One
Sunday afternoon, I got a Skype call from Zack, better known as BibleGirl666.
She is a social media sensation that has taken the drag scene by storm ever since starting drag on Halloween in 2013. Now, she is touring all around the country,
and soon, the world. Her journey over the past two years has been remarkable,
and so was the time I got to spend with her chatting about it all.
Lauren:
I
know you started drag on Halloween almost two years go, but what was your first
exposure to drag? What made you fall in love?
BibleGirl: I was in middle
school. My grandparents have a house out in Cherry Grove in Fire Island, and
one week me and my family went up for a long weekend. My parents forewarned me
and my brother, we still identified as straight at the time, and it was the
first time I saw men holding hands, and drag queens walking around. At the
time, I didn’t even know they were called drag queens. It was something I
didn’t understand initially. I remember going back to school and making fun of
it at lunch with all of my guy friends because it was so different and I didn’t
know what to think of it. Then, all of the sudden, it just locked into my head
consciously that I really enjoyed it. They were entertainers; they were a part
of the culture. To me it was sort of a conglomerate of gay culture and pop
culture; it made pop culture a lot more accessible to me.
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| Photo by Santiago Felipe |
L:
Your family gave you your first exposure to drag and gay culture, so they must be
very supportive.
B: They were
supportive from the get-go. Coming out as gay and coming out to them saying I
was doing drag were different experiences for me. I came out to my dad in an
email, and he was very supportive. My mom was also very supportive but it was
difficult for her. She didn’t know how to deal with it because she was
concerned for my safety. I think she acted, not poorly, but defensively towards
it. I hold no resentment towards any of it, it was a growing experience for us
all, and what was cool about it was that it gave me an opportunity to ask to go
into therapy to help get accustomed to my situation. I was sixteen at the time.
With the drag thing, I broke the news to my mom first over dinner. At the time
I was going to FIT, and they have an annual drag pageant. I was already planning
on starting drag on Halloween, so I had quite a while after that to prepare for
the pageant. After class one day, I met up with her for dinner in the city and
told her about it. The first thing she asked me was “Can I come?’ By the time,
my brother had also come out, so it was all very solid.
L:
Thinking
back to that time, what were your original plans for you and drag?
B: I remember
going into drag really wanting to get onto Drag Race. It was a motivator for me
to keep going and improving my drag, but that was not the reason why I started
drag in the first place. I wanted to become an entertainer and through working
in nightlife, I found that there were a lot of barriers between being a gay
male and becoming an entertainer. There was kind of a lot against me. I was
prompted to try out for things like modelling contracts, I would go into
agencies for headshots, and they would basically reply back to me “No, we don’t
want you, you’re not good enough.” I had this type of dream to become a
popstar, like Britney or Christina, but I also just liked making people happy. I
remember having a sense of relatability to the people I looked up to as a kid
because I found what they did so fascinating; I wanted to implicate that onto
my own life.
L:
Anyone
who knows you knows that Britney Spears is a huge inspiration towards your
drag; who else are drag inspirations for you and what have you learned from
them all?
B: Amy Winehouse,
anyone in the Kardashian/Jenner squad, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, and
Gwen Stefani are all in there for sure. One of the common denominators I found
within all of them is that they don’t give a shit about what people have to say
about them. They all try to remain as calm and collected as possible, even
though some do have well documented ups and downs in their careers.
Unfortunately for Amy, it was a complete down. But from her fall I was able to
grasp how much power fame and notoriety has on a person, how it can deeply
affect somebody, and how to navigate around that. Also, the way the represented
themselves and their brand, it was a matter of having this really hyper
feminine persona. They all had very strong, female, alpha personalities and dominated
the fields they were in. I took that and ran with it.
L:
What
were some struggles you had when you first entered the drag scene?
B: One of the
biggest struggles was that I kind of started it on my own. I didn’t know any
drag queens. It was kind of like this one woman battle, if you will. Two months
into starting drag, I starting dating someone. I didn’t know at the time, but
he had previously dated another queen in the Brooklyn scene. As I started
getting bookings, I got my first Brooklyn gig for a variety show at Bizarre in
Bushwick. At the show, I realize that the particular queen he had dated, Daphne
Sumtimez, was there. Going into the show we had this unspoken understanding
that we were going to be fine, we were not going to let it get in between us
and we would keep it professional. We wound up really hitting it off that
night. She is one of my best friends now and she was one of the first people
who took me under her wing. She even got me my first gig at TNT in Brooklyn. I
credit her a lot. Another huge concern I had was getting ‘the look down’; knowing
how to do makeup, but also knowing how to be comfortable in both skins. When I
first started drag, I remember still feeling uncomfortable regardless of how I
looked. I would walk through the bar with my head down, kind of keeping to
myself, and would alienate away from the crowd. I got more comfortable as I
went along and that was just through the development of my look and getting a
better sense of self.
