Seven!: The Rusical - RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World Power Rankings

I’m back with more coverage of the Drag Olympics of Drag Race! RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Episode 5 – Seven!: The Rusical, a live-singing blend of Rusical and Girl Groups challenges with a “When I Glow Up” redemption runway of past looks.

Seven!: The Rusical is a direct lift from SIX, a rock/pop opera musical staged like a concert delivered by the six wives of Henry VIII – two of whom we met last week in Snatch Game! The Drag Race version of the musical is slightly less rangy in pop styles, mostly coming off like five subtle remixes of “Express Yourself” with a pair of unusual outliers rather than seven distinct songs from different music genres.

Much like “Drag Race World” in Episode 3, I think this episode (and the queens) suffered from poor production choices in what could have been an all-time great episode given their level of talent.

This Rusical was subtitled, “Confessions of a Drag Queen,” but Ru never fully defined what those confessions ought to be. In the original SIX, each queen confesses the story of her own love affair via a catchy pop tune. Each song could be effortlessly excerpted to radio without revealing it originated in a musical. Here, all of the queens merely confessed the stories of their runs on the show, trending towards tepid lyrics in the category of “look at me, I sashayed away, I’m gonna snatch the crown!” Only one queen (La Grande Dame) fully broke out of this model to deliver a verse entirely about herself.

Beyond the lack of direction for the songwriting, there was also a lackluster “vocal coaching” session with pop artist Self Esteem. After seeing some truly brilliant singing and songwriting advice on the recent Canada’s Drag Race Season 4, Self Esteem was a real letdown as a coach.

On Canada, the performance coaches treated the songs seriously – as if they were responsible for making improvements to a song that would really be released to radio with their names on it. They edited lyrics, revised melodies, and coached queens on delivery and support. By contrast, Self Esteem left the queens stuck with some easily-fixable problems… and for at least one queen she made her verse worse.

I’m not sure if Self Esteem was too starstruck by being on the show or if she simply isn’t a very talented songwriter, but she failed these queens. (Her lip sync track would suggest the latter.)

Finally, there was the failure of the choreography – or, lack thereof. I know next week is a full-on dancing challenge, so it didn’t make sense to have this challenge also hinge on learning professional choreography. Yet, a Rusical without choreography just doesn’t hit the same – especially on the same day we got an American franchise episode choreographed by Jamal Sims. (More on that tomorrow!) That’s what made this more of a Girl Groups challenge than a Rusical despite the title – the choreo was mostly walking and pointing.

I’ll make my own confession: I’m fully annoyed to be delivering this week’s Power Rankings, with a newly-solidified Top 4 compared to last week’s Snatch Game Power Ranking. This episode made clear that one queen who is crushing the season isn’t in true contention for the crown, while another queen delivering barely-adequate performances is Ru’s chosen one. Meanwhile, the three queens between them continue to deliver terrific performances each week.

(Want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World outside of the UK? For most of the world, it’s available with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best international drag superstar win!

Reminders: I consistently refer to Drag Race artists with their drag names and with she/her pronouns even when they are not in drag, which is the convention of the show. Some performers may have different personal pronouns. Drag is inherently brave, political, and artistic, and all drag is valid. It’s also hard to do. Every drag artist in the world deserves endless essays dedicated to their talents and life stories. I’m commenting on drag artistry in how it fits the established expectations of this specific television program, but the reason I’m commenting at all is because I am obsessed with drag and the people who create it.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World, Season 2, Episode 5 – Seven! The Rusical & When I Glow Up runway Power Rankings

Before we get to this week’s Power Rankings, let’s enjoy some casual fashions from RuPaul! His workroom outfit was giving, “came here fresh from a production meeting” realness (although I love a scarf moment). And, on the runway, she delivered a look that screamed “brief appearance at a charity cocktail party.”

(One specific nitpick: I hated how the center of the top of Ru’s wig was styled as if it was a part in her hair. It broke the illusion of a fanciful hairstyle with a massive topknot and just gave “wig stacked on wig.”)

#1 – Tia Kofi, 3 wins (was #6, 6, 2, 1) [RPDRUK-S02 7th, Pre-Season #4]

Tia Kofi continued her string of adequate challenge performances and adequate runways. This time, she was awarded a win over a pair of crushingly-obvious better verses in Seven!: The Rusical.

