Jax, our new favorite diminutive dipping queen, just made her exit from Rupaul’s Drag Race season 15. She may have sashayed away, but she surely didn’t go without a fight.
She burst onto the first episode jump-roping her own hair and almost nabbed the top talent show spot out of all 16 contestants. However, after a couple of challenge misses and a slightly suspect series of lipsync “Lalaparuza” decisions, Jax was taken out.
Let the court note that it took not one, not two, but five–yes, FIVE!–lipsyncs in a row to eliminate this energetic performer from the competition. That’s a Christina Aguilera-level “Fighter” right there.
We caught up with Jax between flips and dips to discuss stolen set pieces, hidden talents, and getting hot with a fellow queen in this week’s “Chop Shop” interview.
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QUEERTY: You’re such a powerhouse performer, and I’m sure you’ve put on a million good shows. What’s been your absolute worst gig?
JAX: Oh, gosh. There’s so, so many bad gigs. As a New York queen, you never know what you’re gonna walk into. You get heckled on a daily basis once one [audience] member has too many shots.
My least favorite gig I ever did, I was doing a pop-up show and I was waiting for the emcee to announce me onto stage. I was sitting around waiting for solidly 20 minutes and we couldn’t find them. It turns out they were having sex with someone in the bathroom – and I was just sitting around there waiting.
I was supposed to do two numbers that night, and I ended up only doing one because of the timing of stuff. And I was like, “You know what? This bar is specifically not for me.”
Are there any hidden talents you didn’t get to show on Drag Race that you wish you could have?
I’m a really good whistler! I can’t sing for my life, but I can whistle very well, which always impresses people because they think I’m tone deaf. Somehow I can carry a tune with a whistle.
Don’t you also have a past as a competitive diver?
Yes! I was a junior Olympic diver from the age of 10 until I was 15.
So if y’all had gotten one of those water tank photoshoots, it would have been on.
Oh absolutely. I can hold my breath for a minute and a half. Let’s go.
Speaking of past challenges, who’s a previous season Ru-Girl who you think is underrated and why?
End of story, I think every single Black queen on the show is underrated. We have so many talented people that just are not highlighted in the way that they deserve to be out in the world.
I love A’keria Chanel Davenport. I’m obsessed with her. And thankfully she’s finally getting her flowers as she just won Canada vs. the World, but Rajah O’Hara was also a queen that I thought was so underrated and deserved so much love on her season. I’m thankful that she has now.
It’s very “I’m rooting for everybody Black.”
Everyone Black and trans!
You’re in New York, but originally from Connecticut. How did the places that you grew up and performed inform how you do drag?
It really has helped me always want to keep people on their toes. I’ve always been put in a box; people look at me and they expect, “Oh, a Black dancing queen, she’s gonna do Beyoncé, she’s gonna do something high energy, blah, blah, blah.” I always like to switch it up on them and do some spoken word and comedy mixes and alternative music that they wouldn’t typically anticipate.
I’m a black girl that grew up in the suburbs; I wasn’t listening to rap music, I was listening to Avril Lavigne. So I like to shock people with what I’m going to perform and what my references are and just keep them on their toes in that way. That’s definitely influenced me. We love to remind people that Black people invented rock’n’roll.
Absolutely. It’s that same way that Black folks love Paramore.
Hayley Williams, that’s our girl! Exactly.
Do you have a fun fact you could share about one of your season 15 sisters that might surprise the fans?
I don’t even know if it would surprise them, but Aura is really, really sweaty. Me and her, we are two performers where the second we walk offstage, we’re like, “Someone bring the fan, get the towels.” We give our all when we perform, so we SWEAT sweat.
Did you mop anything good from the workroom?
I definitely took some wig heads with me. Wig heads are one of those things where they are so cheap at beauty supply stores, but for some reason Amazon loves to upsell them by like $30. And I’m just like, “I’m taking everything I can get.”
I genuinely think the wig heads are the only thing that I mopped this time around.
As far as your style goes, what’s one article of clothing that you would never be caught dead in in drag?
Half of my runway package! [Laughs] I can joke about it now.
I don’t think I would ever be caught dead in any dresses that go below the knee. I hate them. I think they look so matronly and, like, schoolgirl. I can never be caught in a pencil skirt.
So we’re never getting you in “executive realness”?
Never! Never.
I could see you in a pant.
Actually, yeah! If I did “executive realness”, it’d be a c*nty pant moment.
We didn’t get to a branding challenge, but if you were to have your own kind of QVC product line, what do you think you’d be selling?
I don’t want to copy her or harp on it too much. But the Alyssa Go-Go Juice™ is something that I see as very up my alley. A “Jumping Jax Potion” could be in the works.
But also, who I am as a human being is just a huge stoner nerd, so probably some weed paraphernalia would be more up my alley. Hmm.
We’ve had a few different energy drinks – Sure Jan!, RoseAid, etc. – but y’all are back there sipping on Red Bulls every other day, so it makes sense.
Gotta keep your energy up, exactly. If I have a heart attack 10 years from now, I’m not going to be shocked at all.
What’s one thing about your background or your journey that you wish you could have shared with the Drag Race fans before you went home?
There’s a lot of things. Aura and I had some really in-depth conversations with each other. We’re both POCs, and we’re thankful that both of us are partnered, but our partners are white, and we find ourselves in these spaces where people don’t really understand things that make us uncomfortable or why we walk away from certain situations rather than voice our opinions because of the way that we’re perceived.That was a conversation that I wish that we were able to bring more to light.
Also, with my upbringing in Connecticut, we talked a little bit about being the only person of color in the room and how to navigate that space and how important it is to teach the people around you why what they’re doing is not okay, or not healthy for others, or how it can be perceived the wrong way.
A lot of times, there’s a lot of inherent racism that people don’t really understand that they’re letting guide what they say or how they treat people. We see it very evidently through social media and the way that the Black girls often have a much, much smaller social media following than some of the other girls. It’s in the way that we look at things – like someone might be considered palatable, while someone else is considered aggressive, based just off of a first glance.
We got some good conversations about Vanity Milan being the only Black girl on her original season, Stephanie Prince being the only Asian girl on the season, and even the use of controversial terminology all on Canada vs. the World. I think we’re only growing in that respect. It is really heartening to hear these conversations being had, and I think it’s going to improve.
Of course.
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graphicjack
Drag Race requires you to be an all-round skilled artist, who can sing, act, do comedy, and serve a look. Jax may not have all those skills, BUT, she would probably be among the two or three queens from that season that I would kill to see perform live. Her lip syncs are both epic and completely unique, and it was so shady to eliminate her on a lip sync episode. I really hope Jax gets some good opportunities from this… I think she could be an absolute legend touring or being on the Drag Race Vegas show.
Seth
Jax suffered from the same problem as Jorgeous from Season 14. While they both certainly gave spirited performances, their dance moves were limited to the same 4-5 moves done over and over and over, etc…and when you are lip-syncing back to back that becomes obvious very quickly.