L:
How
have you seen the industry change since you joined?
B: I would say
there has definitely been an influx kids starting drag, but there is also a new
cutthroat atmosphere. I would say, during the tail end of season four to the
beginning of season five of RPDR, drag has become a lot more mainstream and
accessible. Having the show was not necessarily a bad thing, it all kind of lit
a fire under our butts to step up our drag, but it also weeded people out of
the community, and it’s unfortunate that it has done that. A lot of people in
the industry do not care about you unless you were on television. It’s been
hard to navigate through all of it. I have tried to find ways to make it easier
on myself and the people around me. I even created a website with my father,
DragQueenMerch.com to help queens like me who face similar problems.
L:
Tell
us more about DragQueenMerch.com.
B: I wanted to
create a place where drag queens could have a platform to sell merchandise that
was also cost effective for them. Most people do not realize how difficult and
expensive it is for some queens to sell their merchandise. Sometimes, if they
do not sell enough, they will not make any profit. The great thing about
DragQueenMerch is that everything is done in-house, it is shipped straight from
the production site, and really gives entertainers access to merchandise they
might have not had before. As far as where I want to see it go, I would just
like to get more names on there! I wanted to create a system that alleviates
all of the stress regarding this, and something that would be beneficial to the
community overall.
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| Photo by Aaron Foresthill |
L:
What
I find particularly interesting about you is that you were able to create such
a name for yourself in the community without having to be on Drag Race. You mentioned
earlier that you wanted to be on the show when you first started, but after all
that’s happened, is it something you’re still looking to pursue?
B: I go back and forth
with that. Right now, I am leaning more towards no, not because of the show,
but because of the culture. Even though I haven’t been on Drag Race, I feel I
have sort of been wrapped up in it. People take it very seriously and it has
already put a huge target on my back. As someone who already feels a lot of
anxiety and societal pressures, I am not sure if I am ready to have an even
bigger target on my back. Since the show has such a huge vantage point, I feel
like it could be either really good and people will finally get me, or I will
be completely manipulated to the point that it will be super detrimental. I
think I am comfortable with what I developed. Yes, my booking fee might be a
little lower or things might happen a lot slower, but they’re still happening.
Maybe when I get to the point where I have a better repertoire under my belt,
the time will come correctly, but for now it is not my biggest priority.
L:
You’re
branded as the social media queen of the community, but recently you have
pulled back. What was your reasoning behind that? Has it helped you?
B: When I first
started, I wanted to market myself to be very accessible, but I did not realize
the magnitude of growth I would endure. I made everything I did open for
dialogue, I was very willing to communicate with people, and it certainly did
help with my growth. This is where I started drawing parallels with drag
culture and pop culture, when people started pitting us against one another. To
me, it gradually became this very aggressive atmosphere, almost to the point
that I was afraid to look at my phone. Now, people know who I am, they know I
am a good person, I have made my little internet family, I felt I could pull
back and people would understand, and they have. I felt like some people
started to only see me as a username instead of an actual human being. I’m cool
with being vulnerable, but I was getting hurt to the point that it was
hindering my growth. I will say that since I have pulled back, I have been able
to put in a lot more focus to my drag. I see myself improving every day and
that excites me.
L:
Before
you pulled back on social media, you had a public feud with Tyra Sanchez
regarding her controversial tweets about suicide and mental health. You were
one of the first queens to call her out. Why exactly was it so important to
you?
B: I saw it as soon
as it happened, and I remember getting really angry that I saw nobody in the
community with a substantial platform speaking out against it. I noticed people
were being affected by what she was saying, and on top of that, it is something
I have struggled with too. I also have friends who have struggled with it. A
couple of weeks after the blowup, everything kind of came full circle for me
when one of my best friends in the city tried to commit suicide. He had to move
back with his family out of state. I don’t know if he’s coming back, or if he
ever will, and even though he wasn’t successful with it, it is such a scary
thought that I could have had someone I am so close to ripped away from me. It
validated everything. I feel like I did the right thing even though I
questioned my actions at first.
