MissMa’amShe Owns The Mall

Brooklyn icon and viral sensation MissMa’amShe was performing “I Feel So Free” when news of Lindsey Graham’s passing hit, a coincidence she describes as “a ki” and “so random.”

Such defiant flippancy more or less defines the drag queen’s terminally-online ethos, which has garnered her a remarkably devoted following. Her shitposty sense of humor manifests in numbers like a lipsync to Toni Collette’s Hereditary monologue paired with boilerplate drag brunch windmill eight-counts or a painstakingly precise recreation of Delta Work’s infamous rant about a Subway worker — erm, sandwich artist.

She’s currently on her second national Mall Drag tour, which opened at Los Angeles’s famous Precinct, home of such institutions as Meatball’s “Fat Slut” and Biqtch Puddin’s “Biqtchin’.” As per the title, the show celebrates the more — we say this without judgment — pedestrian drag of days gone by. Or, we say again without judgment, of the modern day if your name is Nicole Paige Brooks From Atlanta, Georgia. “Mall Drag is the casual cuntess,” she says of the show’s aesthetic ethos. “Mall Drag is the clearance bin vixen.”

In a drag scene riddled with massive budgets and insurmountable expectations for drag queens of any caliber to look like the ones on television, MissMa’amShe has carved out a lane entirely her own. “I'm not the type of person to wait around to be noticed,” she says of her hustle and career trajectory. “Whenever I hear someone say, if I don't get on Drag Race, I have to quit drag, it's done for me, my dreams are crushed, it's over… I can't accept that. I think that's a very sad thing to say.”

That LA show was the night the lights went out in South Carolina, as it were. (Her message to the departed senator? “Look at you, now you’re dead, and Madonna has a number one album.”) We caught up with MissMa’amShe over Zoom the morning after for a delightful, deeply candid conversation about the intricacies of mall drag, carving her own lane in the world of drag outside that game show, and her own personal practices at the mall. All while she counted her many, many tips. Read our full interview below.

For once and for all, for the press, how would you define Mall Drag?

Mall Drag is the everyday fantasy. Mall Drag is the casual cuntess. Mall Drag is the clearance bin vixen. Mall Drag is for the person who maybe doesn't connect with traditional drags, but loves a good joke. Mall Drag is for the diva who appreciates running to Santee Alley, to the rainbow, to the Ross. With traditional drag, if you're not in the community or you don't normally see drag, sometimes people don't catch the nuance of certain things or understand the full beauty of the art. But Mall Drag is a nice segue. Mall Drag is not serious. Mall Drag is having a good time. For me, that is Mall Drag.

Mall Drag Manifesto.

Exactly.

Do you find that you engage with a lot of people who aren’t necessarily looking to see a drag show?

With my show, I find that I meet a lot of people who tell me that they don't usually go out to see drag, or it's not something they're traditionally into. However, the show, and the way I do the show, particularly with the comedy, is what draws them in. They can just register it as entertainment. I think sometimes when people hear the word drag, know, whether it be straight people or the really standoffish gay people or the gay people who don't like the sissiness and the fantasy… when you hear that word, there's this visceral reaction. But with Mall Drag, I try to set a tone where it's like, we're literally just here to have fun. It’s not that serious, y'all, you know?

When you think about who you are as not only a queen, but a comedian, where do you see yourself and your style of comedy? It feels very singular to me.

Even though my show involves me doing some form of an impromptu standup set in the beginning, I have no traditional standup comedy resumé. I've been booked to do standup comedy here and there a few times, but I'm not in the stand up scenes. I've worked with comedians before and it's very interesting how different their world is in terms of drag. A lot of people look at drag and it's like, oh, attention seeking. But with comedians, that's even more, which isn't a bad thing. If you have a good joke to tell, why not tell it? I do think comedians could learn a thing or two about setting the tone of a room. That's the one thing I've noticed about comedy.

You have these little bits that you circle back on, these home bases that you home in on throughout the night.

My way of making sure people are still paying attention!

Could you talk about what feels different doing the tour this time versus last year’s tour?

