It’s a Drag Knock-out Week 2

It’s another session at It’s a Drag Knock-out and we’re back to regular numbering, as Meth presents Week 2: Electric Boogaloo! OK, that’s my edition, but it IS Week Two and that means Lip-syncs galore! Oh, and as it’s the first proper challenge week, I am now out of the sugar-coating stage, the gloves are off, the library is open and shade WILL be thrown liberally and with gay abandon, so buckle up, Buckaroos!

Helping the exquisite (thanks autocorrect!) Meth pass judgement on the festivities were Virgin Xtravaganzah, T.T. Bang (I KNOW I’ve probably spelt that wrong, sorry girl) and the West End‘s very own Danni Dee, who brought a touch of that Soho class and Shade from the land of Dukes and Admirals. Finally! A shady queen! And boy was she bitingly honest with some of her observations.

Before we can get down to the meat of the evening, the lip-syncs, the ever-elegant Miss Meth ran over the ground rules, including the addition of a new form of rule enforcement- vote docking. Yes, readers, if an act failed to meet their given criteria (this week’s being to include a quote or music from a preselected film), Meth will step in and deduct votes from their total, which in some cases could mean complete and utter destruction of their standing! Muahahahaaaaa!
Also, she performed a classic that I’ve been wanting to see since I saw her mention it in an episode of Transformations with James St James (I do my homework, guys!): Katy Perry‘s Roar cleft in twain with classic battle speeches from 300, Lord of the Rings and Gladiator. No, not the ITV series Gladiators. That would be silly. Who would ever think of quoting that?

Judges, are you ready? Contestant, are you ready? Yes? Ok then. Time for the award-winning lip-sync artist Miss Cherry Popper. In my opinion, based on her previous performance and reputation as winner of Crystal Lubrikunt’s LSFYL, this should have been the one to beat. The bar. However, the end result was… Ok, so I don’t know Clueless, so I was, I guess, a little Clueless myself. There was a bit about a car-crash, and Lily Allen‘s Hard Out Here mixed with Blank Space. All in all, and unfortunately, she seemed to trip on the bar she set in the past.

Lil’ Luna Tic came next, with a slow, reflective performance of Songbird by Eva Cassidy, followed by a slow reflective dance to a song I didn’t quite get the name of. Ok, so I’m guessing that the theme of Gone with the Wind can be a limiter, and I’ll put my hands up and say I would have no clue what to do with that. But I don’t think I would have done a reveal from a mourning dress to a Marilyn Monroe-style little red number. However, I do gotta give a girl some respect for pole dancing with a crutch. That was something to behold.

The odds seemed to be in the favour of our third act, Aimee Rose, who drew The Hunger Games from the hat at the mentor’s workshop and got to perform as a flawless cosplay Effie. The concept of the piece was great, taking the depressing dystopian world of child-deathmatches that is The Hunger Games and splicing quotes into The Lego Movie‘s Everything is Awesome. But the execution left me more hungry than awed. Speaking as someone who can’t even talk without stumbling over my words, I would never approach a rap unless I was drunk or Nicki Minaj (and Lord help me I’ve tried to be Her Minajesty). This is advice Miss Rose should have heeded, where she seemed to stumble over the rap. But hey, it happens to the best of us, and some people *cough*Iggy*cough have made careers out of it. I loved how she threw herself into the chorus though.

Gingzilla followed, with a lip-sync to This is my Hair theme: Legally Ginger. Yes, it was yet another film I’ve not seen (Ok, I am about as cultured as Miss Laganja, but without the drug references or fake stupidity- my stupidity is real) and knowing as much about this film as I do, I still managed to love the performance. And how can you not, with a Godzilla mask, fiery red pubes, South Park quotes and an Ozzy–Osbourne-bat-eating-esque moment with a small plush cat. Gingzilla honestly has me captivated every time she crashes into the stage like a kaiju in Tokyo, and at this point she could read a phone book and have me, and the audience, enthralled.

And taking us to a very dark and disturbing place before the interval was Georgia Tasda. The one queen who’s name I always seem to have to explain to someone. (Inbox me if you don’t get it) Georgia was assigned Twilight, and used the opportunity to flex her comedy muscles, as well as her literal muscles (seriously, the girl’s built like Louis Smith) by beating up a sex doll portraying Edward. I think it may have actually been R-Pattz, he was as emotive anyway. There are only two words that could concisely describe this performance to Screaming Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You: dark-sided and demented. The balaclava’d, fishnet body-stocking-wearing Georgia was truly nightmarish in an unrestrained, we could all be in danger kinda way….

Bringing us back into the world of drag after the interval was the ever-fishy Miss Tess Tickles. Yet again she served up glamour, but this time with a sprinkling of humour and a mashup of an old-fashioned performance of Singing in the Rain with an all syncing all dancing version of Sunshine After the Rain. This camp, joyful performance was a great tonic to the dated song, making the most of a bad lot. Also, props for bringing the first death drop of the season. Come through with the visible breast fillets!

