by andrew j stillman
“My name is Alaska Thunderfuck, and I have something to say.”
So announces the queen herself in her most-streamed song, “The T.” Alaska Thunderfuck has come a long way since she first stole our hearts nine years ago on Season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and even further since she took the crown for All-Stars 2 in 2016. Nowadays, she’s just wrapped up a Broadway production of Head Over Heels and released her memoir, My Name’s Yours, What’s Alaska? Next up, she’s dropping her fourth album, Red 4 Filth, and embarking on her first-ever headlining tour.
Fortunately, this busy queen carved out some time in her nonstop schedule to chat with The RAGE Monthly on all things Alaska.
“You know what, I sleep often,” she said when asked if she ever has a moment to herself. “I’m really good at taking naps. I can sleep anywhere at any time, so that’s a blessing on my journey for sure.”
That journey started for Alaska over in Erie, Pennsylvania. Her upbringing in that portion of the country, as well as the strong family who raised her, have offered her the ability to stay level-headed and treat other queens amicably, even in an industry full of critiques and shade.
“I don’t know if it’s that part of the world or the country or what it is, but I feel like people there are able to treat each other kindly and respectfully, and I definitely learned that from my family and from Erie. And I try. I don’t always succeed, but I try. You’ve seen All-Stars 2,” she added with a laugh.
On that note, she also insisted that she’d still be auditioning for the show 14 seasons on, even if she hadn’t made it yet. “I always tell everybody that they should audition. A lot of girls are like, ‘I don’t know, I’ll audition next season when I’m ready.’ It’s like, ‘No, you’re never going to be ready until it actually happens.’ So just do it. Audition.”
To newer queens, she said, “Lady Bunny always gives the advice to new queens wanting to start drag, she says, ‘Retire!’ A lesson I learned is that sometimes when you’re first starting out, you want to be like, ‘I’m not going to perform for less than this dollar amount.’ That cuts you off from meeting people and doing experiences, so I always tell young people that you might not make much money, or it might be stupid or terrible, but you’ll always end up meeting somebody or making a connection. You get paid in other ways, so don’t be afraid to get out there whenever you can.”
Her time on Drag Race and the albums she has released since then have garnered most of her public attention, but her skills in the drag world are undeniable. Although she always wanted to achieve some level of fame, she said, “Social media is something that I really don’t like.”
With pandemic times especially, she added, “So much of our identity is wrapped up in our cyber, avatar selves. I feel like it can make me really feel awful sometimes. It happens to a lot of people, which is why it’s so important to do shows in person with real people in a real place. It’s so tangible and it feeds my soul, and I think it inspires people to do things that are real and not through our phones or through electronics.”
Although the world went through a period of isolation from each other, she loves that drag shows are making their return. “I feel like going to a drag show. People end up leaving a little more inspired and joyful. Drag is really powerful, and getting to do that is a gift I never take for granted.”
Even though she’s become one of the most known drag queens of our time, she didn’t initially move out to L.A. with those intentions.
“I was like, ‘I’m going to give up this silly hobby known as drag and become a serious actor.’ Then I realized that being a serious actor required a lot of hard work and discipline, which I did not have. Drag was just what I was doing to soothe my soul and feel like I had some fun and joy in my life. It ended up being the thing that opened a lot of doors. I guess being an actor was my ‘backup.’ I was in The Last Sharknado, though, so I’m obviously very famous for that,” she joked.
As to producing her memoir, she said that it was challenging to get into some of the memories and be so raw and real the way she was.
“Writing a book is so hard. I have so much respect for writers because not only is it a long process, but in writing about my own life and experiences, it was just a very long therapy session. It’s been rewarding and cathartic, but it’s really, really a ton of work.”
On top of writing the book, she recorded the audiobook as well.
“That was fun! It was also very difficult because, you know, if I’m talking in a microphone to an audience if I stumble over a word or anything I can play it off or ignore it or correct myself. In the audiobook, if you say one word wrong or your tongue slips slightly, you have to do it again. If your stomach grumbles, the microphone is very, very sensitive and picks it up so you have to redo it. It’s more difficult than standing on a stage singing a song. Sitting still and speaking paragraph after paragraph of a book is very hard, but we had fun doing it.”
She spends a lot of time standing on a stage and singing songs as it is, and her Red 4 Filth American Tour (recently postponed to Fall 2022) will let her showcase a lot of her newer music. Fans of her past tunes may know her to be quirky, funky and sometimes raunchy, but listeners of her newer jams may have noticed a slight change in her tone. More serious songs like “Wow,” “Beautiful Night 4 a Breakdown” and the titular “Red” take on a more polished sound that’s destined for mainstream radio.
“I always like doing stuff that challenges and inspires me, and doing this music really took me to places I haven’t gone before. I’m really grateful to the people who are going on that journey with me. It’s been challenging learning how to use my voice in different ways. Plus, getting to sing about stuff I’ve never sung about before, I quite like it. But there’s always going to be a level of irreverence and stupidity, because it is Alaska.”
Viewers of her videos may have also noticed one of the recent singles, “Wow,” saw her performing out of drag for the first time, which she said terrified her.
“It was the scariest video shoot I’ve ever done. Drag is very much like armor, so it was like going into the battlefield without my suit of armor. It was very exposed and very outside of my comfort zone, but I’m really happy with how it turned out and I think people like it. So much of this music is about raw stuff, so why not go there?”
Her time on stage in Head Over Heels playing Queen Gynecia also helped set her up for the tour this fall.
“I’m very much in theatre mode, so that’s spilling over into the tour. I want to tell a story. I don’t want to just stand on stage, sing 10 songs, and say goodnight. I’m going to sing the songs, of course, but I want to take people on a journey to outer space and through a time-traveling experience in a really fun and stupid way. I’m really looking forward to that.”
Although she loves singing “Beautiful Night 4 a Breakdown” live, she also said she’s looking forward to premiering some new songs and getting the chance to sing some of her recent releases live.
Once the tour is over, she plans to take a long, well-deserved nap before continuing her global domination.
Andrew J. Stillman is a writer of fantasy stories and freelance content. In his spare time, he makes YouTube videos and explores the world on his travel blog at lifeinanotherworld.com. Follow him @andrewjstillman on all the things.