Bring Back My Girls: RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 11 Promo Looks Ranked by K. Pereira with Collin Killoran

The RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 11 promo just dropped this past Wednesday, and it’s already shaping up to be a sickening season. We’re excited to see Mystique Summers, an OG queen who has left a permanent impression on the franchise, return for their first time in years. Veteran queens like Silky Nutmeg Ganache, Morgan McMichaels, A’keria C. Davenport, and Kennedy Davenport are coming back to All Stars with a vengeance and an opportunity to finally receive a crown. However, they are up against some heavy hitters, All-Star first-timers like Morphine Love Dion, Crystal Methyd, and Sam Star. With all this anticipation, you definitely do not want to miss the season of All Stars, which premieres on May 8th.  

18. Silky Nutmeg Ganache: 

The Reverend Doctor herself is back to compete for the crown for the fourth time. This two-time finalist and lip-sync assassin has proved why she is a massive threat for the crown. The crowning jewel of her look is the way she accessorized it with brass knuckles that read “rubirth” and “crunch,” the former referencing her recent weight loss and the latter referencing her iconic catch phrase “munch munch crunch crunch.” Unfortunately, the simplicity of her pink bodysuit does not allow her look to stand out as much as the other queens, therefore earning her last place on our list. 

17. Mystique Summers:

Sixteen years after her first and only appearance on the show, Mystique Summers is back to snatch the crown. Mystique’s drag evolution is evident in her promo look, which showcases her elevated makeup skills and a wig that gradients from black to orange. However, the biggest gripe is the distraction caused by the strings going across her dress and the tie detailing, which is what caused her to place so low on our list.

16. Morgan McMichaels: With this being her third time competing on the show, will Morgan prove that the third time is the charm? This L.A. legend and recent Entertainer of the Year winner has proven that she is a major threat for the crown. The flame motif in her outfit was the perfect choice for the orange promo theme. We placed Morgan lower because the garment's material lacked a certain wow factor. 

15. Sam Star: With Sam returning so soon after her first season, in which she placed in the top four, we can only assume she is hungry for the crown. This drag daughter of All Stars 4 winner Trinity The Tuck always showcases the polish and glamour of pageant drag in her looks. The star motif throughout her outfit, a reference to her last name and her position as an all-star, was a standout factor of her look. However, the lack of purple in her dress is what kept her from placing higher on this list. 

14. Shuga Cain: After Shuga’s highly-disputed exit on Season 11, fans have been begging for her return, and that wish has finally been granted. Shuga’s dress design is simple, but her flair comes out with these dramatic ribbons that she has coming from her wrists and a fierce set of purple nails. 

13. Joey Jay: This fan-favorite, meme-queen is back, and this time she’s wearing wigs. Upon going home in the ball challenge, Joey has developed a reputation for subpar looks. However, this structured promo look demonstrates promise with these sickening details of the spikes and these heels that were made for stomping on necks. However, her wig clashes with the garment, which caused her to place lower on our list.

12. Crystal Methyd: Crystal’s conceptual clown perspective brought her all the way to the finale on Season 12. Now she’s back on All Stars, following in the footsteps of her drag sister Daya Betty, who was a finalist on the previous All Stars season. Her look is nothing short of pure camp, with a highlight of the garment being the star-covered fabric in reference to All-Stars. However, the unflattering shape of the outfit landed our season 12 queen in 12th place.

11. Jasmine Kennedie: Just outside of our top ten, we have Season 14’s Jasmine Kennedie. After coming out as a trans woman during the filming of her original season, Jasmine has blossomed into her true self, and now she’s back to compete for the crown. Her look is strong and sleek, with the highlights being the material, the cutout design, and the shoes. 

10. Hershii LiqCour Jete: The first queen in our top ten is Season 16’s first out, Hershii. Being the drag sister of the legendary Kornbread Jete, Hershii has big heels to fill and a shot at RUdemption. This chocolate bar diva came in hot with a fierce cape and bejeweled body suit that extended down her legs with a matching headpiece as a finishing touch. The outfit, being a leotard, pulled Hershii down from ranking any higher. 

9. Kennedy Davenport: The three-time finalist Kennedy Davenport is back on our screens for the fourth time and has proven time and time again that she is a major threat for the crown. The dancing diva of Texas is a drag legend and one of the biggest names on the cast. This promo look is incredibly opulent and reminiscent of Prince. It's fair to say this is her best promo look yet. 

