Canada's Drag Race Season 6, Episode 1
"Not Sorry Aboot It"
Host: Brooke Lynn Hytes
Cast: Dulce, Eboni La'Belle, Hazel, Karamilk, Mya Foxx, Paolo Perfección, PM, Saltina Shaker, Sami Landri, Star Doll, Van Goth, Velma Jones
No shade to the other franchises, but Pop Heist turns up for Canada. Maybe that's because it's the first season of Drag Race that the site covered when we launched nearly a year ago. I interviewed last season's Porkchop Queen on the day we launched. And maybe it's because I put my soul into an extended oral history of last season, complete with input from the entire cast, Brooke Lynn Hytes, and showrunner Trevor Boris (the secret sauce that makes Canada just a little sweeter than its sisters). I mention all of that because the Season 6 premiere proudly features all of the ingredients that make Canada's Drag Race so gosh darn special, eh?
And, unlike my abbreviated attempt at covering Drag Race UK, I promise to stick with these recaps. I won't be moving my little gay family (husband, two cats) halfway across the country and moving in with my brother-in-law, ending nearly two decades in New York City and dealing with all of that while this season airs. I think. Become a paid subscriber of Pop Heist, BTW.
Overall, the Season 6 premiere loosely follows a format established for the Season 5 premiere: music video followed by runway, followed by a spectacular, non-elimination lip sync. All 12 queens contributed a verse to the remix of Season 1's "Not Sorry Aboot It," complete with a spotlight from Canada vs. the World winner Lemon. While prepping for the runway (Category was: More Is More), guest judge Paula Abdul paid the queens a visit. And after the runway, Van Goth was named Week 1's winner, earning the honor of performing alongside host Brooke Lynn Hytes in a lip sync of Abdul's "Cold Hearted." It seems straightforward, but Canada doesn't rely on plot alone — not when there's personality to showcase, too.
Like the judges, I'm going to single out my top five queens from each of tonight's segments, starting with the entrance lewks. Let me just state up top: the Canada girls have really embraced the Y2K, Disney Channel diva aesthetic to a degree that I just can't get into. It's not for me, and that's fine! I just wanted to point it out because it's really emerged as a trend up north, more so than in any other spinoff.
Anyway, my tops from the entrances are PM, Saltina Shaker, Sami Landri, Velma Jones — and I guess Hazel? PM and Velma are clearly on my alley; I love the weirdos who push the boundaries of drag, especially if they're popularizing mustache drag, and I also love any intellectual millennials who channel that into being stupid. If anyone was gonna straight up steal an entrance line from the one, the only Sasha Colby ("Period."), let it be Velma Jones in an oversized fur stole adorned with glamorous, bedazzled, and blood-soaked tampons.
Saltina Shaker and Sami Landri, two TikTok queens now working without a timer, also push the boundaries of drag — the boundaries of taste. I mean that less for Saltina, who is incredibly polished for a queen whose aesthetic is half Hot Topic, half Charlotte Russe. Saltina's out-of-drag look is what really sells her for me. She looks like an '80s video vixen — but the kind that's playing lead guitar in leather pants in front of the hot lady writhing on the hood of a car.
Speaking of hot lady writhing on the hood of a car: Sami Landri, who cites those very women as her primary drag inspiration ... except she says those women are from "the 2000s." I mean, she's not wrong, but when I hear "video vixen," my mind goes to the women backing up Robert Palmer and Whitesnake. I'm old. Sami's entire aesthetic is mind-boggling, because it's curated tackiness, intentional garishness, designed to toot everything that other queens want to boot. Like, I don't think she owns a lacefront and she outlines her lips in sharpie. She's Morgan McMichaels meets Tammie Brown (complimentary).
And, I guess I put Hazel here? While all the entrances did a great job of showcasing each queen's vibe, none of the other entrances gave me that wow. Hazel slides in here because she was so damn professional looking, and I chuckle thinking of the confused looks the other 10 queens gave when they heard a fucking airhorn go off while backstage.
Now, "Not Sorry Aboot It (Lemon's Version)." What a banger! The music video opening challenge is everything I love about Canada's Drag Race. It's excessive in the best way, a low-key maximalist own of every other Drag Race. Canada gives their queens the most bars per verse, and giving one to all 12 (plus Lemon, who effortlessly squeezes all the juice out of her verse for our enjoyment) feels crazy. It's the music video equivalent of the main series doing the ball challenge when there are still a dozen queens in the cut. It shouldn't work, it should get boring, but it ends up being a great showcase for the cast.
