Ever since Sasha Velour shook rose petals from her wig during the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9, the final lip-sync battles for the crown have been jam-packed with reveals for better (Nymphia Wind’s boba coat) or worse (Asia O’Hara’s dead butterflies). During the Season 18 finale, however, the eventual winner, Myki Meeks, opted out of the gimmicks.
“I’m from the school of Roxxxy Andrews,” Myki Meeks tells Gold Derby after her crowning. “I don’t think the song [“Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved” by Miley Cyrus] called for any strong gimmicks or reveals. It’s an emotionally driven song that has adrenaline pumping through it the entire time.”
Rather than strip away layers of clothing or transform her purse into a puppet, which her competitor Nini Coco did, Myki leaned into her theatricality.
“As the actress, I wanted to take on that role,” the Florida queen says. “The outfit was very Miley’s aesthetic. I knew the hair would be great for movement, and I wanted to give the story of it — to give a beginning, middle, and end. I didn’t want to rely on reveals when that’s not how I have made my career.”
Myki’s lip sync during the show’s finale was only her second this season, after she sent home Ciara Myst in Episode 6 when her fellow queens voted her into the bottom two via the Rate-a-Queen twist. Although Myki won that lip sync to Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” she was happy to get a second chance to lip sync.
“Although I stand behind it, I wasn’t expecting to lip sync,” she notes, regarding her first matchup. “I was a little thrown off, and it wasn’t my strongest performance.”
In both lip syncs, however, Myki got to break out her triple pirouette. “It’s the one trick I got,” she laughs. “I knew with that hair, it would look phenomenal. What I didn’t plan on was landing it like Spider-Man.”
After winning Season 18 and earning the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and $200,000, Myki Meeks sat down with Gold Derby to discuss her finale prep, meeting Drew Barrymore, and how she plans to spend the money.
Myki MeeksMTV
Read on for our full finale interview with Myki Meeks:
Gold Derby: Congratulations on your win. I have to start with the most important question: You cut your hair! What prompted that?
Myki Meeks: [Laughs] I think you’re the 10th interview, and no one’s mentioned that. Thank you for talking about real issues here. I cut my hair, and I’m so happy I did. It was a big relief.
During the finale, you performed your number “Versatile.” How much of that was your brainchild, and how did you put the number together?
I told them I wanted to do a big Broadway-type number, especially with how well the Rusical performance was received. For a big stage performance, I think a musical aesthetic was the best route, especially to show off my singing. I talked to Leland and the producers. I wanted something with a Death Becomes Her-type of humor, and we landed on “Versatile.” It’s all double entendres, very much my type of humor, and big and belty. That’s how we like to do it.
How long did it take to put that together, and how long did you have to rehearse it?
Rehearsing-wise, it took a few days, but they took their time with it, a few weeks for them to write it.
You filmed the finale some time ago, and you had to wait until the airing to learn who actually won. What’s been going through your head all this time?
Me and Nini were the only two without closure from the filming of the season. So there’s a little bit of anxiety there. But I knew, no matter what happened, I was in the best-case scenario. I went into the finale with the strongest track record. I made my name, I got my revenge story arc, and I would have been happy with whatever came out, results-wise. To be the winner, though. Wow, it’s just incredible. Everything feels complete, and I’m ready to take on the reign.
Since winning, who have you heard from? Have former winners or celebrities reached out?
I’ve gotten messages from so many people. A lot of the alumni have commented on my post or sent me messages, which is awesome. Cheyenne Jackson, who I have a crush on, messaged me, so I’m like, “Thank you so much.”
Myki MeeksMTV
To rewind a bit, you played Drew Barrymore on the Snatch Game, and then you went on her show. How did that come about, and what was it like meeting her?
Doing Snatch Game, I was like, “I did a good job. I’m very proud of it,” but to see the response is amazing. Ross [Mathews] said that she had watched the episode and loved it. Her PR team reached out to the Drag Race PR team, and we made it happen within a week of Snatch Game airing. She’s just as amazing as you think she is. She was so sweet, so supportive, willing to laugh, and it was a huge honor to do the impression for her.
Was it intimidating to do the impression in front of her?
You know, after going through the whole gamut of Drag Race, nothing really intimidates me anymore.
During the first half of the season, you were mostly safe and flying under the radar. Was there a point in the season where you thought you could go home?
For sure, the first four episodes, I thought I did well. Two of them, I thought I could have been the top, no shade. But when the queens put me in the bottom for the talent show, in the moment, I was like, “Wow, this is just embarrassing.” [The following week], it was the political ad challenge. We didn’t see our clips until they showed them on the main stage, so I specifically remember walking that see-through runway being like, “Myki, you’re buying time at this point. Just have fun. Walk it one more time and just enjoy it.” Then, to come out as the winner of that challenge, the entire perspective of the season changed for me.
At what point did you think, “Wait, I can win this?”
That was the moment I realized I could make it to the end, where I finally had stakes in the game. I didn’t realize I could win until I achieved the third challenge win, which was the Karen improv challenge. Jane Don’t was the front runner, and I was rivaling her at that point. When she got sent home that same episode, I realized, “Wow, I could take the whole thing.”
Now, looking back at the Rate-a-Queen episode, where the others put you in the bottom, largely based on strategy, how do you feel about their choice?
It’s exactly what needed to happen for me. The judges said I would have been the top, and I don’t know what the butterfly effect would have been, but I think it shook me so bad that it snapped me back to realizing who I am, and I needed to prove it, not to just the other girls, but to myself.
There also wasn’t a ball this season for the first time. Were the queens discussing that on set?
We were. I’m surprised we didn’t have the ball. I remember talking to one of the producers. I’m like, “So no ball this season?” They’re like, “Yeah, we like to change things up.” I’m like, “Change things up? You mean, the challenge has been there since day one?”
You won the Rusical. A lot of Ru Girls are now heading to Broadway. What are your dream shows or dream roles?
Into the Woods is my favorite musical of all time, and I think an all-drag production of Into the Woods would be fabulous. A dream would be Oh, Mary. I don’t know if I’m fully ready to take on that big of a role, but that would be a dream. Maybe the show doesn’t exist yet. Maybe we got to write it ourselves and show more than just the “HaHa man in a wig” type of straight-people humor, and show them a more layered concept.
What are your grand plans for the $200,000?
I keep telling my boyfriend, I’m gonna take him to Dollywood, so I think that’d be really fun. I need to pay back all the designers who have helped me get to this point, so that’s a lovely little check I’ve got to write. After that, I want to buy a house. That’s kind of crazy in this market.
Lastly, would you come back for an All-Winners season?
Oh, absolutely. I loved being on the show. I love doing it, I love watching it, and now that I have an even better understanding of who I am and what I can do, and now that I have the money, baby, the runways will be very strong. Any chance to be on the show again, I would absolutely take.