2023-11-09 10:53:39
Queen of the Drag Race France jury, Marseillaise Nicky Doll is one of the headliners of the movement in France. Interview in full avatar.
You are the most famous face of French drag. How do you explain the democratization and explosion of drag over the last ten years?
Nicky Doll: In France, promoters saw American shows and projects that filled theaters. So they started to say that it would be good to highlight our artists. Whereas for years, whether it was me or the older ones, we were fighting to be respected, or even just to be paid! So it comes from there. In France, we ended up realizing that drag queens were artists in their own right and that there was a real business behind them.
Your beginnings in drag?
I started unofficially in 2010. I explored the genre and I began to cross-dress, without telling myself that I was going to make a career out of it, and even less that it was going to become my life!
What was your motivation when you started?
I did it because I needed to express femininity, to free myself from all these demons. Since I was little, I was told that I was a girl, that I was too effeminate, that I was a faggot… All these things tend to make us forget this feminine side, because we try to enter into the standard. I realized that no matter what I did, I would never be what others wanted. So, in 2010, I told myself that if they wanted to insult me, well, I was going to give them a good reason to do so.
And next ?
I quickly realized that it was something that allowed me to express myself artistically, but that it was also very interesting sociologically, because the aesthetic allowed you to see that people completely change their attitude towards you. It was so stupid and superficial that I decided to explore it and see if I might express myself as an artist through drag.
You quickly became known for your shows.
I’ve always loved performing and singing, so I explored Nicki to get more attention than Karl (Sanchez, her name when she comes out of her “drag persona”, editor’s note) would be able to do. Just like Cher, Madonna or Lady Gaga created their avatars, their stage characters. It’s exactly the same thing. It’s their drag persona.
France has finally managed to accept drag and queer cultures, but it was not won.
Yes, that’s why I left France for the United States. I needed to express myself and in France we were still light years away from being able to allow such colorful and extravagant artists to shine on the public stage. When I came back from the American version of Drag Race, I was invited to Quotidien and there were a few articles that talked regarding the Drag Race phenomenon only because there was a French woman in it, before that they didn’t talk regarding it not, or very little. When I started watching Drag Race in France, we had to download the episodes on iTunes, because no one was talking regarding them! When we started talking regarding the first French woman in the American show, I thought it was cool, but I didn’t think it would last longer than that. I fought to keep the conversation regarding drag in France going. We may celebrate a show in the United States, but we have plenty of artists here who are not highlighted and paid their fair value.
How was Drag Race France born?
When we had the opportunity to launch the show, I had a hard time believing that it would be well received. I wasn’t expecting this fallout at all. We quickly realized that there was a new generation of people who were much more fluid, much more educated and open, and who were just waiting to have this kind of show on French television.
How did you translate it into a French version?
It’s an absolutely crazy human called Raphaël Cioffi, who contacted me shortly following my return from the American season. His plan was to bring Drag Race back to France. An idea that was not received with much interest, because the French media at that time did not feel concerned. And so it was when he saw me fighting for French drag through several interviews that he told me that he would like me to be part of the project. So we started to associate. We daydreamed for a year and a half before it happened! Until the day he told me that someone was finally going to give us a chance and that we were going to start quickly. I didn’t really know how to prepare, I had experience as a candidate, not as a host! But I told myself that no matter the stress, no matter the saboteur in your mind telling you that you will never be able to do it, at the end of the day, it is still a community that is dear to me and a fight that I want to fight. I knew what it was like to be on this show and I was going to be able to help. But I went there a bit blindly.
And how was the show received?
In France, we tend to look at the glass half empty, to criticize and make negative comments. Instead of saying “that’s really great what you did!” “, the Frenchman will say “I was sure you were going to have a hard time, but actually it’s not bad! “. It’s unfortunately in our culture, and I’m like that myself. This is what makes our reputation quite spicy! And in fact, when the first season was announced, the fans were certain that we were not going to measure up to the Americans, because they assumed that our artists were not talented enough and that in France we doesn’t know how to do show business at that level. Others, who did not know, had more homophobic and closed remarks. And in fact we slapped everyone! We managed to make people understand that instead of supporting American artists that we don’t know from Adam or Eve, we might focus on artists who are fifteen minutes from you, and who have always been there.
What do you think will be the next step in the acceptance of queer cultures in France?
It’s simply that we have more and more allies. That drag allows as an art to connect communities and not to be a community art. By getting political messages across on stage, we can get things moving in France. Particularly for transidentity. That people who want to change their gender can be respected, accepted, celebrated but also supported in their efforts. Sometimes we really feel like we’re taking steps backwards. And this is the history of our civilization, we can never take anything for granted. I don’t know what the future holds for us, but the mission is already not to lose what we have gained.
In the Drag Race adventure, what was your greatest pleasure?
For starters, to be in a show without being eliminated! It was really nice to be at the helm of a project that not only reminded me of what I was able to do on this show that I cherish so much, but also to be able to support local artists who deserve it and who don’t. didn’t have the chance to move to the United States like I did. To really be able to shine in their country.
What do you remember from it?
When we made Season 1, I had no idea what it was going to be like. I felt like we were creating gold in the dark, but I really didn’t think it would have the impact it did. It touched me a lot because I was very happy for the queens, for my country too because we were moving forward. And for me personally because even though I didn’t win the crown in the American version, I hope to make my country and my community proud. I hope to be the activist I dreamed of. It was a real accomplishment, I slept very well following the first episodes!
How does French drag stand out?
Each country has its references, its culture. In France, we have cabaret. We have a very underground culture, very fashionable too. We have artists who will do more microphones, who will sing live. It’s less the lip-sync and splits culture like in the United States. So we have a more burlesque, cabaret and fashion approach to performance and the stage. In Drag Race France, we managed to make a version that is even more national than any other franchise. We have our jargon, our dynamics. This is what makes us seen internationally as a very interesting franchise.
ICONIC TRIO_
The shock jury of Drag Race France Season 2 (from left to right): Daphné Bürki, Nicky Doll and Kiddy Smile.
After Drag Race as a candidate, then host, following your new show Nicky’s Travels on France Télévisions, following music, modeling… what’s next for Nicky Doll?
I have always had a head full of ideas. I love to try everything, but I always take care to do things well and not be a restaurant for tourists with a thousand different dishes on the menu. You need to know what their specialties are.
You wrote a book, Reines (Hors Collection editions).
Yes, a sort of collection of French drag which allows us to have an understanding of the history of drag, whether internationally or in France, which also looks back on my career and also portraits of artists from the French scene which show the versatility of drag. When we start to disseminate an art, we must be careful that it is not only the artists broadcast who benefit from it, so I am highlighting Drag Race candidates but also many other profiles who have not made the show and who deserve to shine just as much. It was very important to me. Before we were on television we were all local drag queens. There are queer artists, queer drag artists and also a drag king!
Will we see you on the stage of the Drag Race, Werq the World Tour which will take place on November 10 at the Accor Arena?
In addition to the legendary “Cabaret Club” which is the official tour of Drag Race France and which is happening at the moment, I was also invited by my American colleagues to be part of the Werq The World show. I will be there with, perhaps, guests from Drag Race France! And I will be performing as a guest of honor in the middle of the American show, so it’s an honor to be able to do it in my country, but with my American sisters. And I’ve never been to Bercy yet!
Interview Jean-Baptiste Dotari
Photos Jean Ranobrac
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#Nicky #Doll #pioneer #slapped