8. April Carrion: During the Season 6 finale, April promised that she would be back for All Stars 2 to win the crown. Upon not being cast on All Stars 2, fans have been waiting for her return, and she’s finally back to compete for the crown. Her elevated mug and highly detailed bikini with multiple shades of pink stood out to us, earning her eighth on our list. 

7. Dawn: A fan favorite on Season 16, Dawn has been a highly anticipated queen to return to All Stars. With her promo look featuring a breast plate, her first time wearing one on the show, we can assume that Dawn has elevated her drag to the All Stars level, making her a top contender for the crown. Her high-concept tiger-print look, complete with elf ears and a tail, stood out to us, earning her seventh on our list. 

6. Morphine Love Dion: Deemed the Lipsync-Assassin of Season 16, Morphine has been a big name in drag since her season first aired. A consistent stand-out in Morphine’s looks is her makeup, which is always flawless. Fan her off because Morphine comes in hot, hot, hot, and ready with these flame details, with the shining piece being the flame mask. 

5. Vivacious: Twelve years after her first season aired, Drag Race legend Vivacious is finally back to compete for the crown. Vivacious is consistently referenced on the show for her iconic entrance look, and her promo look continues this trend as her headpiece is the elevated version of the headpiece she wore for said entrance look. Additionally, the pink trench coat is complete with a structural fanned back-piece. We appreciate her mix of drama and self-references, which earned her fifth on our list.

4. Aura Mayari: Known as “The Trade of the Season,” Aura consistently looks beautiful in and out of drag, and this look is no exception. She struts in with this warrior-inspired look, complete with a staff and crown, which stands out among the numerous gowns and bodysuits. The metallic gold and pink detailing is absolutely captivating. Her beautiful crescent moon headpiece is a great nod as she is the self-proclaimed “Filipina moon goddess.” 

3. Salina Estitties: On Season 15, Salina was known for her subpar looks and was even awarded the Golden Boot, an award for the worst look of the season. However, this promo look is an indication that she has stepped up her game. This gown, reminiscent of a quinceañera dress, stands out due to its ruffles and structural shoulders. The polish and elegance of this look has earned her third place on our list. 

2. A’Keria C Davenport: After two prior seasons, one of which she made top four, A’Keria has proven to be fierce competition for the crown. She absolutely stuns in this fabulous pageant gown, which she made herself. The drama and detailing of the look, accompanied by her always-perfect makeup and body, have earned her runner-up on our list. 

1. Lucky Starzzz: After Lucky Starzzz was eliminated first on Season 17, shocking the world, it’s no surprise that she was brought back to compete on All Stars so soon. Her high-concept, outside-the-box drag style is truly unique in the Drag Race world, making her one to watch out for. With her promo look, she took the orange theme and aimed for the stars and hit the sun. She earned the top spot because this conceptual and detailed look that reminds us of magma says everything about her and what she has to bring to the All Stars stage. Her makeup is the best out of all of the promo looks, and we just had to hand it to her, and it’s a big hand at that. 

All photos are sourced from World of Wonder and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 11. All credit and copyrights to World of Wonder Entertainment.

Article written and looks ranked by K. Pereira with Collin Killoran in association with 47Magazine.

Deeper than sex: we need to talk about intimacy.

When you hear the words intimacy and desire, what do you think of? In many cases, people tend to associate these words with sex: sexual desire, sexual intimacy. But what happens when we start to reshape the way we think about these words?

Dating and relationships are complex. There's a wide range of emotions and feelings that occur, and as we’re evolving in the realm of dating, we more often than not end up viewing certain aspects of romantic relationships through a sexual, or what I will call a pornographic, lens. Now, when I use the term pornographic, I’m not only referring to sex. Feminist and poet Audre Lorde talks about this idea of the pornographic in her essay “Uses of the erotic: The erotic as Power,” where she describes pornography as sensation without feeling, in contrast to her definition of the erotic, which also holds deeper meaning than just sexual pleasure. The erotic is described as a spiritual and political source of power and creativity that connects us to deeper meaning. Lorde speaks of this power of the erotic in terms of how women in particular can use it to reclaim power and challenge systems that oppress or view them through a pornographic lens.

