INTERVIEW

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Madison Drew | 27/12/2024
LaLa Ri is more than the person you first met on season 13 of RuPaul's Drag Race (bags included). Stepping beyond the drag persona, LaRico—the artist behind LaLa Ri—opens up with intimacy and honesty, speaking from the heart. Last year, they announced they were leaving drag behind, embarking on a bold transformation that embraces their artistry in its entirety: music, acting, modeling, designing—truly, the whole damn experience. Below, LaRico shares with HATC the journey that led to this decision and the exciting era that’s only just beginning.
A: Coming out of drag and Drag Race in particular, it's at that level. Many people have vocalized about how drag has helped them feel at home and in their skin or lives. What was your experience from starting drag to where you are now?
L: Drag, first and foremost, helped give me a major platform as an artist. It obviously got my name out to the world by doing drag. Drag is like a sense of freedom within the art form. I always will hold drag dear to me. It holds a very special place for me. I just felt like it was difficult for me to evolve as the artist I truly wanted to be while staying within the realm of drag.
I have nothing against drag. It opened so many doors for me by being on Drag Race, but I felt like it was time for me to “hang up the wig” because I didn't want my entire legacy to be based on the fact that I was a drag queen. I wanted more out of my artistry because I was already in the industry before I became a drag queen. So, I want to continue where I left off with that.
A: I feel like evolution is only a good thing and I love how you've embraced it. But it can have its terrifying moments as well.
L: It's definitely a scary moment because you are introduced to the world as this one person, as this character, and everybody has fallen in love with this persona. It's kind of like you're taking their baby away from them. I saw somebody on Instagram who said, "Um, well, I was in love with her and not him." Well, you realize without him, it wouldn't be her. Sometimes, I feel like drag fans only see you as one person, and they forget that there is a human being behind all the makeup and the hair and things. You can get lost in the drag because people gravitate more to you when you are in drag. It can kind of make you forget who you are as a person as well.
A: I can imagine, it's quite vulnerable to tell people how you really feel when they think they already know your whole life inside out when they only know what is seen in the media…
L: I think people forget because, I mean, it's RuPaul's Drag Race, but the majority of the show, we're out of drag. You're honestly getting to know the person more out of drag, the person behind the drag than in drag, I feel, on the show, but for some reason, they are just attached to the thought of this persona.
A: Something I love about Drag Race is this space to open up about your stories. How did you find that aspect of the show to talk about the more vulnerable experiences on TV?
L: It is definitely a safe space to feel vulnerable. We do have a therapist on-set the entire time, so they do allow us, if we have any issues, that room to express those issues. Filming a TV show, a competition TV show like Drag Race is treacherous, honey. It's not the easiest thing in the world. It's the best thing in the world and super fun, but it's not the easiest thing in the world, and you have to constantly stay on as well. So thankfully, Drag Race understands that, and they do provide us with that space to have those talks with the therapist if we need to let these feelings out.
A: I know earlier this year you spoke about this depressive episode that you went into and found yourself in, how have you navigated that with being in the public eye as well?
L: I am a strong advocate for therapy. But, therapy is something that's taboo within the Black community, especially growing up in the South. They don't believe in therapy. They believe in going to church and praying it out. You know, talking to Jesus, which I do love Jesus, do not get me wrong, but sometimes you see [a therapist], a physical person that can respond back. Sometimes, you need help understanding what Jesus wants you to do.
Thankfully, I had therapy. I have a strong support system as well, but therapy helped me a lot. My father, my biological father, had bipolar disorder, so I saw what it did to him. I've never been diagnosed with bipolar disorder myself, but it kind of made me think, would I ever get to that point, you know? I said, “let me get into therapy.” I'm still in therapy, and it has been a great helping point in dealing with being in the public eye, personal issues, and personal relationships. If I feel these depressing moments, I'm able to go talk to my therapist about it.
A: is there anything that has helped your day-to-day mental health?
L: Music and dance have always been my outlet. Before therapy, before I could afford therapy, when I was younger, my way of expressing my emotions was through music and dance. Like I always say, music and dance saved my life plenty of times because I had nobody to talk to and nobody to understand me, but the music understood me. I can put my music and my playlist on shuffle, and the right songs will play. Music and dance have just been like my saving grace. Even to this day, I just listen to music when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm going through something, and I just dance it out!
