Is It Kylie Minogue or a Drop-Dead Gorgeous Queen?
‘I have been to drag nights,’ says the international LGBTQ+ pop icon, ‘and I feel like I am not getting the gold cup for being Kylie, because they are out-Kylie-ing me easily!’
When International pop sensation Kylie Minogue headlines at the Outloud Music Festival in West Hollywood during Pride, will she be greeted by a personal army of drag queens impersonating the Australian singer?
After all, Minogue has one of the largest gay followings in the world, and
she makes no secret that she believes drag queens make a better Kylie than she does.
“I have been to drag nights,” she has said in interviews, “and I feel like I am not getting the gold cup for being Kylie, because they are out-Kylie-ing me easily!”
So will this be Kylie or just a wanna be? AI has come a long way. Female impersonators even farther.
Minogue first became aware of her gay audience in when several drag queens performed to her music at a pub.
“I was in Sydney and there’s a famous bar on Oxford Street called the Albury, and at the time it was the gay bar in the gay area in Sydney,” she recalls. “I was in the car, my manager was in the car with me along with a couple other people, and someone said, ‘there’s Kylie Night at the Albury tonight.’
“And I was like ‘What?!’ I’d never heard of a Kylie Night, but I said, ‘We should go! We should go!’ At the time, I’d done an ad for Coca-Cola, and someone said, ‘Ohhh, I think someone has gone as a Coke can,’
“There weren’t that many versions of me then, I’m talking 1989 or ’90. Now there’s tons of them — choose a look. But I’m the least Kylie person when I’m at any of those nights.
“I heard there were people dressed as me and it sounded like a good time. So that was the first moment I thought, ‘Wow, something’s kind of happening’…
“Over the years I think I’ve just always tried my best. I’ve tried to be myself. Anyone in this industry knows there’s obstacles [with] how to be accepted as yourself, and that’s just what I try to do with anyone.”
Minogue said she felt “very touched” to have such an “appreciative crowd” — and that this encouraged her to perform at gay venues throughout the world, as well as headlining the 1994 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras
So Kylie is a serious fan ofe drag queens.
She appeared as a guest judge on “Drag Race Down Under,” along with her sister Dannii Minogue and the Jojo Rabbit filmmaker Taika Waititi.
“I’m so excited to finally be a part of RuPaul’s Drag Race for the first series [of] Down Under,” she said at the time. “It’s such an iconic show, and I can’t wait to watch the contestants perform their hearts out to win the title of Down Under’s first Drag Superstar!”
Minogue songs have appeared in several Drag Race episodes, including Season 14. When June Jambalaya and Maddy Morphsis landed in the bottom two, these contestants “lip-synced for their lives” to “I Love It” from Disco.
Then, for RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs. The World, the lip-sync between the finalists was also a Minogue song. Blu Hydrangea and Mo Heart performed “Supernova” in front of RuPaul, with Blu Hydrangea eventually earning the title of “Queen of the Mother-Tucking World.”
Minogue, Janelle Monáe, and Diplo will headline the Outloud Music Festival that returns to West Hollywood anchoring the entertainment of WeHo Pride’s kickoff weekend Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2.
Now 55, Minogue is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide.
And she is comfortable knowing that she has become an institution in the LGBTQ community.
“In all different communities everyone has to be heard — understood might not be easy,” she says. “I think within acceptance is also acceptance that it might take a minute for other people to understand…
“I think the community is strong, more than capable, and I am a very proud ally.”
Pilar de la Vega, a former Marilyn Monroe impersonator at Le Carrousel de Paris, writes about LGBTQ issues in American politics and pop culture. Email her at PilarDeLaVega@columnist.com