‘Lucky’ Seventh was Kai Kai who pulled out her best angry drunk girl performance of It’s Alright, It’s OK by Ashley Tisdale. The theme was Witches of Eastwick, but I didn’t really get that from the song as a whole. To be fair, up to this point some of the movie references had to be shoe-horned in, sometimes with the grace of a Tuk Tuk crashing into a watch stall, and it’s easy to tell that some people chose the song in advance and had to find ways to insert their clips. Now, in her performance in Week One, Kai Kai was very emotionally charged, but this week makes me worry that it’s just the song choice that touched me last time, not the visual act.

Next up was another of my personal favourites, Lick Von Dyke. I’m gonna show my hand now, and let you all in on a well-guarded secret. I love a bit of vulgarity. Gag for it some nights. And Lick ticks that box. Sure, being assigned the iconic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane didn’t hinder things, but Lick managed to avoid going down the simple, straightforward route, and instead went for a narrative about a cat that may or may not have been lost on purpose, and the sudden spiral into madness and vice. And it is a sudden spiral, let me tell you. It could almost be a world record how quickly she goes from offering up a bag of Dreamies to tipping them over her corseted breasteses and stubbing out a lit cigarette on her tongue. Actually, Vulgar doesn’t come close to encapsulating the warped glamour of Lick, and I am living for it!

Delirium soon followed, and no, I’m not referring to hallucinations and mania, we’re talking the queen formally (and currently) known as Delirium. First things first, there is no excuse for not going all out when given a film as legendary as Death Becomes Her, and with such a cut-and-dry film, I would have wanted to see a little blood (not real this time). Instead we got a mashup of Reflection from Mulan with the side-effects warnings from American drug commercials. Sure, the link was there, of vanity and the costs of trying for perfection, youth and beauty, but then Delirium fell into the same mistakes that a few others had, namely letting some the performance skills slip, and coming across as slightly untidy lip-sync wise. If there were prizes for concepts, Delirium’s look at the perfectionist ignoring the risks would have definitely got something, but as a Death Becomes Her performance in the art of lip-sync, it was lacking. Oh, and it turns out she’s actually a biological girl. I honestly had no idea!

Last, but by no means least, was Miss Veronica Green. Now, I personally know her, so I know how great she is, but I have to admit I was nervous for her when I found out this week was lip-sync. I needn’t have worried. Serving more fish than Young‘s, Veronica slayed the house down tentacles with a gorgeous version of The Little Mermaid‘s Ursula in a witchy medley centred around Annie Lennox’s I Put a Spell on You, and featuring monologues from The Witches, The Little Mermaid, and snippets from The Wizard of Oz, her assigned film. Now, my major concern was with whether or not it would be recognised that there was actually a Wizard of Oz quote at the very end of the set. I would have hated for the airtight lip-sync to some pretty hefty, verbose monologues to be affected by the quantity of Wicked Witch of the West quotes.

And then it was time for the audience votes to be dished, counted and tallied, which meant another interval, another drink, and another dose of tea with the neighbouring audience to share thoughts on the acts, before finding out what next week brings. As usual, a Meth Pound can be gotten with every £5 spent at the bar. (That’s the voting currency, not a drag-centric sex act)

And it’s an interesting challenge: LOOK. Each contestant will have to create a runway look and serve up some mystery Realness. That’s mystery as in unannounced, not mystery as in Miss Marple and Velma, although I would pay to see that…

To entertain us through the wait, the delightful Danni Dee gave an honestly hilarious performance of And I am Telling You replete with comically over-the-top facial expressions, energetic pointing and a standing split.

Which brought us to the results, which seemed to have taken inspiration from a certain televised drag reality competition, as Veronica, Aimee, Kai Kai, Lil’ Luna Tic and Georgia, were asked to step forward, and were revealed as the tops and bottoms of the week, while the others (Gingzilla, Tess, Delirium, Cherry and Lick) were announced safe. Georgia was crowned winner of the competition’s first round, and given 2 lip tars and a spot in the next round, while Kai Kai and Lil’ Luna Tic had to battle it out in:

THE LIP-SYNC FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

The bottom two had to bring the fight with Fighter by Christina Aguilera. The rousing, won’t-back-down, fuck-you song that everyone knows and loves to get up and punch some shadows to… Oh, just me then? This was a rousing, fiery performance from both contestants, but the odds always seemed tipped towards Kai Kai for one simple reason: Kai Kai gives good anger and pop, while Lil‘s wheelhouse seems to be laid-back, contemplative numbers. And so, when Lil’ decided to give the song the Eva Cassidy chanteuse treatment and focusing on one person to give everything to, Kai Kai was raging against the whole audience, and we all felt it. We’re all sorry to see you go, Miss Tic but you’re still our Lil’ Fighter.

It’s a Drag Knock-Out continues with 9 queens who will be bringing LOOK to the runway at Camden’s Bloc Bar. Showtime 8/8:30