Tynomi Banks discusses her second shot at a Drag Race crown, her plans for Snatch Game and upcoming collaboration with Nelly Furtado. The drag legend also sends a defiant message to the judges of Canada vs the World…
WORDS BY SAM DAMSHENAS
SPECIAL THANKS TO JO SEAR AT THE BBC
“I love [being on] TV, but I don’t like listening to other people’s rules,” says a defiant Tynomi Banks. After placing ninth on the first season of Canada’s Drag Race, a position that left fans aghast – yes, aghast! – as a result of her legendary reputation within the drag community, the entertainer made her inevitable return to the franchise this year on their second vs the World season, where she was immediately touted as a frontrunner. Sadly, her journey to the crown was once again cut short by a sewing machine, with her concoction for episode three’s AI ball landing her in the bottom for the second consecutive week.
Despite her post-season one growth in handling a needle and thread, Tynomi tells GAY TIMES that she’s “proud” of her creation – even if she feels like Traci Melchor led her “astray”: “You don’t have to agree with all of the judges. My resume surpasses things that they will ever do in their lives. I’m not saying they haven’t accomplished anything, I’m just saying in my field, I’m going to continue getting booked.” [Jasmine Masters’ “AND I OOP” would fit well here.]
Tynomi is unfiltered as she discusses her elimination and edit on Canada’s Drag Race the World, how she planned to pay homage to her Jamaican roots for Snatch Game and relationship with WOWIE winner Miss Fiercalicious.
Hello to Tynomi Banks, who I believe is a featured artist on Nelly Furtado’s new album?!
Yes! It’s going to be amazing. She held it from me until we were on tour. We were at the airport, she sat down and was like this, ‘I have some news, because it’s going to come out anyways. I was with GAY TIMES and I literally said to them you’re featured.’ I go, ‘Where am I featured?!’ I didn’t even know. We were just doing a studio session to help my confidence. She was like, ‘You have a voice. You should come into the studio.’ I just thought we were vibing, and they used my voice and my writing on one of the tracks. Then, it turned into a big song.
Wow. Have you heard it yet?
[Shakes head.]
You’ll hear it when the rest of the world does, then?
Yeah, at first I wanted to and then I was like, ‘No no, I’ll listen when it comes out.’
It’s sad to see you leave Canada vs the World because you were killing it with your looks and performances…
Obviously, I’m a little sad but the main reason I went there was to show my glow up. Personally, when people put pressure on you… Everyone expects me to win because I win at life all the time, but sometimes you’re just not made for reality TV, I guess. I am, just not competition. I love TV, I should be on it everyday, but I don’t like listening to other people’s rules.
You do make great reality TV. Each week I was like, ‘What’s going to happen with Tynomi and Fierce?’
She’s such a brat! It’s so funny. She’s so easy to push my buttons. I’m actually very happy she was there. Right away, it brought me out of my shell and made me very comfortable.
How would you describe the relationship between you two?
Exactly how I said it on the show, she reminds me of like… There’s good parts about her, when she wants to show them, but she feels like an annoying family member where, like, at Christmas, as soon as they annoy me I’m like, ‘I’m getting my keys, it’s time to go.’ She just knows how to be annoying and it’s crazy. It gets me so boiled! Zero to 100, I wanna cuss you.
I predict that she will soon be selling t-shirts with the word “petulant” on – and I will be buying one!
She’s like, ‘Petulant? Petulant?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah, girl.’
You left on a design challenge. How did that feel, considering you’ve put in the work to improve your skills as a designer and sewer?
People may think I’m delusional but in my mind, we have a theme that we’re supposed to follow, and I feel like some people didn’t follow the theme. It’s hard, because all of us were doing our thing. We’re not sewers. Eureka is the best design girl there, but even her… I took all of my lessons and I was very proud of what I made. I didn’t feel Traci [Melchor] was fair because they led me astray. I was just gonna use what I knew with the dress, but then also, [the judges were] suggesting other things to me so I wanted to try new things. I don’t think it was ugly… Some people may think it was ugly, but I did a photoshoot in it and it looks really cute. Five years ago, I did not know how to make a dress, sew, do patterns, and from what you could see on the show, I did a whole dress, off-the-shoulder and glammed it up. I think, honestly, with my confidence I killed it. So yeah, it kinda sucked. I wish I got to stay a little bit longer but also I’m proud of all my looks.
It sounds like Traci has made an enemy out of both you and Fierce over the past two weeks?!
Me and her go way back, it’s fine. Those moments are real moments. I was really like, ‘Okay girl, you’re not gonna throw me under the bus.’ Even Alexis Mateo, the prompt was “robot” and then she gave martian, and they lived for it. So, you just don’t know. Sometimes you blame the judges like, ‘What are you judging?’ You don’t have to agree with all of the judges. My resume surpasses things that they will ever do in their lives. I’m not saying they haven’t accomplished anything, I’m just saying in my field, I’m going to continue getting booked. A “little ugly dress” they think is ugly is not gonna stop my life or stop my projection and my goals.
