Here at 半岛体育, we celebrate every color in the rainbow year-round. Though if you've seen our logo, you might know we have a special affinity for one particular shade on that spectrum.
And we share that with Nymphia Wind, the Taiwanese drag sensation and RuPaul's Drag Race winner that's ready to celebrate NYC Pride June 26 at The Town Hall with a special show. Titled Bananas?, the show promises to be a bananarama of epic proportions, with Wind set to be joined by Asian drag performers from Taiwan to NYC.
We recently caught up with Wind to find out what her show is going to be like, how she's been since winning Drag Race, and what it feels like to be celebrating Pride as loudly and unapologetically as possible in a rough political moment of censorship and seemingly constant attacks on the queer community.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Tell me what we can expect at this show!
Nymphia Wind: You can expect a low of yellow, a lot of bananas, and just a lot of fun, because it鈥檚 a Pride show. It鈥檚 all about celebration and finding enjoyment and queer joy. And, specifically, a celebration of Asian drag queens. I will be having three queens from Taiwan who are my friends coming to the show, and then also some local New York Asian drag queens. It鈥檚 a very Asian drag show.
What do you think sets Asian drag apart?
Well, obviously we look different. We get the opportunity to tap into our cultural background. In Asia, the culture is so rich and so different from American culture, so it鈥檚 a great opportunity to incorporate your own culture and traditions into your drag.
Tell me what Pride is like in Taiwan.
Well, Taiwan and Thailand are currently the only countries in Asia that have legalized same-sex marriage. We were first in Taiwan, in 2019. Pride is always a great time and a big celebration. And it鈥檚 held in October, so we get two Prides.
Do they celebrate both?
Not necessarily. But you do feel like Pride is in the air, and you see it on social media and everywhere. But the main celebration for Taiwanese people is in October.
Where does your love of yellow and bananas come from?
I started being a yellow banana in 2020. I made this fully yellow outfit and started running around the clubs just calling myself a banana. And it kind of stuck. I think yellow for me is a very expansive color, and a reminder to always find a way to stay joyful and be reminded to be positive.
We鈥檝e seen girls on Drag Race try to have themes like that, and for it become predictable and boring. That never happened to you over your season. How did you look out for that?
Well I didn鈥檛 do yellow for all of my runways. For me, it鈥檚 just finding a way to reinvent yellow, reinvent bananas, finding different creative ways to make another banana outfit.
What does it mean to you to be celebrating Pride at this moment in particular, with drag performance and queer culture in general being increasingly censored and attacked?
I think it鈥檚 taking us back to where Pride was born, this place of resilience and trying to fight for your own rights, and fighting for equality. We鈥檙e unfortunately progressing backwards, and now we have to fight even harder and even louder, and really feel unity in our community to stay connected and fight back the oppression. We have to express ourselves and be free to find freedom from social norms and social structures.
It certainly feels like there鈥檚 no way to be more loudly yourself than being a drag queen.
Absolutely. We鈥檙e the most extravagant, most dramatic form of self-expression. It鈥檚 so fun, and it鈥檚 so fabulous. I don鈥檛 see why that should be a problem.
On Drag Race, we often saw you self-conscious about language and writing. But it was so odd because you were always so funny, and such an excellent writer. Where are you on that journey?
Insecurity is my lifelong friend. I don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 ever getting rid of it, but I feel like that鈥檚 just my process of creativity鈥攜ou doubt yourself, and then you find a way to fight back. I personally function like that. I like to talk myself down, so when I actually go and do it, I surprise myself. The standards and the bars were already low, and I don鈥檛 expect anything. And rather than set the bar high for myself and expect so much of my own potential, I disappoint myself. I鈥檇 rather not excite myself too much until I go and do it. Before I do it, I kind of hypnotize myself into thinking I鈥檓 the best, I鈥檓 the greatest. But before that, I鈥檓 just like a little worry bug. I guess we鈥檙e still living and learning.
Do you have any tricks for getting past the worry bug stage?
Just focus on the work. After winning Drag Race and becoming a public figure, I had to realize that I can鈥檛 please everyone. There鈥檚 always going to be someone who鈥檚 going to say that you鈥檙e shit. You have to focus on the work and the passion, and just do the work.
I know you were something of a public figure in Taiwan before Drag Race, but I鈥檓 sure that鈥檚 expanded since winning the show. How has that affected your drag?
Going on that show, you get the bigger platform. And in Taiwan, I hate to say it, we like anything foreign. So now that I've won an American competition, there鈥檚 suddenly this glow around me, I guess. I think on the show you see a certain side, and the edit shows a side of you that is very condensed. You don鈥檛 get to experience the full facet of a person just by watching the show. So going out to support the queens and see the drag shows, it鈥檚 a very meaningful way to really get to know the queen. You get to see how they put themselves on stage, how they perform and how they interact with the crowd. Drag, compared to theatre or singing or other kinds of performance, is so different in terms of how interactive it is with the crowd. The distance between the performer and the audience is zero to none. It鈥檚 a very intimate kind of performance, so that鈥檚 a fun way to really see a queen.
And where should we look if we want to learn more about drag in Taiwan?
We have a drag collective in Taiwan. It鈥檚 basically a drag management, and they have all the best queens in Taiwan. They鈥檙e called Tween [ on Instagram]. Search them up, and you鈥檒l see all the best drah that Taipei has to offer. Obviously there鈥檚 other good drag queens, and I definitely suggest coming to Taiwan and exploring our drag scene.
Do you think you鈥檝e opened the door for more Taiwanese drag on Drag Race?
Oh definitely, I think. I think being an Asian queen winning the show, from what I鈥檝e heard and what my friends tell me, was very significant, especially in Taiwan. It opened up a lot of invitation to get to know us. I got the honor to meet the former president of Taiwan, and that opened doors to a bigger audience that would never, ever watch Drag Race in their lifetime, like older people and people who don鈥檛 watch drag or know what drag is. All of it has helped Taiwan in terms of visibility, and sharing that drag is an art form, not just crossdressing. In Taiwan, people tend to think we鈥檙e just from Thailand and that we鈥檙e transsexuals. And that鈥檚 not a bad thing, but drag is an umbrella of so many different kinds of people. Drag embraces different people, whether they鈥檙e trans or exploring, non-binary鈥攁ll of that. And people can now get to know that full picture.
Tickets for Bananas? are available at .