Tia Kofi wasn’t the worst in Seven!: The Rusical, but she was nowhere near the best. Her verse suffered from confusing voice-leading.

Listen to her melody. Putting aside the shakiness of her delivery, there are repeated points where it implies that it’s about to break through to a higher note. Tia never delivers that higher note.

I’m acutely aware that queens are stuck with singing Drag Race songs in the key that’s provided to them (which would be the death of me on this show). Yet, the way Tia structured her melody left her nowhere to go. That robbed her of a big moment, which she badly needed after some rough vocals.

In the choreography, Tia looked a bit wooden, with a couple of moments where you can see her rushing to get into place.

Tia’s “When I Glow Up” runway was an improvement on her prehistoric original, but nothing special. We’ve seen better mechanical wings on Drag Race that didn’t look so askew, and beneath the distracting gold cage she was just in a printed bodysuit (that seemed to have a color mismatch between the top and the bottom).

Once again, this look wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t anywhere close to being the best. It wasn’t enough to tie-break against the queens who out-performed Tia in the Rusical.

If I was frustrated with Tia in the challenge, I was delighted by her in the Reading mini-challenge. When I see this version of Tia – full of bad puns and implied self-deprecation – it makes sense to me why Ru loves her so much! I’m just not getting the same quality from her in the challenges.

Even if there’s an argument to be made for Tia’s Snatch Game win last week despite her horrid runway, at this point we’re fully into “Ru’s favorite” territory. It’s never satisfying to see RuPaul prop up a queen at the expense of better performances – and, even less so when it becomes clear that queen will roll straight to finale to lip sync for the crown no matter how often she stumbles. I had high hopes for Tia’s run on this season, but not like this. I still hold out a hope that she’ll snap into high gear and deliver some memorable performances in the next two episodes to justify her narrative arc, but I’m not sure her runway package is going to improve.

#2 – Marina Summers, 2 wins (was #1, 3, 3, 5) [DRPh-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #3]

Marina Summers delivered a convincing pop starlet in this episode, complete with the problems with breath control! I think there was a chance the judges could come for her uneven performance, but not after seeing another breathtaking, high-budget runway from her.

Marina Summers served a flawless pop star illusion in Seven!: The Rusical complete with a real pop star problem: breath control.

Here is something I know well as a songwriter: when you write fast lyrics, you need to leave room to cheat in your breaths at the end of every phrase without dropping syllables. It’s never a good look when you can’t complete each rhyming couplet because you’re gasping for air.

I think many novice songwriters aren’t fully aware of this. That’s doubly true if they are usually in-studio singers who comp their verses together line by line without having to sing them in one continuous flow. When I’ve written songs with quick lyrics, I’ve sat down to physically mark every breath mark on a lyric sheet and then rehearsed the breathing as much as I do the pitches.

Marina was going to have trouble breathing in this verse even without the dancing and the adrenaline of performance. Ironically, I think she might have had less of a problem if she had sung rather than wrapped, because hitting notes forces you to manage your breathing better than talk-singing.

(I remain confused about why Self Esteem put the kibosh on Marina singing part of her verse so quickly when she is such an able singer. My perception was that she just needed help snapping her melody into the chords of her section, not that she couldn’t carry a tune at all. That’s something a real coach could’ve quickly solved. I’m sure on Canada’s Drag Race a coach would’ve sung the lines back to her one by one so she could lock into the melody. Heaven forbid any of the coaches on a Ru-hosted season be that helpful.)

Despite my quibbles with Marina’s vocal performance, she penned a good verse. Also, I think she was obviously the best dancer in the entire ensemble. She made every move in this hasty choreography look real and intentional.

If you can’t tell from all of the photos above, I am obsessed with Marina Summer’s “When I Glow Up” version of her original “Ter-No, She Bettah Don’t!” from the debut of Drag Race Philippines. Here’s what I said about her original look in my Power Rankings for that episode:

If we were ranking runways purely on “Best Sleeves in Show,” Marina Summers would take home the top spot. Each sleeve is wider than she is!

Yet, this look shares some issues with her entrance look. I personally don’t care about the lack of stockings, but there is some sort of odd proportion going on with her crotch and her tuck that was evident in her entrance as well. Also, between the sleeves, the neck frill, and the high neckline, it was hard to find Marina’s shape inside of this gorgeous garment. I don’t think that makes the look bad by any stretch of the imagination, but I think with more separation between the sleeves and the body it would’ve been more successful.