L:
Depression
is something that plagues our community. I remember as soon as you started to speak
out, it validated for me that I wasn’t being too sensitive. It was sad that it
had to play out the way it did over the internet, but I felt like it needed to
happen.
B: I think so too,
even with all of the backlash I had to face. It was also my wakeup call for me
to stop and evaluate everything that has happened. I felt that I did everything
I needed to do as far as being vocal and it was time to step back from it all
for a bit.
L:
Well,
it didn’t seem to hinder you too much. You’ve recently released a few tour
dates across the country, and internationally as well. Tell us more about that!
B: This year I am
travelling to Ohio, Pittsburgh, Miami, LA, and I just found out that I am doing
eight cities in Brazil over the course of ten days. Three of those days are
with Laganja Estranja and Gia Gunn, but it looks like the rest of the dates are
going to be solo.
L:
Congratulations!
You have been vocal about your fascination with Brazil. What about their
culture really intrigues you?
B: I remember
telling myself “When I get told to come to Brazil, I know I’ve made it.” So
when I got my first “Come to Brazil!” I was like “Werk, let’s make this
happen!” I really love the passion everyone there has for the arts, and the art
that comes from there is just phenomenal. It is really amazing to see. I am so
incredibly excited, I cannot even describe it.
L:
You
have DragQueenMerch, you’re in the midst of touring, and it is also known you
are delving into music. You’ve announced your upcoming debut EP, ‘Triggered’.
Let’s start off by asking, do you have any background in music?
B: It doesn’t
really go beyond doing choir in elementary school. I actually was never
planning on doing music because I didn’t ever want to make typical drag queen
music. As time went on, my vantage point was definitely widened through meeting
Hamm Samwich. She has such an amazing voice and vision, and she showed me how
drag queen music can be without making it so “drag-y.” We did Chinatown
together over the course of two months. We would have music meetings at weird
hours in the night, and during them, she would ask me questions and told me I
had to ramble about them for eight minutes into the mic. I also loved her videogame-esque
aesthetic, which is funny because she never played video games growing up. She
told me she just liked the way those functions on her keyboard sounded. To me,
it had a very nostalgic feel, so it just kind of worked.
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| Art by Arturo André Jiménez |
L:
What’s
the latest update with Triggered?
B: Triggered is
still in its beginning stages. Along with me travelling and Hamm in the midst
of pursuing her Master’s Degree, it has been crazy. With Hamm’s blessing, I have
looked into bringing on other producers for the project, which led me to Ernest.
He is an amazing producer, who is also at NYU currently for his Bachelor’s
Degree. Before our first meeting, he asked me for some songs that I liked to
get a feel of what I wanted the EP to sound like. When we met, not only did he
look into each song, he researched the producers, their background, and managed
to find connections between all of them. He was so prepared and made an
elaborate roadmap of where he saw everything going. It got me even more excited
to continue with the EP and to see what we could create.
L:
What
do you find yourself writing about most often when you’re coming up with lyrics
or ideas for a song?
B: It always starts
off with me being very angry, not with anyone in particular, but with societal
pressures that have really kind of changed who I am. I feel like I come across
as a person who exudes confidence, but I do get a lot of anxiety from people’s
negative opinions of me. None of it should matter, but it definitely affects me
at certain points. As soon as the pen touches the paper, I find myself writing
about how I am upset, but I also try to twist that into a more positive message.
I want Triggered to be like a pulling behind the curtain, to show people that
everything is just a façade, and that they have to understand that they’re
going to be okay and they cannot worry about what society is framing them to
be. I want that to be the main message throughout my music.
L:
Describe
Triggered in your own words.
B: It is something
that has not been done before. It’s an artistic, collaborative effort where I’m
just trying to set a stage where you don’t have to have a television platform
to do what you want to do. You can pursue any outlet you want just by doing it.
Not that I am trying to pull the martyr card, I just want to lead by example.
L:
So,
looking back on the past two years, how has your life changed?
B: A little after
I first started all of this, I went through a really bad breakup. Drag was one
of the main things that anchored me and made me feel like I could get through
it. It allowed me to flourish in my art, and it made me realize that I don’t
need to rely on anyone for my happiness. Once I find my sole happiness I can
find happiness with someone else. After accomplishing everything I have done,
and finding that happiness on my own, I met my boyfriend Chris. It’s been such
a new chapter in my life. I don’t think I would be with him had I not had my
own self-discovery period. I think all good things follow once you start
focusing on yourself. Through all of it, the most important part was that I was
able to find myself and realize that not everything is as gloomy as it may seem.
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