Photo by Jennifer Englert

Nina West Hits the Ground Running Following All Stars

30th July 2024 BWM Staff

It’s been a busy few weeks for beloved drag performer Nina West.

Fresh off an inspiring run on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season nine, Nina has hit the ground running. This past weekend she took to social media to announce a surprise release of a five track EP entitled The Very Queen, which features “It’s Giving (Drag is for Everyone)” as performed on the Drag Race finale. She simultaneously announced the release of a music video for the title track, “The Very Queen”, which features Nina (in the style of Bugs Bunny) singing/ reciting the name of every single queen to compete on Drag Race in chronological order. It is both fun and hilarious, especially when the full chorus comes in to lend a hand with the lyrics.

The day before the EP dropped, she released a special edition t-shirt in partnership with Homage that features an illustration of her face with her famous tagline “Go Big. Be Kind. Go West.” Twenty percent of the proceeds from every shirt sold will be donated to The Trevor Project, the charity she proudly competed for on All Stars this season. (The Trevor Project is the leading suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ+ youth and the importance of their work cannot be overstated. If you can, please donate here.)

Nina’s efforts for the Trevor Project have been tireless and not simply limited to her time on All Stars. She appeared in Provincetown during Bear Week for her massively successful headlining show Nina West is Where the Bears Are at Town Hall. During her show she did an impromptu fundraiser for Trevor and raised an incredible $10,000 for them in less than three minutes! It was incredible!

Besides her solo show, Nina hosted the Otter Pop Pool Party at the Crown & Anchor and was seen participating in several Bear Week shows and events out of drag as a participant. It was abundantly clear that Nina is a proud member of the bear community. She told us as much when we spoke to her in 2022 in advance of her Provincetown debut which was during Bear Week that year: “There is something so special about the Bear community. We come as we are. We bring joy with us. We are a celebratory bunch, so to perform for an audience like this is top notch. This is the best kind of audience any performer could ask for.”

*The Very Queen* cover art. Photo by Jennifer Englert

Beyond Bear Week and her new EP, Nina has a lot in store for fans. She will be returning to Provincetown to perform later this season with her new show The Very Queen that will also be coming to New York in September. She will be the host of the massively popular A Drag Queen Christmas tour this holiday season. And if that’s not enough she has been announced as part of the cast of Queens of the Dead a new horror comedy zombie flick from Tina Romero (the great George Romero’s daughter) which will star the likes of Margaret Cho, Cheyenne Jackson and Dominique Jackson.