As a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race she shoots from the hip and cuts with her tongue, and has won over millions of fans in the process.
And on Sunday Logo TV‘s Eurovision 2017 commentator Michelle Visage shared her opinions on the most recent edition of the song contest during an exclusive interview with wiwiblogger William at the Drag World UK convention in London’s Olympia convention hall.
“It’s ridiculous — the campness, but also how seriously they take it,” the American says of the pan-European singing show. “It’s like life or death for people in the Eurovision song competition.”
Michelle, who co-hosted Eurovision 2017 alongside American comedian and fellow RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Ross Matthews, clearly got into the glitter-slicked proceedings.
“My favourite was — by far — Sweden. I’m sorry. Hands down they should have won — that’s my opinion. That was flawless from start to finish.”
She’s got plenty of love for “Amar pelos dois” singer Salvador Sobral as well.
“Portugal — I loved Portugal,” she says. “They obviously won. He obviously won. He was amazing.”
Among her other favourites was Israel’s Imri Ziv — yes, she remembers the body — and “Space” singer Slavko Kalezic.
“I loved Montenegro, but they didn’t even get to the final because of the whole hair thing.”
That Michelle loves Slavko isn’t surprising. In 2015 she published The Diva Rules: Ditch the Drama, Find Your Strength, and Sparkle Your Way to the Top. Preach!
Michelle’s Eurovision commentary has opened the (faux eyelash adorned) eyes of many Drag Race competitors to the contest.
Season Seven competitor Katya Zamolodchikova has lip-synched to Verka Serduchka. And in 2015 a challenge on the show saw the queens working bearded lady looks in a nod to Conchita Wurst.
So it was only natural that Season Five winner Jinkx Monsoon and Season Seven winner Violet Chachki were thrilled to send some love to all you Eurovision fans on wiwibloggs.
Could these queens win a live sing-off with the Eurovision stars, we asked Michelle?
No. “Eurovision stars are professionals. That’s what they do. The queens are professional too, but they’re not used to that sort of thing. [Eurovision] is really frickin’ serious.”
Eurovision on Logo TV
Logo first broadcast Eurovision in 2016 — but not without some teething problems.
Logo could not air the 2016 interval act for licencing reasons. That’s a little ironic, given that the interval act was the American singer Justin Timberlake. Hosts Carson Kressley and Michelle Collins did not go down well with many American fans either.
But Logo remedied that problem by bringing in Michelle and Ross, who seemed to really get into the competition and who had done their homework ahead of the show. They had fun, but treated the acts with a great deal of respect. They occasionally teased, but they never threw hurtful shade.
And guess what: They’re coming back.
Michelle has confirmed exclusively to wiwibloggs that she and Ross will be in the hot seat again next year as the contest hits Lisbon.
“Hell yes!” she said when we asked if she’s got the gig. “Confirmed. And Ross Matthews — we’re just a good pair together.”
Are you loving the RuPaul’s Drag Race and Eurovision cross-over? Did you watch the Logo coverage and will you be doing so again in 2018? Let us know in the comments box below.
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Stop the Geo-Block on Youtube!
Logo doesn’t show the Semis, Yet performances from the semis are also blocked in America.
It is very hard to explain to Americans what is Eurovision without showing them examples of special / great / unique / strange live performances.
LOGO doesn’t upload the live performances or the full show BUT they block it still.
Please release the youtube live performances for the sake of the competition.
Or stop the Logo broadcast.
Is there a video of Katya lip-synching to Verka Serduchka?
She reminds me of Moran Mazor.
Sorry, I can’t stand how Logo TV and Viacom have broadcasting rights over here, and have essentially blocked most Eurovision videos for the western hemisphere. They don’t broadcast the semis, you can’t watch the performances from the officially youtube channel of Eurovision, and you can’t watch the livestream through Eurovision either! Considering that Logo barely reaches any audience, it’s completely ridiculous! It wouldn’t be so bad if it was on a wider available channel, but the whole thing ended up being a shit deal for American Eurovision fans. Thank God for SVT and YLE having non-geoblocked streams for us over… Read more »
So true. Sweden had the best performance and song.
Lmao. NOT
This is definitely what I don’t want Eurovision to turn into.
Looks like they might treat it like some LBGT-thing with those commentators. I agree!
