Nymphia Wind Is a Wallflower at Heart
When Nymphia Wind won RuPaul’s Drag Race, she scored a lot of firsts. She was the first East Asian queen to win the crown, the first Taiwanese queen, and the first queen to actively hate words. Much of Nymphia’s arc throughout season 16 centered on how much she disliked writing, speaking, and comedy — preferring to let her dancing and sewing talents shine. That culminated in her finally breaking through in the penultimate challenge, a marathon of words that tested both her writing and interviewing skills. When she ended up winning that challenge, it felt like the final piece of the puzzle was complete. Now, Nymphia, the looks queen of the season, was ready to take on the world. Then, in the finale, she reminded us just how good those other skills were, with a killer original song performance and final, boba-themed lip sync to “Padam Padam” that cemented her win. A few days after the finale, we caught up with Nymphia in the midst of a day of wild press to see how her new reign is beginning and learn what parts of her weren’t shown on-camera.
How’s the day going?
It’s a day.
A lot of press?
Lots of talking.
And that’s your favorite thing?
Absolutely.
You would never be sarcastic.
Well, we’ll see. I live in sarcasm to get through the day.
When did you start planning what you were doing for the finale?Probably a few weeks before. Four weeks. I had to start commissioning clothes, and I wanted to do outfits that represented my country. This was the final battle, so I got to fight for my country. But I didn’t want to represent my country just by sticking on a Taiwanese flag. That was just a bit too cheesy for me. So I thought, What other ways could I do it? Let’s just make a bubble tea outfit, because bubble tea is the national drink of Taiwan. We invented it. It was a fun way to do it.
There’s been some chatter on Reddit that it could have been a reference to the Milk Tea Alliance. Was that a specific reference point for you?
This is my first time hearing about it.
Okay, so probably not.
I’ve got to Google. [Nymphia Googles the Milk Tea Alliance] Oh, interesting. Maybe I should join that.
How much of your performance of “Padam Padam” was planned?
I am a very spontaneous performer, but I also knew I needed to plan out certain things. So I found a sentence for when I was going to open the bubble tea and when I was going to do the cartwheel reveal. I knew I was going to do the handstand around that area of the song, but the rest was just feel the music and do it as you go.
When you left the finale, how were you feeling about your performance?
I felt good because even if I didn’t do well, at least I had fun. That’s always my motto. Have fun in everything, otherwise it’s not worth doing. The rest is not up to me.
You had such a long time to stew about your chances.
I just let it go. I didn’t think there was any point in obsessing over the idea of something you’ve already done. I’ve done all that I can do. I am proud of what I did. You kind of have to just let that go and let the rest play out as it’s supposed to.
The way that you were portrayed on the show was someone who got nervous prior to performances.
The show is condensed into 90 minutes. The version of me that you see is very condensed. I’m different from the person you see on TV. In a competition sense, you don’t want to go home. You still have to find ways to be confident and make it work. Before any performances, when I’m about to walk onstage and do the challenge or perform, I would hypnotize myself by saying I am that bitch. I can do it. Just have fun, relax into it. I have to force self-confidence onto myself.
You describe the version of yourself on TV as “condensed.” What parts of you were not able to make it to the full version?
What you see on TV is still me, but it’s a part of me. Even in real life, when you make friends, it’s not like you don’t show all your sides to Friend A. When you interact with Friend A, you’re a certain way, and when you’re around Friend B, you’re a different way. You just show different sides.
I am curious about what parts of you didn’t come across to Show A.
The side of me that didn’t come out is the more dead inside, hateful, cynical, sarcastic bitch. When the cameras were on, I got into this hyper state, where I’m very high energy. The mellow and deadened side of me didn’t get shown that much on TV. You want to make TV; no one wants to see you not talking or just sitting in a corner. I am a wallflower, essentially. If I could, I would not talk, but it’s TV. You’ve got to show the best side of you.
That makes me curious about the interview challenge. In the context of the show, it seemed like you were nervous when the challenge was announced. What was that emotional journey like?
I knew this was the last challenge, and it was definitely a challenge where you had to show yourself and be vulnerable. I had to dig deep and find a way to come out on top, so I shared the story about me.
The judges made comments that it seemed like you were finding yourself in that challenge. Did it feel like you were learning things about yourself?
Midway through the competition, I felt a bit lost. I lost track of who I was and got stressed out. The last challenge was about re-centering myself and finding myself again. So in a sense, yes. It was a tumultuous, turbulent journey.
What was difficult about it for you in the middle?
Season 16, as a whole cast, everyone’s so well versed and talented, and it was down to the nitty-gritty. Living in constant fear or stress is a lot, and you are by yourself. You don’t have your usual friends or emotional support to reassure who you are.
How did you re-center yourself?
I would lie in bed. I bought an iPod that had frequencies and calming music, and I would listen to those frequencies and try to calm myself down.
You’re doing a ton of interviews now, and I’m curious about how you get through those, when, from what we saw, speaking is not your favorite thing to do.
I see it like this: When you’re about to go onstage, the lights are on and the show is about to start. You’ve just got to make it happen and make it work. It’s not like I absolutely hate interviewing. I think it’s fun because, being asked these questions, you have to answer them. In a way, it kind of organizes your life. When I went into the last challenge, the interview, I thought: Just enjoy the whole thing and connect with the interviewer and connect with the audience and be genuine.
Was that also your strategy for Good Morning America then?
These interviews are different settings, so it’s hard to compare them. Good Morning America, I only had a short amount of time, so it was really just, Be yourself, relax, have fun doing it, and just answer the questions.
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