Sapphira Cristál wasted no time showing the world exactly what she could do. In her first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, Cristál brought operatic grandeur to the Main Stage, performing "O mio babbino caro" — live, mind you! — while dropping into a split. At that moment, you didn't need a crystal ball to see that Sapphira was a global sensation in the making — you just needed eyes and ears. And now, with the release of the full-length album The Cristál Ball, the time has come for Sapphira Cristál to kick off her auteur era.
Seriously — The Cristál Ball isn't a lark. It's a fully-realized artistic statement from a musician who knows exactly what she's serving. And yes, it is also a bop. Following the release of The Cristál Ball at the end of May, Pop Heist had the chance to speak with Sapphira Cristál about all the balls she's currently juggling — making music, performing at Drag Race Live, and spreading a message of self-love.
Brett White: The record's been out for a few days now. How's the response been so far?
Sapphira Cristál: It's been very exciting. People come up and tell me that they're enjoying it. The girls here at Drag Race Live actually play it for all meet and greets. It's been really wonderful. I spent so much time on it, most of the last year, while the show was still airing. It's really amazing
I heard you on Sibling Rivalry, and learned that you studied composition in college. Does putting an album out feel like the culmination of something, like putting your knowledge to work?
I feel like I've always been putting my knowledge to work on some level or another. Honestly, you just can't stop. Even when it comes to making my own mixes for drag shows and being able to just pop between a song that has the same feel, that just goes so seamlessly. It's just — thank God I have the mind of a composer.
The album does feel like we're diving into your record collection, like you're creating a mix for us.
Very that. I would say this is sort of like, you know, back in the day when you liked someone you would go and make a mix. It's kind of like that. I really love my fans, they really love me, and so I wanted to make them a mixtape of the things I think that they need and I think that they'd really appreciate. You can listen to this album and hear every single thing I love about music. I love rock, I love funk, I love house music, I love jazz, I love Motown. I love it all, and I especially love opera. I tried to incorporate opera in every single track in some form or fashion.
I love that opera and drag is having a moment. I talked to Monet earlier this year and I love that you two are exploring the overlap between the two art forms.
Opera is drag, first of all. It's bold, it's the most exaggerated, people are singing the entire time, it's just drag, drag, drag, drag. Originally they had to put men in dresses to sing female roles, and they did a lot of unsavory things to those men when they were boys that kept them able to sing so high. I have a six octave range, so I'm still able to achieve the low and the high, and able to take you on a full journey with my music, with my drag, with my art.
Drag is such a visual medium. When you're working on music, how do you shift the focus from the visual to the aural and still keep it part of the Sapphira Cristál experience?
Before I even was writing my own music in the pop sphere, people would come up to me and say, "Oh, this song is a very Sapphira song." And so people know my energy very, very well. There's nothing on this album that doesn't scream Sapphira. There's some things that you would go, "Oh, I didn't realize that you like this kind of music" — but it is all still very Sapphira. It gives you a glimpse into more of who I am, and I think that people really appreciate that. I love being able to grow and develop and make a new path for myself. This is my first recording project, and I wanted to make sure that it screams Sapphira. There are lots of visual elements to it as well, music videos and whatnot, but you hear my music, you know it's me.
In addition to your musical taste, we also get your sense of humor via a parody of a radio call-in show. You got to bring in some of your Season 16 sisters for that and have them read you. Were those real reads from real comments?
Baby, these caller scripts came directly from the comments. I say thank you to the people who decided they wanted to read me because you made it so easy to write those scripts. You are a writer now. Thank you so much. [Laughs]
Now they're getting you paid.
Now they're getting me paid. I might make another one! You just give me fuel, and you're giving me money. It was my favorite thing. I got to have Dawn, she's in it. I wanted more of my sisters, but we're very busy girls. My season is full of queens who made a very big impact on the drag world. It's a little difficult wrangling us all, but whenever we can get together, it's always a kiki.
And now your sister Plane Jane is going to be on House of Villains Season 3. Do you have any aspirations to be on any other reality shows? I imagine you're probably focused on the album.
Yeah, mostly that's what I'm focused on. I have the music, I'm in Las Vegas right now doing Drag Race Live, and that's pretty much it for me. I focus on things. When I split my focus and spread myself too thin, nothing really gets the energy it really deserves. And so I learned over time that when you give something your all, you should really make sure that it has the opportunity to thrive.
This really does feel like exactly what you're meant to be doing right now. It's almost surprising that it's taken you this long to release a full-length. How long have you been sitting on some of these songs?
Three of the songs have already been released last year. "Enough" was released last year. We remastered it, so it's a little different on the album than it was last year. "Get Your Flowers," the same, and "Keep It Cute" the came out on my birthday last year. And then the other songs, we've been working on them. We recorded them, I wasn't so keen on the recording, so we re-recorded them. And that's the real process. I really had to make sure that I did not put out a product that seemed half-baked, you know? Because I am a musician, I couldn't have music that wasn't as good as the other music that's out there.
And a lot of the songs I wrote in first person, so that when you sing it, you sing it to yourself. So instead of "you are enough," I wrote a song that says, "I am enough." So every time you sing it, you say, "I am enough, more than enough." And I wanted to make sure that this message made it through this album, so that's why the last song is called "Vibin'," , which is a song that says, "I'm just feeling so alive, I can't explain the why, where, or even time. I just love this feeling, I love who I am."
Looking at The Cristál Ball on the whole, what are you most proud of?
The marriage of opera and pop music was probably one of the happiest things that I could do. A lot of the music that fuels my life is opera, and I think that people like opera more than they think they do. They know more than they think they do. And opera has been a little bit exclusionary and kind of — "gate-keepy" is new word that we're using — and I think that needs to stop. I think that people need to be able to enjoy it on every level.
As you mentioned earlier, me and Monet had this show called Soundcake that we did at Lincoln Center, and we're trying to get it all over the world. We're starting here in the States, because people need to be able to appreciate this great art.
Also I got to work with Ocean Kelly, a fabulous, phenomenal producer. I got to work with Dan Weidlein. I got to work with a lot of wonderful artists, and I got to have Shea Couleé in my music. We didn't really even knew each other. She was like, "Sure, yes I will do the song." And so to be able to have music that people of that caliber are like, "Yes, I want to be a part of this," makes me so happy in my heart.
You can listen to The Cristál Ball on your music service of choice. You can follow Sapphira Cristál on Instagram at @sapphiracristal.
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