Well, Marina didn’t take my advice about separating the sleeves from the body, but everything else here is an intense improvement over the original. This dress is pure opulence. Sometimes Drag Race runways aspire to be pageant gowns or red carpet looks. I think this look exceeds both labels. Marina is a smart enough model to use the massive sleeves to her advantage on the runway to create moments for herself (unlike Mirage in a similar garment on the debut of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16).

For me, Marina Summers is the crushingly-obvious choice as the next champion of Ru’s version of the drag olympics. Marina has obvious star quality, and she is a stunning beauty while being an all-arounder when it comes to drag talents. I hope that her “you were born to do drag” moment with Ru on the runway tonight was a sign that Ru is properly obsessed with her so we can see a real challenger to Tia for the crown. We’ve seen that “born” comment before – and sometimes it leads to a crown (Krystal Versace) while others it leads to instant elimination (Plastique Tiara). Yet, with next week being a dancing challenge, I doubt we’ll see Marina crash and burn.

#3 – Hannah Conda, 1 win (was #3, 4, 5, 2) [RPDRDU-S02 Runner Up, Pre-Season #1]

Hannah Conda managed to hack this rock musical challenge to put a spotlight on her specific goofy strengths. With a stronger runway, there’s a chance she could have snatched the win.

I think the key line in Hannah’s fantastically funny verse in Seven!: The Rusical is “So typecast I think I’m cursed.”

It’s the key line for many reasons, both positive and negative.

Hannah Conda is a queen who knows her lane. She can deliver high-fashion, high-drama looks when necessary, but Ru is obsessed with Hanna because she knows how to be stupid with surgical precision. I’m certain that as soon as Hannah heard the music for Seven!: The Rusical she understood that this verse was an easy winner for her. Sure, there are other funny queens in this cast who could’ve made this Oompa Loompa music work for them, but for Hannah it was perfectly on-brand.

Hannah wisely snatched that opportunity and used it to deliver a memorable performance, complete with that fourth-wall-breaking lyric about her crushingly obvious choice of verse. I think it was that meta quality that took the verse over the top – not only with the line above, but also talking about losing to Spankie Jackson a queen who “wore no pants.

I haven’t seen SIX live, but I’ve watched clips of all of the major songs from the show, and the queens in that cast all have a self-aware quality to them. They know they’re telling a story that they’re trapped inside, and their awareness of the tragedy inherent in that situation makes the emotion of their songs even richer.

The same was true for Hannah. Also, it must be said, Hannah was one of the queens who was totally “in it” throughout all of the background dancing. There’s no point in the choreography where she looks lost or confused. She’s having a camp old time in every shot.

I enjoyed Hannah’s Lesbian-coded re-do of her “Belts, Buckles, and Chains” runway from Drag Race Down Under Season 2 for “When I Glow Up.” I actually liked the original, saying:

This buckled dress certainly wasn’t innovative, but Hannah took a high fashion look, translated it perfectly to her body shape, and styled it magnificently. I absolutely love the chains braided into her hair – I am an absolute sucker for that. Also, I couldn’t help but note that this dress was as short and ass-out as Spankie’s typical looks, but Hanna made it seem intentional.

Despite enjoying this new look, I also completely agreed with Michelle’s comments. The length and weight of the jacket combined with the high black boots swallowed up Hannah’s shape and took down the sexiness of the original. If the jacket was three-quarter-length I think Hanna’s legs would’ve been more of the focus here. Also, her waist may have been more obvious.

(However, that would do nothing to fix the fussy nude illusion on the chest. The buckled bust of the original runway was much more flattering.)

The message to Hannah Conda from the judges seems to be “stay in your silly little lane.” They’re looking for her to maintain her brand of presenting high-impact drag paired with totally stupid comedy. I’m slightly annoyed on her behalf that more clever moments like her Talent Show song are slightly overlooked in favor of Oompa Loompa nonsense like this Rusical performance. But, that’s on-brand for this season, which is turning into “RuPaul’s Drag Don’t Try To Break Out of the Box We’ve Placed You In” without much of a “Race” to it.

#4 – La Grande Dame, 2 wins (was #2, 1, 1, 4) [DRFr-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #2]

(Instagram | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)

La Grande Dame managed to slow her fall from grace with a rapped verse that once again showed off the dissonance between her high-gloss drag and her silly personality.