For the verse, I want to highlight Mya Foxx, Paolo Perfección, Velma Jones, Eboni La'Belle, and Saltina Shaker. These were all great examples of either doubling down on what they were serving in the entrance portion (Paolo, Eboni, Saltina) or expanding expectations (Mya, Velma). Mya and Velma, specifically, really surprised me. First, Mya — the first inuk queen of the series — came into the Werk Room looking ... I don't know, respectful. But for her verse, she came out with some mid-'00s J. Lo energy that I was not expecting. And Velma's pipes?! When you have that many bars, go on, sing and rap!
If Sami's a video vixen, then she's backing up Eboni because Eboni shut it down. Love when a queen backs up all the confidence she brings in the confessionals, and this cemented Eboni as one to watch. Same with Saltina, who started things off with an edgy flow and really worked every angle of that striking red set.
Now, Paolo ... I think I like Paolo, but I need to know how much she knows about what she's doing. Right now, she's serving wide-eyed and gapey ingenue so hard that she makes Jorgeous look like Chad Michaels. Her verse was just shy of unhinged and her airhead bimbo flubbing of the choreo was funny but risky. Drag Race loves a big character, but not if you use the character as an excuse to not do the Maxi Challenge. There's a difference between, "I can do the choreo but my drag persona would fuck it up this way" and "I can't do the choreo so, hey, neither can my drag persona!"
Then the Paula Abdul moment, which gave me my actual favorite look of the episode: Star Doll's reaction.
This was the heart of the episode. Paula fucking Abdul. Very few divas can claim to have as many hits as she had on 1988's Forever Your Girl, nor can many claim to have a hand in launching the careers of superstars (Janet Jackson and Kelly Clarkson). No, she's not Canadian, but Paula Abdul is international.
Side note: Where are the Canadian divas? Alanis, Céline, Avril, Carly Rae? Maybe now that Paula Abdul has tap danced down the Main Stage, the others will say yes to the invites.
And finally, the More Is More runway. Eboni La'Belle, Hazel, Saltina Shaker, Sami Landri, and Van Goth. By turning a gown into a curve-hugging jumpsuit, Eboni gave me superhero at the Met Gala. As Hazel said in Untucked, her look truly was more is more. How tall does a bitch have to make herself in order to land in the top? Because Hazel was easily 8 feet tall with that headdress. Saltina served mother of dragons while not losing that '80s hair metal edge. While I wasn't as taken with Van Goth as the judges, that Main Stage ear reveal did leave me gagging.
And then there's Sami Landri whose Lisa Frank Technicolor Dreamcoat garishly rounded out her singularly confounding — yet enticing — Drag Race debut. I imagine Sami competing on the US All Stars some day and Michelle Visage just throwing up her hands and walking off set.
Based on this, I would've called Saltina as the winner, with Velma, Eboni, Sami, and Hazel rounding out the top five. Sorry to this week's actual winner Van Goth, whose real win was in Untucked where she scored lots of screentime due to her pre-show beef with Dulce. And while I didn't single out PM in two of these three categories, I am still rooting for they/them.
That brings us to the final lip sync, which could be seen as a throwaway moment (if no one's going home, what are we doing?). I don't see it like that. I think this is a prima [ballerina] example of what makes Canada's Drag Race the best Drag Race on TV: Brooke Lynn Hytes.
Brooke fucking loves this job, as I'm sure every host does. But unlike the other hosts, Brooke is the only one who is still eager to perform. And unlike RuPaul's iconic two-step performances of her new single every season, Brooke slays the stage every time (the design-for-Brooke challenge last season, this lip sync).
I don't think it's a prerequisite for a host to be able to win the show they're hosting. There's much more to the gig than that. But. There is something so mother about every time Brooke gets on pointe on the Main Stage. We don't need the reminder that Brooke remains a fierce as fuck competitor who could absolutely win an All Stars season if she wanted — but that reminder always makes for exhilarating television. Needless to say, Brooke's Lip Sync Assassin cred remains intact after this "Cold Hearted" lip sync. And, props to Van Goth for turning out her side of the stage and actually keeping up with the Queen of the North. But that end moment when Brooke (unintentionally?) tosses her scarf over her shoulder and into Van Goth's face? Period.
A solid batch of queens, an exceptional lineup of personalities, and Canada's unique storytelling and tone are all locked and loaded. To quote Saltina in the preview for next week's commercial challenge, "I can't wait to see how this turns out."
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