Nina West is drawing on her memories of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars 9 for magical new music. After releasing her new EP The Very Queen, the drag performer opened up to PopCulture.com about her time on All Stars 9, the "meta" meaning behind her finale runway and why she hasn't watched her season back just yet.
In addition to being busy traveling while All Stars 9 was airing and filming Queens of the Dead, Nina told PopCulture she made a conscious choice this season not to tune in, but instead to "celebrate and remember what I remembered of it."
"What it's distilled down to wasn't necessarily how I remember it," Nina explained. "And Season 11 for me was like, 'Oh! Oh.' So I wanted to give myself the permission to enjoy the season in a different way that would better suit my mental health." She continued, "I think I'll eventually watch it. I wasn't in the space to really watch it [at the time], to be quite honest. I was just not there."
Nina West in RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 9.
- World of Wonder Productions, Inc./Paramount+)Instead, Nina has the "fabulous" memories of giving back to The Trevor Project with her time on the charity season, having raised $11,500 on the show for the suicide prevention non-profit that provides 24/7 crisis support services, research, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth. The idea of getting involved with the community and giving back is an idea Nina hopes resonates with her fans of all ages.
"Hopefully [fans] see that they too can get involved and do the things that we did on the season," she said. "Sure, maybe not do a runway for charity, but you could go volunteer for the ASPCA in your local community, or for the ACLU, or for The Trevor project, or you could give $5 here or there. The idea of inspiring a new generation to give and the importance of giving I think was what spoke to me the most and also what brought me back to the show." Nina continues to give back to The Trevor Project even now with her collaboration with the Columbus, Ohio-based Homage T-shirt brand, which donates 20% of the proceeds from their Nina West shirt to the nonprofit.
"I was just really honored to work with [The Trevor Project] and to solidify and stand by that message that queer youth deserve to grow up," Nina told PopCulture of her All Stars 9 experience. "They deserve to grow up and have equity and equality and access, and they deserve happiness. Not that they should dream of it, not that they should one day hope of it, but they should receive it. And we should surround them with love and every opportunity."
Nina also drew on her Drag Race experience for her brand-new EP The Very Queen, the title track of which puts a drag spin on the Gilbert and Sullivan classic "Modern Major General." As "The Keeper of The Drag Race Chronographical," Nina runs through every single queen who has sashayed into the workroom during Drag Race's first 16 regular U.S. seasons in a hilarious and impressive parody.
Nina West's Disney-inspired promo look for All Stars 9.
- Pari Dukovic/World of Wonder/Paramount+)Other songs on the EP, including "The Princess Song," were inspired by Nina's love of Disney. "You Are The Dream" is another song with Disney roots that acts as a "bookend" for Nina's time All Stars 9. "My [All Stars] finale gown is the Blue Fairy and my promo look is the Wishing Star – it's all one story," she explained. "And then the song kind of tells that story, which is really meta and weird and a little bit more deep and a lot more intentional than anyone's ever going to put on it because it's just a really fun song."
"It's about my experience coming back to All Stars and it's about never giving up on your dream," she continued. "I've got a lot of dreams and I'm not going to give up on them. And thanks to the platform of RuPaul's Drag Race, I've been able to grab onto some of those things and run with it. That's all I'm trying to do here."
Nina's dreams continue with her one-woman cabaret show The Very Queen, directed by Broadway legend Matt Lenz (Hairspray, Beauty and The Beast), and her upcoming role as host on the 10th Anniversary Drag Queen Christmas Tour from Peter and Murray.
"And then the new year promises to have some really exciting big announcements that are probably some of the biggest that have ever happened in my career," Nina teased. "And I'm excited to see that all play out!"