Who is Michelle Visage? An expert or what? She based her opinion strictly by the look (eye candy males like Robin, IMRI, etc). She is a shallow woman with no music experience and her opinion makes no sense.
she’s just a fast food music lover like the rest of us. love her. <3
I don’t think Sweden should have won it lacked credibilty, originality and crediblity. Something e.g. the wonderful winner had.
“Originality”.
I loved Amar Pelos Dois, but it was about as original as I Can’t Go On (which I also loved).
It was original for the Eurovision, unlike I Can’t Buy Televotes which is generic trash no matter which context you put it in.
Amar Pelos Dois does indeed stand out at today’s Eurovision, although I don’t think it would have stood out as much at 50s or 60s Eurovision.
I think I Can’t Go On is generic pop of the 2010s, and Amar Pelos Dois is generic pop of the 1920s, kinda like this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ey1xAK9HRtc
(And just because a song is generic and unoriginal, doesn’t mean it’s bad)
This just shows how little you know about his song. Amar pelos dois was a mix between jazz and bossa nova, it would have stand out in the 50s too. Nothing generic or unoriginal about the song, only fools like you would think that way.
Well seeing her favourites and argumentation I can imagine she’s not a judge focussing on vocals 🙂 but merely on expressions. I prefer the musicallity over a weak (like sweden, israel) or even bad live singer (montengro). Slavko was vocally very bad live, Imri should have done so much better too, and Sweden just leaned too much on backing vocals and gimmick to be a true winner. Top 10 was OK, as his show was enteraining, but anything near top 5 is overrated. Anyway as long as she’s just a commentator on a hardly watched show in the USA I… Read more »
First, yes, we do take ESC seriously! It’s mormal to seem strange. When you are a neutral person and follow this for the first time, you’re like: “Ok, it’s not a big deal. Why is everyone so serious about it?” And that’s true. But if you’re a fan, or even the artists and the delegations are focused on this competition for many reasons. Also, it’s her opinion and I’m fine with it, but no, Sweden shouldn’t have won! Except Portugal, having as favourites Sweden, Israel and Montenegro… don’t be mad at me but we speak about two good looking guys… Read more »
The good sis needs a hearing test. You can tell she hasn’t followed the contest for long.
She definitely needs to improve on her homework skills and listen with the ears instead of the eyes.
Not like Robin looks good lmao he looks like a marmot
Yeap the LGBT appreciation for pop music at his best …the Swedish manufactured pop, the sexy hunk body of Israel (so musical) and of course Slavko … everything else required ears … and in RuPaul’s world listening is irrelevant … putting on a show and throwing shade is the energy that enlightens the party. This is what happens when one thinks Eurovision is the a Gay pride event even before Pride month.
agree, I love LGBT don’t get me wrong, but LGBT is NOT the reason I watch ESC. And as you said some of LGBT’s community have very limited taste, I’m not referring to anyone but that’s a fact. Anyone who has some sense of music knows Slavko did so bad vocally, that Robin’s song is very polished and a nice track, but defenitly not something that should win in any case, same goes for Imri:)
I am straight myself. But I have some gay friends who love rock. And detest “cheap” music. So that’s a bit too “onesided thinking”.
But not as stupid as claiming that ESC “is gay” etc.
Yeah I get that not everyone (from LGBT) are like that – I wrote that in previous comment.
🙂
I wish I could be like you: Have absolutely nothing going on in my life than rambling on and on about my dislike for a country’s entries and how Salvador is a God that will leave a long lasting impact.
But no, Salvador barely left an impact, Earth is still moving and there real issues to care about.
Of course he left an impact! He added some real credibility, honesty and musicaal genuinty to the festival. it was something with personality. Heartfelt, real music. And of course….for portugal it was a VERy big thing winning. After having mostly done bad ever since 1964.
I could say just the same you say about hyped gay-icons like Conchita however. She had no impact after ESC. Apart from among gays. It’s all in the eyes of the behoilder. She probably wouldn’t have won without the freakshow thing.
But that is exactly what you do. At any given chance all you do is ramble about how Salvador was trash and anyone that likes the song is an idiot. Not to mentioned the racist remarks against Portugal. I have yet to see a comment of yours that isn’t about those things, so how about you shut it you hypocritical Sweed?