I didn’t have high hopes for La Grande Dame rapping her verse in English, but she completely sold me with her Seven!: The Rusical verse.

La Grande Dame’s rough-voiced delivery (which judge Self Esteem compared to “French Grime Rap”) is another one of those perfect juxtapositions between her glossy exterior aesthetic versus her willingness to get messy and dirty. No one expects the perfectly-proportioned fashion model to growl a verse with – let it be said – impressive flow.

Even if this isn’t my cup of tea, musically, I think it was a key strategic choice for LGD to snatch this verse. Also, even if she didn’t crush the choreo as hard as Marina, LGD always looked comfortable and never looked out of place. I’m fascinated by how she handles her tall gangly form in dancing challenges. She is never totally fluid and fierce, but she is never awkward either. She knows how to use her long lines to create interesting shapes and angles on stage.

I was surprised that La Grande Dame chose her “Lendemain de soirée” runway for a “When I Glow Up Redux.” I didn’t have much to say about it in my Power Ranking for her win on the Drag Race France Season 1 Snatch Game, but what I did say was:

Even if it was not a perfect impression, it was a winner for La Grande Dame because it showed her being youthful and having fun – as did her safer-sex-endorsing condom runway. … As stunning as La Grande Dame is as a stone-faced acerbic supermodel, the gleeful and charismatic version of her is ten times more powerful and compelling.

It’s for exactly that reason that I think it was so smart to roll on this dress adorned with thousands of condoms. I’m sure it’s an actual high-fashion reference that goes over my head, but it also allows LGD to play with that gleeful version of herself where she has the most power.

This strong performance interrupts a possible “fall from grace” narrative for La Grande Dame after Snatch Game. However, I don’t anticipate her snagging a third win next week in a dancing challenge. That means she will have to slay the Top 5 semi-final pretty hard to reassert her front-runner status if she wants to hit the finale with as much momentum as Tia or Marina. Despite a strong start, there’s a chance La Grande Dame’s run on this show doesn’t have the legs to snatch the crown.

#5 – Scarlet Envy, 1 win (was #5, 5, 4, 3) [RPDR-S11 10th, RPDRAS-S06 9th, Pre-Season #5]

Scarlet Envy delivered the best challenge performance for the third week running – this time even winning RuPaul’s explicit praise on the runway! Yet, Scarlet’s lack of wins to show for it seems to prove Ru’s years-long nonchalance towards her drag.

Scarlet Envy was perfect in Seven!: The Rusical. No notes.

One remarkable thing about Scarlet’s verse to me was that the melody was actually quite tricky. Her melody descended in a way where the middle of each line had no clear support in the chord changes of her verse (even though it was perfectly in key).

Those kinds of melodic moments are what makes a song great – when the melody carves its own path through an arrangement. Think of an Ariana Grande song. That woman does not follow the obvious voice-leading in an arrangement, and that’s what makes songs like “Imagine” so distinct.

Scarlet is not an Ariana-level singer, but that made this verse even more compelling. Every line delivery was a high-wire act. Would she descend to her final note safely? Despite a few slight wobbles, she nailed it every time. She was also deliciously watchable in all of the group choreography. Even if Scarlet didn’t hit the moves as hard as Marina, she may have sold the best face the entire time.

I’m actually a rare fan of Scarlet’s high fashion Creature From the Black Lagoon from the monstrous “MILF Eleganza” design challenge as part of the Ball on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11. I loved that she served a slightly-creepy high-fashion silhouette.

I’m obsessed with this glittering sea monster take on that look for “When I Grow Up,” but I do think there’s something slightly off about the proportions of it. I think the pink neck frill needed to be bigger, or it needed hip panniers built into the suit. I just wanted one place on it where my eyes knew to linger.

If you know your Drag Race lore then you will have clocked the dangerous moment in the critiques where Ru asked Scarlet if she had musical theatre experience. Despite Rusicals becoming a staple challenge, we all know Ru has little patience for perfectionist musical theatre nerds. As soon as you reveal your proclivity for dancing and singing Ru cues the snipers. Luckily, Scarlet handled it in her typical blasé ingénue fashion, volleying that she always thought of herself more as an on-camera star.