A: Since first seeing you on Drag Race, have you found over the years that LaLa Ri has kind of been a natural progression for you or do you think you've had to really work to find that evolution?
L: Yes, it has been a work in progress because I was all about pleasing everybody. I didn't really know who I was. I only knew what people loved about me, so I only knew how to be that person. If I wasn't pleasing people, I didn't know what to do, you know? Over the years, I had to learn who I was and grow into this person, without this, this other person, that everybody loves. If that makes sense. It definitely took time for me, but I think in your 30s, you start realizing who you are. So maybe it's a 30s thing. I had to say, “Okay, this is who LaRico is,” outside of who the LaRico or the LaLa Ri is to the world—outside of that person.
A: and you are planning to dive deep into this journey and write something about it?
L: Actually, today I started writing out a one-person show called "Evolve,” a farewell, my farewell to drag. It will be a one-person show, where I show people a deeper and more intimate performance of my journey from the beginning to the present and reaching towards the future. I feel like it will give fans the opportunity to truly get to know who I am. Also, it will give fans a little more of the Lala Ri the drag queen, because there will be some drag elements in the show. It would be like my love letter to my career, artistry, and fans who have supported me over the years.
A: You must be in a comfortable space with where you want to be and where you're going to be able to put it all to paper?
L: Yes, I am. It's exciting because I can use this as a form of therapy and be creative. I'm putting two and two together, and I'm also able to share with the world. I would like for the show to be not only an entertaining show and a look into my life, but also an inspiration to people who are scared to take the chance, unsure about what they want to do with their lives, or don't know who they are. I want this show to inspire them and help them figure it out along the way.
A: Are you planning to make new music for it as well?



L: Yes, I will have original tracks. I will be performing original tracks and everything. I will talk about my journey doing All Stars 8 and season 13, as well as my dance journey from when I was a child and singing in the choirs. I'm figuring out how I'm going to fit an entire 34 years into an hour and a half!
A: The choir was a big part of growing up for you, how was that for you, growing up in terms of inspiration and finding where you are now with your music?
L: Being in the choir was my happy place, and it taught me a lot of things. I was also in my school choir, where we had to learn how to do piano and guitar and all this. Even though at that moment, I hated it because I was like, “I just want to sing,” but I didn't realize that that was actually growing me as an artist and helping me express myself more creatively. Music has always been a huge thing in my family. No one but me actually took it seriously as an artist, but my mother is a singer. Her mother was a singer, and my great-grandmother was a drummer. My father was a dancer, so it has always been a huge part of me, and it's an influence in the music I'm making now for this new era.
A: It's going to be amazing. And the real question also is, have you been sponsored yet by a bag company? Because this is a marketing genius
L: That's the sad part, but maybe I should just start my own bag line
A: I also lived for your confessionals [on Drag Race], by the way. I think you brought so much joy and humour. I think that making people laugh is such a skill and such an art in itself
L: That's why I think I'm all about making people laugh, making people feel good, making people forget their problems. I think I said on the COVID special during season 13, is that you have to live, honey. COVID showed us how short life can be. So just live, and one way to live is to laugh and enjoy every moment. Just live, honey.
A: what's coming up for you in the new year?
L: Evolving more as an artist. Entertainment has been a part of my life forever. I've been dancing and singing since I was five. Creating has always brought me joy. I want to create more with this newfound persona, and I would like to create more and just be with family more, too. I have a boyfriend that I would like to spend more time with, because he makes me very happy. My man, my man, man! Maybe to even consider bringing a child into this world. Marriage, maybe in the future, but the most important thing for me is to continue to create and spread joy, love people, and inspire and motivate people. That is my biggest goal always. My goal forever is to inspire, create, and spread love.
I want people to realise that it's okay to hurt. It's okay to go through things. Shake it off and move on to the next chapter. If it takes weeks, that's okay. It's perfectly fine, but it will get better. In the end, it will get better. Just continue to push through towards the end, towards that light that you see. It might be kind of far away, but trust me, it's close enough.
Words Madison Drew
Photography Dylan Perlot
Styling Branden Ruiz
Grooming Christopher Miles