Lol, I haven’t said anything racist about Portugal. Nor did I say the song was trash, I don’t think it is. I don’t find it amazing or a masterpiece but that doesn’t mean I think it’s trash But what did I say that was racist? I don’t know enough about Portugal to say anything about it, positive or negative. All i did was question Salvador’s statement about fast food music and what gave him the right to bash other entries since he is isn’t better than other artists. There is no real music, only music. It has a value to… Read more »
I agree on you that this association with the LGBTI community it too superficial and one-sided and has lead to a poor quality of many entrants, based on the stereotypes people have on Gay people. But in all fairness, Michelle did like Salvador and did recognised its victory, unlike many others is this blog. 🙂
A big no from me. “I Can’t Go On” is really not a good song. It has no musical and lyrical substance whatsoever, and it doesn’t express anything at all. It really represents what I don’t like about most of today’s commercial pop.
Hence why Salvaor called it fastfood pop. He was right. An what a wonderful honest, heartfelt and atmospheric winning song 🙂
I liked ICGO in the start. But grew tired of it. Even if it was not a Swedish schlager, it was still quite “cheap pop music”. Not really meant for “lasting” in my ears
Indeed not. I quite liked Wiktoria’s song in Melodifestivalen which may be fastfood pop too, but a much better one of its kind I’d say.
heheh…I didn’t even like Wiktorias song from the start 🙂 However, I liked her song “Save Me” from 2016. It had something special 🙂
Usually my favourites don’t even go further to the final in MF. Because I like the more “alternative” songs. Sadly, almost only “mainstream pop song” do well in MF. They can be good songs too. But for me seldom the best ones
Same here.
That Bachelor? …nope. Sorry, but I don’t share that opinion.
I didn’t vote for Portugal but I can at least see why Sobral won and I can accept it. But that wouldn’t be the case with “I can’t go on”. Definitely
The partnership with Logo should be dropped. Having American commentary on a relatively obscure channel does not make up for the inability to watch any acts from the United States later on.
Agree. If they HAVE to have it on TV, they should go with PBS! They never run ads because it’s publicly funded, which would mean they would have less of a problem broadcasting the semis, and most of their content IS available to watch online later, even shows imported from Britain. PBS is also more readily available – I don’t have cable and PBS is one of the 5 channels I have currently – meaning more people in America would be able to watch the show.
Preach. The Logo deal is killing the growth of a US audience.
The thing with PBS it is not a traditional broadcast network like CBS or NBC. PBS national doesn’t license its overseas shows like Downton Abbey or Sherlock they are actually licensed by its member station WGBH Boston. For PBS to air Eurovision one or more member stations would need to pay the license fee to air the contest like WGBH. WGBH would then need to go to all other 353 member stations and negotiate with them to air the contest nationally at the same time as each member station has the freedom to schedule any show that is distributed nationally… Read more »
@M, Helen: Aye! Did the EBU ever approach PBS to televise the contest in the U.S.? And what happened to kill that deal?
I watched the contest on Logo in 2016, but I decided to go with SVT for this year’s contest.
Rupauls Dra Grace meets Eurovision! it doesn’t get any better than this <3
Irony? Hopefully so!
They should not! Thankfully it was not the year of fastfood music. Long Live Salvador! His song oozed class.
why don’t you go eat some kale then eurovision is a once a year fun treat like a birthday dinner treat not a snooze fest that’s why people watch it
Go eat some kale then, esc is a once a year treat
Once a year treat .. but the cheesiness and its fast food pop musical approach is everywhere inside and outside of it … if Eurovision does not want to stand out musically and become just a random LGBT pride event or a MTV award show-wannabe then what’s the point?
Again I agree with you Charles
ESC is supposed to be a music festival. Representing what is popuklar / credible / new talents etc in the different countries. All kinds of music. Pop, rock, ballads, ethno, indie, hardrock, soul, elctronica, dance, rnb, rap….whatever is considered “good” music 🙂
It’s not a freak show. Not a glamour show. Not a LBGT gay thing. Not a contest for only “typical” ESC-songs. if it was, it was have been dead long ago…..
Wanting someone to die due to his health problem as a way to express how much you can’t stand music that goes beyond you Nitendo level 2 game …is just so … arghh ….
“he is not going to live long”….and then laugh at it? Come on, show that man some respect!