Drag Race’s executive producer Tom Campbell has revealed how songs are chosen for the show’s iconic lip-sync smackdowns.
Since its 2009 debut, the Emmy Award-winning series has received wide praise for the format, which sees the bottom two contestants lip-sync to a track while deploying sickening tricks such as flips, kicks, splits – you name it, in order to remain in the competition.
Over the course of 14 seasons (and seven seasons of All Stars, as well as four UK seasons, two seasons of Thailand, three seasons of Canada, you get the gist), there’s been legendary anthems from stars such as Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Madonna, Sylvester and Pink.
And, according to data from Luminate, the songs see an average increase of 138% on streaming services following the episode.
As per World of Wonder, Campbell credited Drag Race’s music supervision and production teams with the lip-sync choices, describing them as “queer people who are obsessed with pop music and pop culture.”
The producer revealed, however, that RuPaul has the final word as he will “reject songs because they’re the wrong tempo, they don’t build, there’s all of these factors he’s thinking about.”
“Back in the iPod days, when RuPaul gave you an iPod that he had loaded with music, it was a gift from god,” he said. “He is truly a PhD in pop culture, especially when it comes to music.”
Campbell also recalled how difficult it was to clear song choices in the show’s earlier years because of unaffordable licensing agreements.
“We were this little show that nobody knew, we were trying to get clearances, and it was really tough,” he explained.
Rochelle Holguin Cappello, Paramount Global’s SVP of creative music strategy, revealed that, as the show has grown in popularity, “the number of artists and labels that approach us has grown to a weekly cadence.”
Capello added: “The pitches include A-list artists just as frequently as emerging acts. We’ve been told so many times that it would be an artist’s dream to have their music performed on the show.”
Earlier this month, VH1 renewed Drag Race for a 15th season, as well as Untucked, which will continue to air after new episodes.
“When I hear season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, I have to pinch myself — I just won’t tell you where,” RuPaul said in a statement.
“We never take for granted the opportunity we’ve been given to showcase drag excellence and tell authentic queer stories.
“Thank you to the fans, World of Wonder, VH1, our cast and crew, and most of all, our brave and beautiful queens.”
The latest season of Drag Race memorably saw Willow Pill conquer over contestants such as Bosco, Daya Betty, Lady Camden and Angeria Paris VanMichaels, becoming the first trans winner of a regular season in the process.
Season 14 became one of the show’s highest-rated seasons to date and earned 11 nominations at the 2022 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Competition Program and Outstanding Host.
Following its renewal, Paramount+ officially greenlit Drag Race All Stars for another season.
The most recent season of All Stars made herstory with a cast of all-winners – a first for the franchise – with legendary champions Jaida Essence Hall, Jinkx Monsoon, Monét X Change, Raja, Shea Couleé, Trinity the Tuck, The Vivienne and Yvie Oddly.
Following 12 episodes, which were met with overwhelming praise from viewers and critics, Jinkx was declared the “Queen of All Queens” and became the first two-time winner of Drag Race.
This year has been the most sickening on record for Drag Race content thanks to UK vs the World season one (?), Espana season two, France season one, Canada season three, Down Under season two and Philippines season one, with Canada vs the World and UK season four to follow in the next few months.
The franchise is currently airing the second season of RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race, which returned with a Masked Singer-inspired format with one famous contestant being eliminated per week.
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