Girl group challenges can be such a fun time.
Dancing, singing, and awkward tension between the queens; it’s a spark for lots of drama in the Werk Room. RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 Episode 8 was no exception!
After a recent trend of “RuPaul’s Best Friend Race,” it was a pleasant change to get some fire back in the competition. And “’60s Girl Groups” had a good balance of shade and shenanigans.
Case in point: the “Reading is Fundamental!” challenge.
Are there any Drag Race fans who hate this Mini Challenge? This is a classic game that brings all the laughs and memes. It’s a must-have and mainstay for every Drag Race season, so I was thrilled it came back again.
Surprisingly, every queen did an amazing job with their reads. Typically, a few queens fail to land a joke and get the awkward silence, but every queen this round packed a punch with their zingers.
The queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14 might be the season of the reads. Some seasons have fashion queens, comedy queens, or lip-sync queens, but shade and reading might be the strength of this batch.
The Top 3 best reads came from Bosco, Lady Camden, and Jorgeous.
Lady Camden calling Jorgeous a “waste of time” was a clever pun that hit right in the feels. It knocks the air right out of you for how simple and effortlessly smart it was. Lady Camden knew how to get really shady.
Jorgeous’ read of Jasmine Kennedie was the one that impressed RuPaul the most. You could see it on RuPaul’s face; she could barely breathe from how cutting the remark got.
Little Miss Jorgeous. Ugh, the tinniest little waste … of time.
Lady Camden
Jorgeous might not be strong in acting and singing (we’ll get to this later on), but she can throw shade with the best of them.
And in Bosco’s case, she deserved to win the Mini Challenge. All of her reads packed a punch; she called herself the villain, but after her pallbearer joke, she was a murderer based on how she killed it during the challenge. It now makes sense why she’s had so many confessionals!
The Maxi Challenge of the ’60s girl groups is a risky challenging competition for the queens.
RuPaul loves her references, particularly anything to do with Diana Ross and the past music scene. She ripped Aja a new one after messing up some Studio 54 references on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Season 4.
Just imagine if someone made an error about The Supremes! That queen wouldn’t have survived to make it to the lip sync.
Going into the rehearsals and recording, it became apparent that the judges would be taking an extra focused eye on everything the queens did. Any little slip-up could land someone at the bottom.
Group #1 (The Shang-Ru-Las) had the best performance and team unity on “’60s Girl Groups.”
Not only did they have the best song, but their choreography and lyrics suited the tone of the track. It was catchy and upbeat, which made it fun to watch. And Bosco, Daya Betty, and Willow Pill all danced seamlessly together while performing their characters.
Plus, they impressed Michelle Visage and the other queens from how strong their rehearsals became. If this challenge were based on a group review, they would’ve all won easily and been safe together.
Daya walking away with the win was well-earned; she did do the best of the group, and her ensemble shined on the runway. It would’ve been frustrating if someone from The Shang-Ru-Las hadn’t won; this was their round to snag a win since their performance was impeccable.
Group #2 (The Rupremes) had a good safe number. Before even singing, I had a feeling they would get extra RuPaul points just because The Supremes inspired them; RuPaul is always going to love her favorite group.
The Rupremes had strong singing, but they were the worst dancers.
The lack of challenging dance moves prevented them from pushing the group to the top. If they could’ve done more, I could see RuPaul giving them the win. Kerri could’ve avoided the bottom had she worked more with the song’s tune and the dance moves.
I was walking around backstage and actually found RuPaul’s will. You have some very weird criteria in there. She wanted to be buried on the catwalk, and she walked all of you to be her pallbearers. That way you could let her down on the runway one last time.
Bosco
And with Angeria Paris VanMichaels having experience lip-syncing to Diana Ross, those skills would be the cherry on the sundae. Shockingly, she didn’t win “’60s Girl Groups,” even though she gave RuPaul everything she wanted from a Diana Ross performance.
Sometimes even the judges can surprise us with their final decision.
Group #3 (The Runettes) were the worst of the girl groups. They had the best dancing talent, but they were the worst singers.
If they could’ve focused on selling the performance with their facial expressions and moves, all three would’ve been placed as safe.
Shockingly, Jorgeous didn’t end up at the bottom. Her singing was terrible; “talk-singing” helped in a pinch, and they made it work for the song, but her struggling would’ve landed her at the bottom. She should be thanking fate that Jasmine was too focused on being perfect.
Jasmine needs to let go and trust the process. I didn’t see her stuck inside her head, but it was obvious that she was too focused on hitting her moves during the footage replay. This habit is an issue she’ll need to overcome, or else it’ll keep placing her up for elimination.
The runway category of “Heart-R” was a hit-or-miss runway.
My favorite ensembles came from Daya Betty and Bosco. Some queens had stellar looks that made them shine, while most were bland, messy, and safe. Nothing impressive to make us stop in our tracks.
Daya Betty’s neon cyberpunk offered a palette change against the runway’s red, pink, and white outfits. Her futuristic design looked creative, and it felt like she could be performing with this at a rave in the future.
Jasmine Kennedie, why do you look so old but you are so young? You are the definition of “white do crack.”
Jorgeous
On the other hand, Bosco achieved elegance and beauty with her vampire. The white gown made her look sophisticated and beautiful while showing off her butt added the cheeky Bosco charm.
The vampire gown gave off major “Try if you can to look away from me!” energy. We love to see those showstopping ensembles.
Jasmine Kennedie and Kerri Colby’s lip-sync to “Un-Break My Heart (Remix)” by Toni Braxton didn’t blow it out of the water. They served a decent number that held its own.
It was nothing special that would make us remember this performance in years from now as a memorable lip sync.
Jasmine served emotion with her face and moves while Kerri matched the tone with her expressions. An evenly matched lip-sync where Jasmine just pushed herself a little harder to show off the sadness of the lyrics.
Willow Pill: Serena ChaCha!
[All the queens laugh]
Willow Pill: Jorgeous, we know you’re skinny and you need to eat. But unfortunately, Orion’s ass is not on the food pyramid.
Plus, she broke the curse of queens who lose their shoes during the lip-sync going home.
Once her heel came flying off, her chances of staying could’ve ended right then and there. Like I said above, the judges can surprise us with their final decision. She did better in the lip sync, so it’s good that she got to slay another day.
Last Thoughts From The Werk Room:
- Daya Betty is causing a lot of drama, like her fight with Jasmine. Now that she got her Maxi Challenge win, maybe she’ll bring out her full villain side?
- It’s only a matter of time before DeJa Skye releases her own original music.
- I’m here for all of Lady Camden’s love of The Spice Girls. Bring on Spice World!
Now, over to you, Drag Race fans.
What did you think of “’60s Girl Groups”?
Did you predict Kerri Colby would be eliminated? What was your favorite girl group? Which read had you laughing the most?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Justin Carreiro is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.
:quality(85):upscale()/2023/05/11/976/n/1922564/782262e2645d6b967847b4.74342194_.png)
