Onya Nurve did it.
It’s been a few days since Nurve, whose real name is Justin Woody, was crowned the winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 17, and it hasn’t quite clicked for the queen who has been celebrating since Friday and is now up at the crack of dawn, speaking to the press.
But one thing is clear, she’s proud of her win. For Nurve, it’s been a season. She dominated with four Main Challenge Wins, she wowed with her Eddie Murphy impersonation during the Snatch Game challenge, and she triumphed over Jewels Sparkles in the finale lip sync to take home the crown.
Nurve spoke with Variety to discuss her win, performing that finale lip sync to Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and what she’d like to do next.
It’s been a few days since you won ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ how does it feel?
I’m honestly so exhausted. I’m so tired. I feel like all of the work that I’ve done came up to one moment in this weekend, and it just feels like a huge weight off my shoulders. But I’ve been carrying that weight for so long that I’m mentally and physically tired. I don’t know that it’s all clicked yet, and that’s okay, because I did it.
You mention weight, and that’s something people don’t realize, what that weight is and what it means. It’s different for everyone. What was that weight for you?
You have to continue to be proud of yourself regardless of the result. Having that pressure is a lot to handle on the brain because while you are so proud of yourself for how well you’ve been doing and continue to do on the show. But in the back of your brain, you know it’s not over yet. It’s hard to balance those two things of being proud and knowing that it’s not over. A lot of the girls have had time to sit with their position and be proud of themselves and move on. [Being in] the top four, we didn’t have the opportunity yet, so it was hitting us for the first time that weekend, and it was crazy.
Have you had a moment to tell yourself, ‘I am proud of what I’ve done?’
Yes, I have. I keep telling myself that every day I am so proud. I’ll say it again right now, I am so proud of what I have done, and I wouldn’t change anything that I’ve done for the world.
You’ve tweeted this in the past, but you said you’re incredibly proud of your growth. How did you grow throughout the series from where you began to where you ended up?
I always say, I’m not a shy person. I think that I’m very forthright, and I always speak my mind. I carry my heart on my sleeve. But in the competition, I did notice that I had some walls up, mainly because it was a competition, and I knew that I wanted to focus solely on that. But after watching it and experiencing it, I learned that I don’t have to have those walls up, that most of the spaces that I put myself in, be it “Drag Race,” is a safe space. I never had to feel like I couldn’t let people in. I think I walk through life with a lot more openness and joy, and it is because of “Drag Race” that I feel that way.
One word, Liza. In the finale, what was that like seeing Liza Minnelli on the show being on the finale?
It was otherworldly. I’m a huge fan. I don’t know if you’ve seen online, but “Maybe This Time” from “Cabaret” is one of my favorite songs, and the rendition I always listen to is Liza’s. So I’m just such a huge fan. I’ve been in the show “Cabaret” as well. I just love her work and the legendary glitter that she has spread across the queer community, I don’t think any of us would be here without her. So it was crazy.
What does this mean for the young kid growing up in Ohio?
I’ve always been a person of success. After high school, I knew that I was going to go to college, I knew that I was going to get my degree, and I knew that I was going to be successful somehow. I have a degree in painting. There was a moment when I did not know what I was going to do. I couldn’t figure it out, and that was really hard because I wasn’t making money, but I couldn’t find the thing that made me feel the most joy. When I found “Drag Race” late in life, there was a certain level of queerness, the family hood and the art that was displayed on the show that I was really attracted to. Once I started doing drag, I just felt like my whole life was complete, regardless of the money that I made. I put “Drag Race” on my vision board, and I focused three years of my life specifically on drag, which is probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I put myself through drag college. I always say that, and I got my degree by winning “Drag Race.” I remember the day I turned to my brother and I said, “I am going to get on ‘Drag Race’ and I’m going to win. I’ve never been so focused on something. I say drag changed my life because it put like blinders on where I was just I wasn’t. Nothing could shake me. Nothing could, like, deter me from my goal. I knew that I was going to get it, and that dragged delusion. Like, really worked for me.
Talk about performing the final lip sync to Lady Gaga’s ‘Abracadabra,’ what was that like?
Lady Gaga said that the category was ‘dance or die,’ and I knew that at the end of the day, it was about serving the song, and I really hope I encapsulated what that song meant. I’m not a queen of doing reveals or a bunch of gags in real life, outside of ‘Drag Race.’ I felt like I just didn’t need them. And it worked. I was the gag in the goop.
Once you had done that final lip sync, were you able to take a little breath, given the pressure of what that moment entails?
Yes. After performing the song, there was a level of relief. It was regardless of what happens, I did it.
What are you hoping that this win does for you, and what it symbolizes for your fans?
I hope that drag fans and people realize that drag is so much more than the things that we put on our body. We can buy glitz and glam. We can buy fashion, but we can’t buy a great person. And at the end of the day, drag is about who you are as a person, the joy you bring to the world, and it should always, always be only about that. And I hope that my winning proves that, and I hope that my winning inspires a lot of entertainers.
We’ve seen the success queens can have after winning, they’ve gone on to Broadway, TV shows and movies, what can we manifest for you?
I need to be on the newest season of “Abbott Elementary” with Quinta Brunson. We also need to be on “SNL.” And I honestly want to do a movie with some of my favorite actors, including Viola Davis, Kerry Washington, Denzel Washington, and people along those lines. Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyong’o, the list keeps going.
Are you going to get some rest now? Are you even able to?
There’s no rest for the wicked, honey. It’s very much, next club, next bar, next city. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