That’ll be the bit we use on social media.
You should!
I was expecting chaos this episode because, as a few queens pointed out on social media, a majority of the cast was low or in the bottom for their original sewing challenge. But I was so impressed!
This is the thing. It’s almost like an All Stars season, right? All of us glowed up, did our lessons, took classes and have been practicing for this time around. So, it’s annoying because all of us are doing really well. Even the judging, I don’t like this Golden Beaver situation. It should’ve been lip-sync for your life with the lipsticks, it would’ve been more interesting that way.
Next week is going to be a reading challenge, like a stand-up or roast. How do you think you would have fared?
I was just trying to make it to Snatch Game, that’s all I was trying to do. Reading is weird. When I read people, it’s an emotional reaction. I’m not a stand-up comedian, but I am funny naturally. Like, when you piss me off I just look at you like, ‘You have a big forehead.’ I don’t know – something like that! So, it would’ve been interesting. Not to say I would fail, it would be funny and interesting because I think I would’ve really tapped into my Jamaican heritage or told something about myself or made fun of myself, then relayed it back, probably, to Fierce because she’s been bothering me every episode.
Do you and ‘Love Bites’ singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado ever read each other?
No! Imagine? No, but I do funny things. Now that our friendship is there… She’s such an amazing woman but she’s like an entity. She’s something else to me. When she is really in my space and focused and aware, we have the most fun. Like, she’s at the airport with security around her, wears a hat so she doesn’t get noticed. But when people notice her and I’m with her, they interrupt and I turn into the brat. They’ll come over and be like, ‘Oh my god I love you so much, I would like a picture,’ and [I’m like], ‘She’s doing no pictures, how dare you!’ and I go off. And Nelly freaks out like, ‘No, no! She’s joking!’ I do it all the time and she thinks it’s the funniest thing because I act like a publicist like, ‘NO PICTURES!’ We have that kind of fun banter, but we never read each other.
You mentioned Snatch Game… Are you willing to reveal who you had planned?
I was going to do Shelly-Anne [Fraser-Pryce]… The Olympic runner, the racer right now. I was going to do her. It’s the relay race girl, Shelly-Anne something. Oh my god, I’m so sorry, I forgot her whole name. But, I chose Mother Mary, the Virgin Mary, but Jamaican. I was going to wear my braids and I had my little Black baby. I was just gonna be like, ‘Oh my gosh, not a single mother, it’s not my bumbaclat fault. Oh my god, I just woke up in the morning, my belly big-up. Me think me have cramps, but then a baby pop out.’ I was gonna be really acting like if Mother Mary was a Black girl today.
How do you think you would’ve placed?
I think I would’ve done very well, actually. I practiced that. Everything that I was going to do for that episode, I was trying to go back to my roots because I find that I’m the funniest, and people find me funnier, when I just go in and out of my Jamaican accent. I always channel my mother when she’s yelling at us, and when I talk to my friends and family about growing up, they always laugh at that. So, I was just going to anchor myself in my culture.
Although you were in the bottom for The Hole, I did admittedly cackle a few times at your performance.
Honestly, anyone could’ve been in the bottom. I was not in the bottom for bad reasons. I didn’t agree with all the reasons. Also, they edited that episode so… It was way funnier than it was. It looked like I was in my head. I only said it once, and then I just did the challenge. It never lingered with me and then they made it part of the story. So, I wish they showed the funnier parts because I was bantering back-and-forth with the judges. It was actually a very fun experience. I don’t mean to sound cocky, but there was no way I was going to allow myself to get sent home on that song [‘Let Me Think About It’]. That song is my favourite. I was so shocked it was a lip-sync song. I was like, ‘Sorry Le Fil, I’m gonna take you out.’ It’s my song!
So we know that Nelly Furtado featuring Tynomi Banks is coming, but what else can we expect from you?
I got signed to Wax Records, which is a company umbrella’d from Universal Music, so I have my song out ‘Die for Love‘. It’s playing on the radios! So for me, that’s a major label for a drag artist to be on. And I sing very well, and I think you would like the song. So, go get that song! I’m singing more and making an album, and hopefully I will tour with it. It’s very different from lip-syncing, so I’m kinda working out because I have to sing live!
Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs the World season 2 is streaming in the UK on BBC iPlayer.
You can watch our interview with Tynomi Banks here or below.
The post Drag Race: Tynomi Banks on her Canada vs the World exit and Nelly Furtado collab appeared first on GAY TIMES.
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