Jinkx Monsoon

It's not enough to just be a good singer. You have to know where your roots come from. If you sing jazz, you should know all about jazz. You should look into, as much as you possibly can, the history of it, so that you're and educated and well-informed performer.

You can't believe that you're the best at everything.

The idea behind Jinkx is that she's a single mother and failed actress. One time she went out to a gay bar with her son, who's a gay adult, and started singing torch songs on the bar and became a hit. Now she's every gay boy's favorite cabaret act.

A lot of people just feel really impacted and inspired by drag in ways that I don't think we, as self-absorbed drag queens, think about that often.

I'm going to release whatever feels right and what I think is going to spread a good message about my artistry and what I believe.

I think this is a trait that runs throughout the queer community, the obsession with the hyper-feminine female villains. And we see it in Disney movies and in movies like 'Death Becomes Her,' and in characters like Poison Ivy and Catwoman.

I find a lot of joy from legitimate theater. But Jinkx is my passion project.

I've always been into the music of the 1920s and 1930s.

I basically can't go to any gay bar in America without getting mobbed, which is fun and tiring.

Australian audiences seem ready for anything you throw at them.

If you hide, you won't find the eccentric people who will be your best friends.

I feel that drag queens impersonate very strong, independent women who inspired us throughout our lives.

While I'm out of drag, I'm still extremely effeminate.

I really don't consider myself a man or a woman. I just kind of float in between and that's how I've always felt.

I started drag at 15 years old.

It was like I have always had big dreams for my drag aspirations, and I talked myself into doing 'Drag Race.' I'm like, take a chance.

What I love that has happened for years now with 'Drag Race' is the queens can go on to have any kind of career.

I hope people realize that drag queens and queer people, we're not just archetypes and stereotypes. We're human beings with a lot to share. And a drag queen doesn't have to just be a clown, she can also be like a cooking TV personality or like a DJ, or a talk-show host. We should be able to infiltrate TV everywhere.

I am only really attracted to people who are very open-minded and embrace and celebrate people who live outside the gender norm.

It's hard to have a fruitful romantic life when I'm never in one place for long.