been confirmed. It’s not known if the competing queens will be former contestants of Drag Race or if the contest may also be open to drag stars from the world of Eurovision and beyond.
Graham Norton will host Queen of the Universe
The popular TV host is best known to Eurovision fans as having been the UK’s Eurovision commentator since 2009. Graham Norton has been involved with other Eurovision projects and made an appearance in the Netflix Eurovision film.
The Irish-born TV host is also the star of his own talk show, The Graham Norton Show. The BBC show has been running for 29 series and attracts international celebrity guests.
Norton is also a familiar face on Drag Race UK. He stars as one of the show’s judging panel, sitting alongside RuPaul and Michelle Visage.
Queen of the Universe will screen on the Paramount Plus streaming platform and is set to premiere on 2 December.
RuPaul’s Drag Race and singing
While drag performers are typically known for lip-sync performances, there is a long tradition of queens who sing. Mama RuPaul debuted in 1992 with the hit single “Supermodel (You Better Work)” and has gone on to release over a dozen albums.
Drag stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race frequently release their own music. All Stars winner Trixie Mattel has released three well-regarded albums and has successfully toured as a country-pop performer. As well, Drag Race stars such as Alaska, Katya, Bob the Drag Queen and American Idol star Adore Delano have had success with their own releases.
Music challenges are also a traditional part of RuPaul’s Drag Race. These have resulted in such iconic works as the All Stars 2 performance “Read U, Wrote U” and Drag Race UK track “Break Up (Bye Bye)” by girl group Frock Destroyers. Last year’s series of Drag Race UK had “UK Hun” by the United Kingdolls debut at No.27 in the UK singles chart.
Drag acts have also been a long part of the Eurovision Song Contest. Austrian performer Conchita Wurst won Eurovision in 2014, while Ukraine comedienne Verka Serduchka was the runner up at Eurovision 2007.
As well, national finals have featured such iconic performers as After Dark, Lolita Zero, Kamil Show, as well as Drag Race star Courtney Act.
What do you think? Will you watch Queen of the Universe? Which drag stars would you like to see represent their country? Tell us your thoughts below!
Good news! This way we might be able to avoid having drag joke acts in Eurovision. It will be enough to have the likes of Frock Destroyers away from the news about the contest?
The thing with drags is that you either love them or hate them… Graham Norton hosting a drag show should have a lot of outbreak coming through, especially by boomers
Will this contest have its own Barbra Dex award? ……Seriously, I’m in a wait and see place on this. Camp and Eurovision go hand and hand, like camp and drag. However, I hope there would be room for Conchita like serious ballads in this show.
Bring it home for Mother Russia, Katya!
Curious about the whole format but looking forward to it! It’s always fun to find new drag artists.
Really hope WOW have Conchita as a judge or contestant, she will blow international drag viewers away!
This sounds fun but isn’t it more like an international version of the X factor if they just represent themselves rather than their countries? Also the fact that it’s airing on paramount plus isn’t going to be great for international viewership (Netflix would make more sense although WoW tends to do a lot of work with paramount).
It makes more sense since Paramount owns Viacom, the production company behind Drag Race
Would love to see bosom buddies for the uk . Brilliant live vocals .
Side note: Wiwibloggs ignores the Junior Eurovision Song Contest – shame on you guys. I know that the main focus is on the adult version ….but to post nothing about the junior contest – sorry, that is just bad.
Greetings from a disappointed fan.
No one really cares about JESC honestly. Amazed it has lasted this long…
Not sure if you are from a country that competes in JESC, but there are actually tons of people all across the continent, who look forward to it every year, me being just one of them. For me it’s like a mini Eurovision where other countries get to shine in a spotlight, even Kazakhstan competing nowadays. Countries like Georgia, Malta and Poland who usually don’t do so well in the adult contest, are actually the currently competing countries with the most wins! (and Russia I guess) Even the Netherlands had won once in the time period where in ESC they… Read more »
Sounds like it could be fun! Being brutally honest I don’t think drag and LGBTQ-related topics should topple the music and context of the music itself as being the central part of Eurovision, as it still has ‘song contest’ in its very name, but it being an added thing to the list of already unique things appearing within the 65+ year old history of the contest it’s still fun regardless and I’m curious to see what revolutionary character we’ll see appear next, because we know it will happen again xD
here before the homophobes start commenting
In Germany we call this “Tuntensingen”