It feels even more exciting, slightly more nerve wracking. Right now, I view the show as building some type of legacy for myself, something on my resume that I can look back on and be proud that I made that is mine and no one can take from me.

It’s cool seeing how much you've carved out your space in the world of not only drag, but also entertainment and culture in general. Could you speak to carving that path for yourself outside of, you know, the typical mechanism by which drag queens become famous?

Outside Drag Race?

Exactly, would you want to go on the show or do you prefer doing your own thing outside that pipeline?

Let’s find out, let me move all this money…would I go on the show? Yes, I would. …I am not sure if I am what they're looking for. And I'm not the type of person to wait around to be noticed. If the opportunity came up and I felt like I was ready, I think I would do the show. You know, it is an opportunity. You get quite the booking fee, you know, but also I really have loved and appreciate what I've built. With what I am doing, I get a lot of respect from a lot of people because it is all me. I have a genuine fan base, which is a crazy thing to say because typically, when you get on Drag Race, it's huge, it's amazing. And live it, love it, you deserve to shine, right? But I think the difference is that going on Drag Race, you're going there to win over the fans of a program, to then become your fans via the show. With me, the people who come to see me are my fans. They're the ones reaching out to clubs to fly me out. They're the ones who come to my shows and say, I drove two hours to see you because I don't know the next time you're gonna be even on this side of the country. It just feels so much more personal. I feel so loved in that sense. Like, wow, the silly things that I'm doing are, I guess, going towards something.

Actually, I haven't really talked about this, but part of the reason Mall Drag is what it is... I wouldn't say it's because of, but part of it had to do with the fact that I did not get on season 17 of Drag Race. I auditioned for it because I'm really close friends with Dawn and I'm friends with Megami. When they filmed their season, they came back and both told me that I needed to apply: I had to do it, I had to do it. Like, oh girl, I think you'll be a shoo-in or whatever. So I applied for the show, but when I applied, it was moreso for me: you know what, y'all are asking me, y'all are telling me that you think that this is for me. I'll apply, but I'm just gonna keep going on as if I didn't get it because I think that building my own name and my own thing in my city, I don't need to wait. And so that's exactly what I did. I applied, and they never called, never texted, no DM, no Venmo requests. And I was like, you know what, and to me that's fine. Because to be told, I really love myself more as an entertainer now than I probably back then. It was a headache to make that video though. Oh my God, 20 minutes, Jesus.

Not that the show is a direct critique, necessarily, of the way that drag has become, but it does feel like a really refreshing counterpoint to the ballooning budgets of post-Drag Race drag.

You know what it is? I remember years ago when I was still coming up as a queen: whenever Drag Race is casting, I can only speak for New York, but I think it's for all the drag scenes. Most people get into this frenzy. Everyone gets secretive, everyone's doing this, that, and the third. Especially in New York, oh my God, when they have the casting applications open, all these people you never usually talk to suddenly are at your gigs talking about, so did you submit? Oh girl, just buy a drink, my love! Where's the couth? Where’s the class, ladies?

I think this is maybe my New Yorker mentality, but whenever I hear someone say, if I don't get on Drag Race, I have to quit drag, it's done for me, my dreams are crushed, it's over… I can't accept that. I think that's a very sad thing to say. You’re doing art, you're having fun. You shouldn't base your value off of a callback. What has really been part of my boost and my rise as a drag queen, an Internet queen, whatever the case may be — I started doing drag and my drag grandmother would be like, you need to make sure that you take photos and you need to post regularly and you need to have all these hashtags. And at first I was like, okay, this is what you're supposed to do as a drag queen. But after a while, I was just like, this is just so irritating. So I just stopped doing that. It's like my life, please, I'm meeting these people at a bar at 2 a.m. I don't think they need to see hashtag NYC queens. Once I stopped doing that, once I stopped doing the singles, putting stuff out there so they noticed me, and I just started honestly using my Instagram as if it was a burner account… that’s when people then started noticing me. I was like, okay, not the reverse psychology, but whatever.

