Interview: Nymphia Wind Goes Bananas?

I was astounded by Nymphia Wind’s skill and imagination on season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. A range of inspirations (Chinese opera, Japanese Butoh, French couture) filtered through her extraordinary brain and down into her fingers to craft some of the most jaw-dropping looks to ever grace the runway—often in bold banana yellow. It earned her the crown, making her the first East Asian winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race. That propelled her to a worldwide tour that is very much ongoing.

Her next stop is the Town Hall in Times Square. Nymphia has created an entirely new show titled Bananas?, which she will perform one night only, Thursday, June 26, at 7pm, a few days before the big Pride parade.

I asked Nymphia about the show, her adventures around the world, and her thoughts on the shady game some of the queens are playing on All Stars season 10.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You’ve been on a nonstop tour since you won Drag Race. Where have you been?
South America is a big highlight because from a young age, I always wanted to go to South America. I was in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia. I’ve also been to Costa Rica and Mexico. I’ve been in Europe and Australia—all over. I went to Antarctica, but it wasn’t for a show. My mom called me one day and asked if I wanted to go with her, because she’s always wanted to go to the South Pole. At that point I was like, You know what? Let’s just do it. I probably need a break anyways, so I treated that as a holiday, and I used my prize money to pay for the whole trip.

You are creating a brand-new show at the Town Hall called Bananas?, which is very on-brand. But that question mark is doing a lot of work.
It’s all about the question mark. People expect me to be a banana. Putting that question mark behind the word is questioning my identity as the banana queen. Is the show going to be bananas? It’s however you want to interpret it.

Does this mean you’ll now be moving into your eggplant phase?
Oh, sister, don’t expose me. You know, I feel like banana is an interesting fruit because you have to peel it. You don’t know what you’re gonna get. This whole year people have had this perception of me from the show, but the human experience is more complex than what you see on TV. Bananas? is a way for me to peel away the exterior.

This event at the Town Hall is being billed as your New York City debut, but I understand you moved to Brooklyn in 2022, and I imagine there are other venues—bars perhaps—where you’ve performed.
Mainly at 3 Dollar Bill, but I’ve also performed at Hush and C’mon Everybody. But I didn’t really perform at a lot of places because I moved to New York in August, and then I was plucked away to do Drag Race. I only had five months of experience performing in New York before that. This is really my debut at a theater with comfortable seats.

You’ve been warmly embraced by your home country of Taiwan. Were you surprised to be invited to perform at the office of (now former) President Tsai Ing-wen?
It was the gag of the century. Like, who would have thought I would be invited to a presidential office, a place of business and seriousness? And there you see a drag queen dressed in a rainbow colors strutting down the stairs and doing her thing. I can’t believe we did that. Not just me, but us as a country—we showed the world how accepting and how embracing we are to the queer community.

Are you watching RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and do you have any comment on the rough game Mistress Isabelle Brooks is playing?
Kudos to Mistress for playing the game. Blame the game, not the people. She’s doing what she’s there to do, and it’s to make good TV. And that she did. I think everyone in the second bracket really did a good job. Not everyone’s going to be a winner, but you can at least have some fun along the way. And if you did that, I think you’re a winner, whether or not you have a crown on your head. Doing the show made me realize that you can never please everyone and there’s no point trying to make everyone like you. So, hats off to Mistress for being so courageous and doing what needed to be done, because that was sickening.

We’re quickly approaching a time in which many of the new contestants won’t remember a world without Drag Race. How do you think that is changing the competition and drag as an art form?
That’s actually crazy to think about. I think as with anything, it’s always going to change, but I think people have to remember that drag was born out of revolution. It’s a riot. It’s a protest. And drag queens have historically been at the front of the march. I feel like it’s really important for the next generation to remember that, and to remember the power that drag holds and to not lose that power.