 So with the erotic vs. the pornographic in mind, we can bring it back to the context of modern dating. I argue that modern dating culture often blurs the line between the pornographic and the erotic, prioritizing instant attraction over the slow intimacy through which many women actually experience desire. 

Modern dating culture tends to revolve around instant chemistry or physical attraction. There's a lot of emphasis on “the spark”, on knowing right away if something is there. But for many women, desire does not emerge from immediacy, and instead grows through intimacy, such as actively being listened to, feeling emotionally safe, or even recognition that a person actually sees you. Desire in this sense is something that develops over time. This becomes clear when I hear people talk about the “honeymoon phase” in relationships, which is described as a blissful, carefree period in the early stages of a couple’s relationship, and then as the relationship progresses and months turn into years, what once was an argument-free connection turns into arguments here and there. Oftentimes, it can feel like something's drastically changed in the relationship; there was an immense amount of “passion” and “spark” in the beginning, and now it seems it's gone, often causing burnout early on.

But most of the time, the reality is that there is no inherent problem. Even in platonic relationships, the honeymoon phase exists. Things feel new and exciting at first, and then they don't. However, that doesn’t mean the relationship has worsened or is doomed; it just means you’ve developed with this person to learn your differences as opposed to just your similarities. This is where the confusion between the pornographic and the erotic starts to matter more. The beginning of a relationship can sometimes align with what Lorde would call the pornographic, not because it's shallow but because it's based in immediacy and intensity. There is excitement in being wanted quickly, in feeling an instant connection, which isn’t a bad thing, but can often expose what we project onto other people. What we fantasize someone to be vs. who they actually are.

As things develop and that intensity starts to lessen, intimacy becomes less about constant excitement and more about consistency and actually knowing each other. That shift can feel like something is missing or wrong if we’ve been taught that desire is supposed to feel intense all the time, but what’s actually happening is that a different kind of desire is forming, one that’s closer to what Lorde describes as the erotic. The erotic is more about depth, and for many women, it is within the erotic that desire actually grows. The problem is that modern dating culture doesn't always make space for that kind of desire. With dating apps, social media, and even the way people talk about attraction, there's a lot of pressure to decide quickly. You’re supposed to know right away if you’re into someone, and if you don’t feel that immediate spark, you assume it's not worth pursuing.

This doesn’t mean hookup culture or casual sex are inherently shallow or wrong, as they can be really important spaces for exploration and autonomy; the issue is more about what tends to get emphasized. Both immediacy and slowness can be meaningful in different ways. When immediacy becomes the main way we measure attraction, though, other ways of experiencing desire start to get overlooked. Because of that, desire often gets misread or simplified to one thing. 

Thinking through Lorde’s idea of the erotic offers a different way of approaching modern dating culture. It makes room for desire to be multifaceted. This isn’t about rejecting sex, early attraction, or the excitement of something new, but rather an expansion on how we define intimacy and desire. When we reshape the way we think of these words, we realize that not everything meaningful has to start with a spark, and that desire can take different forms, some of which take time to unfold.

I Wanna Be A Star: How Famous Can A Woman Be?

TW: Murder, and SA mentioned.

What goes up must come down, and for women in Hollywood, the turnaround is worse than the ruthless law of physics.

When Chappell Roan pointed into the sea of photographers, telling one to “shut the fuck up!” at the 2024 VMAs, we could have predicted it as the end of her being on the good side of the general public. In the moment, many applauded her public display of boundary-setting in the face of invasive paparazzi. Her behavior throughout the rest of 2024 until now has seemed to ruffle every feather across the Internet.

This came shortly after she took to her TikTok and created two videos discussing how she views her encounters with fans and/or people who just want a picture. Discourse around Roan floated around the Internet for months, calling her a performative activist or an ungrateful pop star, claiming that she “hates” her career (making music and performing it). It all follows the typical timeline of an all-too repetitive cycle in the entertainment industry, where a woman skyrockets to fame and must experience every negative part of the comedown. 

Musicians have a particularly niche struggle with this, as they are the product. They are attempting to sell who they are for your listening pleasure. In July of 2023, it was announced that 1) Ariana Grande and her now ex-husband had been separated for months, and 2) that Grande was now dating her Wicked costar Ethan Slater, who also had been through a sudden divorce.