What was the point I was trying to make with the question? I think I answered the question.

I honestly don't even remember what the original question was at this point, so I think we got it. What would be your Mall Drag Mount Rushmore, the four or so stores you just have to get your drags from?

Oh, thank you so much. I'm putting the mic down. Okay. Number one, you are gonna go to Charlotte Russe. You're going to Charlotte Russe. The Charlotte Russe erasure… you know, she was really holding it down. Everyone likes to reference Forever 21, but Charlotte was really at the front of that battle. You’ll find something stylish, usually between $10 and $15. Well, now with inflation and you know, the fact that we can't get any oil, might be 20.

So then after Charlotte Russe, you must stop at the Steve Madden. However, Steve Madden can be swapped out with like the Macy's or the JCPenney because Steve Madden only goes up to a size like 11 and the girls sometimes need that 14. And the cute shoe, get the cute knockoff! Like, why not? I think there's something so fierce about, you know, you’re walking out and you're in your $100 Steve Madden ballerina Louboutin knockoffs. Like girl, why not? You got one life to live. Let’s see, We went to Charlotte, we Russed, went to Steve Madden.

I mean, Rainbow, obviously, of course, but I have a special connection with Rainbow just because like it's just all over New York. And like I said in the show, I do find the psychology of Rainbow so fascinating. At Rainbow, after you go above a size like large or XL, the shirts stop saying “girl, strip” and they start saying “the Lord is paying,” You know, whatever that means.

So we got the Charlotte Russe. We've gone to Rainbow. We've gotten a sneaker at Steve Madden, and we have to pay homage to the diva of them all, okay? We're gonna go into Spencer's. I will say this, if you go to Spencer's to buy the sex toys, that is embarrassing. Because when you're an adult, go to a sex shop. Because you know who's gonna be at a sex shop? Adults. The kids working at the register at Spencer's like, my love, they're studying for their entrance exams to college and you're out here talking about, do I get the double ended? Oh no, baby, no! Spencer's you have to go because part of like mall culture is getting that random graphic t-shirt — that shirt that makes you go, this is horrendous, it is $10, put it in the cart.

Honorable mention would have to be Claire's, obviously, but I feel like I'm too old for Claire's. Hot Topic, of course. Hot Topic and Spencer's could be interchangeable.

When did you realize that Lindsey Graham was dead? How did that news reach you? It happened during “I Feel So Free.”

Okay, I would say come and meet me on the dance floor, but he's in hell. That is pretty fierce. When one video ends, click another! I wasn't told that he had died until I said okay, we're taking our 10 minute break. And two people showed me their phones, and I thought about making an announcement in that moment, but also it was so hot in that room. I was like, no, we can talk about this in 10 minutes. I have to go change my look anyway. Him dying, a ki, so random. The fact that Lindsey Graham would drop dead to take attention away from Club Confessions and from Mall Drag LA, just nasty work. I know he's looking up mad as hell. And you know the people in that circle that he's in of the ultra right, they don't care. Like bitch, they knew you were a sissy, and no one wanted to address it. And look at you, now you're dead, and Madonna has a number one album. Like girl, fuck you.

And that brings me to my last question — obviously, you bravely had to miss Club Confessions for the show, but I trust that you are Confessing. Any initial favorites?

When she first said, my new album's gonna be Confessions II, I was like, I'm interested because I am a Madonna fan. I think she is so interesting and exciting. And so when that first single dropped, “I Feel So Free,” I locked in. The album is so good. I've been listening to it just fully through since it came out, just on repeat. I think my favorite song, my favorite songs right now… “I Feel So Free,” “Love Without Words,” into “Bizarre.” It has to be both. “Danceteria!” I mean, all of them. Those songs specifically, just, they get me together.

I felt the spirit of Madonna at the show. Missing Club Confessions was kind of like, damn. But for what I missed it for, it was so worth it. It was so worth it to be out here, with the community and for how many people showed up and showed out and showed love. And hopefully she'll do another event and someone will reach out again to give me a list spot.

Photography by Davide Laffe