Yet, even if Scarlet isn’t one of Ru’s despised Jan Variants, she still will seemingly never be one of Ru’s favorites. For the second week running gave a stellar performance, handily equalling Tia in the challenge and the runway if not defeating her in both categories. If this Power Ranking is about who has the potential to win it all (rather than the objective strength of each performance), then Scarlet should never rise above 5th place – because there’s no way she comes within reach of this crown no matter how well she performs.

#6 – Choriza May (was #4, 7, 7, 6) [RPDRUK-S03 6th/7th, Pre-Season #6]

Choriza May looked slightly anxious while opening Seven: The Rusical, missing out on a chance to lock in a win on a challenge that was right in her wheelhouse. It wasn’t helped by another uneven runway that bordered on cosplay.

It’s hard to explain the exact problem with Choriza’s performance in Seven!: The Rusical. At first glance, it seems strong – she got her lyrics out and hit her choreography. Yet, on rewatch I could see the nervous quality the judges called out. As she strikes the poses in her verse you can see her slightly shaking and you can hear it in her voice as she clips her words short – especially in the quickest part of her verse.

Also, despite this dress being absolutely show-stopping, I question if it was the right choice for a Rusical challenge. It didn’t read as “po star” and it obscured whether Choriza was hitting her choreography.

In the scope of all of the dozens of musical challenges we’ve seen, these are very minor detractions. Yet, in an All Stars season full of confident performers, these tiny imperfections stand out. I think there’s a version of reality where Choriza served the same verse with more looseness and animation and won this challenge.

I suppose that version of reality would also require a different runway…

This “When I Glow Up” redo of Choriza’s “Expenny, Henny” runway was not a glow-up, Henny.

This is truly one of the most hideous outfits we’ve seen on the runway in a while. The square cut of the jacket and corset. The hateful shape of the hips. The awkward skirt. The red rights. The too-small hat that isn’t small enough to be funny.

This is a 100% complete fashion fail that looks anything but expensive – especially after seeing Choriza in such a stunning dress in Seven!: The Rusical.

Sadly, I think this performance marks the end of Choriza’s run on the show, even if she survived to participate in another episode. There is no power on heaven or Earth that will be able to prevent Ru and Michelle from nitpicking Choriza into the Bottom Two for next week’s dancing challenge, and there’s absolutely no reason for any other queen to keep her at this point unless it’s for the strategic reason of eliminating Tia or Marina.

Eliminated: 7th Place – Gothy Kendoll, 3 bottoms (was #8, 8, 8, 7)
[RPDRUK-S01 10th, Pre-Season #10]

Gothy Kendoll was obviously in over her head at this point in the competition, both in terms of challenges and in standing out against this killer’s row of competitors. Despite that, she remained incredibly watchable every week. And, yes, I found myself genuinely rooting for her every time.

Is that just because she is a white twink who looks dainty on the runway? I’m sure that’s a part of it – there’s an element of inherent bias there that I know is part of my reaction to Drag Race. Yet, I also think RuPaul was right about the fact that Gothy makes it easy to be on her side. She is so bluntly honest, charmingly deadpan, casually unassuming that it’s easy to extend her some sympathy as a viewer.

Drag Race is not “RuPaul’s Finishing School for Queens,” and that’s doubly true of an All Stars season. I think it’s reasonable to ask for queens to arrive confident and ready to make their best attempt at any challenge. Gothy might not ever be fully confident, but I do believe we saw her best attempts here. There is something to be said for an introverted queen finding a way to succeed in her own lane on Drag Race.

Gothy Kendoll isn’t exactly the quiet visionary that was Willow Pill, but this time around we got to see more of her personality and aesthetic. Even if she clearly outlasted several highly-capable queens, I’m not sad at all that we got to see so much of her this season.

8th Place – Keta Minaj, 2 bottoms (was #7, 2, 6) [DRHol-S02 4th, Pre-Season #7]

9th Place – Jonbers Blonde, 1 bottom (was #9, 9) [RPDRUK-S04 3rd/4th, Pre-Season #9]

10th Place – Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, 1 bottom (was #10) [DREs-S01 7th, Pre-Season #11]

11th Place – Mayhem Miller, 1 bottom [RPDR-S10 10th, RPDRAS-S05 7th, Pre-Season #8]

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Strictly Come Prancing - RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World Power Rankings – Crushing Krisis says:

March 19, 2024 at 5:59 am

[…] eliminated queen, without many surprises in the middle. That did lead to one key change from last week’s Power Rankings for Seven!: The Rusical, which might make a real difference heading into the finale in two […]