An All-American, Southern hunk of a man is opening up about his drag journey. And while the results may not be stunning, they are improving!
Glenn Devern, who operates a very popular TikTok page with nearly 517,000 followers, has recorded five drag tutorials over the last two weeks. He claims he lost a bet on the Internet, but we’re not so sure.
This grade A slab of beef just wants to look pretty!
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“As a cornfed boy from the country, I don’t understand why men these days are always dressing up as women for fun,” he jokes at the top of his first video. “So I’m gonna see what all the fuss is about!”
Though Glenn insists he’s never attempted to put on makeup before, his first attempt starts of well enough… outside of the cheap foundation that he says “smells like chemicals.”
“I legitimately thought this would be much worse than it actually is,” he remarks.
But then Glenn moves onto his eyes, and the trouble starts to begin. Coloring within the lines is always difficult, especially when you’re attempting to put on your own eyeliner. “This is where the story takes a dark turn,” he giggles.
This queen looks like she’s blowing up with anger, and that’s before she puts on the mascara. Instead of purchasing fake eyebrows, Glenn decides to draw them himself. The process looks, as he puts it, “physically painful.”
Still, we would say Glenn is being a little hard on himself. Contrary to his words, he doesn’t look “legitimately terrifying.” He just looks…a little bit messy!
As we all know, messy gals can be a blast!
Glenn’s second attempt, which was attempted just three days later, also starts off well enough. He has the foundation down.
His eyeliner looks much, much better as well. Again we ask: is this really his first time???
This time around, Glenn glues on fake eyebrows, rather than drawing them himself. While the routine still looks painful, the results are pretty cute. (The next question is, should the stash stay or go?)
By the time Glenn tries again, he’s already reaching more advanced stages. “Nobody can take away my freedom…to get glam!” he says at the top.
His color looks better, the eyebrows appear to be glued on tight. But there can always be room for improvement.
Glenn didn’t shave his eyebrows, giving him a Sasquatch-type look (his words, not ours)!
Given the war on drag that’s taking place in red states, it’s powerful to see a Southern, masc-presenting gay man try his hand at the long-standing art form. Lawmakers in eight states, all of which are governed by Republicans, have tried to pass or already passed legislation that hampers drag shows.
But up to this point, those laws haven’t been enforceable. Courts have deemed laws in Texas, Florida and Tennessee to be unconstitutional.
The sudden right-wing focus on drag comes at a time when the practice is more mainstream than ever. Largely thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race, the entertainment is omnipresent in popular culture. Average viewership for last season hovered around 609,000 people.
Highlighting the arbitrary nature of traditional gender norms, Glenn begins each drag video with a political statement of sorts.
“Whenever I hear that kids these days are just changing their genders whenever they want to, you know what I wind up thinking to myself?,” he says before diving into his fourth tutorial. I want to try!”
And we’re happy he did! Glenn remarks he resembles a “yassified Count Olaf,” but we think he’s being a bit too hard on himself.
“I believe in failure, because as long as you fail forwards, you’re always going somewhere,” he adds.
Put that on a t-shirt crop top, right next to Ru’s famous line: “If you don’t love yourself, how the hell are you gonna love somebody else?”
The improvements in Glenn’s drag game are apparent, beginning with a better wig. Hooray!
On Friday, Glenn posted his fifth drag video, and as he says… he’s starting to look a little bonita! (We would say very bonita… we love a modest queen!)
His secret? Rubbing alcohol, more layers and more glue.
We hope Glenn continues to keep us updated on his progress. We suspect he probably will… every queen needs a stage!