The Internet was quick to find any piece of evidence that further pushed the notion that Grande was a serial homewrecker. She and Slater faced immense hate right up until about the time that the actual film came out. By then, the masses were obsessed with the screen adaptation, and her “Eternal Sunshine” world tour sold out in minutes. As of now, she is back! But this only comes after she faced her many, many ups and downs of fame.

Actresses tend to fall into a similar fate, depending on their rise to fame. Jennifer Lawrence, one of the youngest to ever win an Academy Award for Best Actress, star of acclaimed franchise films such as X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games series, and much more, was hated by the general public for being too quirky.

Yes, abusers and known bigots walk around Hollywood, still grabbing prestigious awards and leading box office hits, but liking pizza a little too loudly was just enough for audiences everywhere to get to know Lawrence. Her image of relatability worked until people decided it didn’t; she was accused of performing her ordinary traits to just appeal to mass audiences, because how could a woman actually remain humble after being the highest paid actress in Hollywood? 

The term “media training” unfortunately became every user’s favorite buzzword to describe the behavior of any public-facing person, usually in the place of entertainment. The phrase had its big run when Broadway, movie, and pop star Renee Rapp was on her Mean Girls (2024) press tour. Her unfiltered humor quickly went viral for the fact that she “wasn’t media trained.” She cussed in the junkets and called out bus drivers, and many were obsessed with this presentation of authenticity from a famous actress. While many who work in public relations and communications know that literally everyone has this so-called “media training,” this display of what seemed to be a lack of it had the usual “charming-until-it wasn’t” effect for Rapp, and some turned to call her behavior obnoxious and too abrasive for Hollywood.

The same standard never seems to be in place, however, for men. New HBO star of Heated Rivalry, Hudson Williams, has many fawning over his sarcastic personality and "lack of media training”. From throwing up middle fingers on red carpets to his somewhat crass answers in interviews, he has won over the hearts of millions of fans in the span of just a few months. The difference in treatment is glaringly different to anyone paying any type of attention. 

Rachel Zegler had a spotlight on her from the age of seventeen after making her feature film debut in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story (2021). Her impressive vocals and humble high school theater background were enough to be on the good side of the public. Of course, this didn’t last long as she made a joke about how doing a film like Shazam was for the money, or how Snow White maybe needed a revamp after nearly a century for the live-action remake.

This massive campaign against her was also propelled by her outspoken support of Palestine and her public condemnation of the genocide. Her use of literal free speech led the film to underperform at the box office, which is just wildly ridiculous. Although her talent speaks for itself as she continues to succeed, the harm that comes with mass hatred needs to be acknowledged. 

In June of 2015, musician and actress Christina Grimmie was shot and killed at a meet and greet in Orlando, Florida. While the investigation that followed the tragedy pointed to signs of an obvious motive for murder, her killer was found to have had an “unhealthy and unrealistic infatuation” with Grimmie.

A musician, excited to hug and share a moment with someone she thought to be a safe fan of her art, ended her life on account of an obsession and a lack of protection. While this tragedy holds no direct correlation to any of the cultural moments or women above, it calls into question just how much the Internet and the general public care for the safety of women.

The horrific events and revelations that have come out of elite Hollywood’s sexual abuse rings (i.e., Epstein's Island, Diddy’s house)  are trivialized and desensitized for mass consumption via algorithm. 

Jokes have flooded mine and many others’ feeds about Roan’s security and her relationship to her fans in public, and while it can be fun to point and laugh now, we have to wonder what may be next for her. Will someone try to break that boundary in a way that no one is prepared for? What will she have to do to ensure her safety? She is quite literally banned from performing at Todo Mundo by the mayor of Rio de Janeiro. Chris Brown has a recorded history of abuse toward women, and yet every year without fail, his albums sell, and fans push for him to perform at the Super Bowl. All Time Low is still headlining Warped Tour. And to be frank, it's exhausting.

It's exhausting to see this onslaught of smear campaigns against women constantly, and to find casual misogyny in every conversation around women.

The everyday woman posting a slice of her family life on the Internet or a bit of her relationship unwillingly becomes the center of what could be a Vogue think-piece. A makeup routine becomes a comment section of suggestions. A documented fitness journey becomes a forum for body-shaming.

There is no answer or right way for a woman to be famous, because it's nearly impossible to just exist at times. 

To be a woman in this age is hard enough, so I say, let Chappell Roan be as (allegedly) rude as she wants to be. Who cares?