Aquaria (drag queen)

Aquaria is the stage name of Giovanni Palandrani (born February 12, 1996),[1] an American drag queen, television personality, and recording artist best known for winning the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2018.[2] In June 2019, a panel of judges from New York magazine placed her 11th on their list of "the most powerful drag queens in America", a ranking of 100 former Drag Race contestants.[3]

Aquaria
Aquaria at RuPaul's DragCon in 2019
Born
Giovanni Palandrani

(1996-02-12) February 12, 1996[1]
West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
OccupationDrag queen, television personality, recording artist
Years active2014–present
Known forRuPaul's Drag Race (season 10) winner
PredecessorSasha Velour
SuccessorYvie Oddly
Websiteageofaquaria.com

Early life and education

Palandrani was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania to Gina and David Palandrani, has a sister named Francesca, and is of Italian descent. He trained as a dancer for four years and experimented with drag in high school.[4] He attended the Fashion Institute of Technology for two semesters before dropping out, studying women's wear design.[5][6]

Career
Aquaria in 2018

Aquaria is the drag daughter of Drag Race season four winner Sharon Needles.[7] She began performing in drag in 2014.[8] Like RuPaul, Aquaria received early support from Susanne Bartsch.[4] Aquaria was featured in a Vogue Italia spread in January 2016 with Bartsch and other Drag Race alumnae.[9]

In early 2018, it was announced that Aquaria was chosen as one of fourteen contestants for the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, upon her first audition for the program.[6][10] She won three main challenges, never ranked in the bottom two, and was the first queen in the show's history to win both the ball and the "Snatch Game" in the same season.[11] Aquaria was announced as the winner of the season on June 28, 2018, beating out Eureka O'Hara and Kameron Michaels in the final three.

Aquaria was nominated with Miz Cracker for the "Competition Contestant of 2018" for the 2018 People's Choice Awards.[12]

In October 2018, Aquaria appeared solo in an issue of Vogue Italia, photographed by Michael Bailey-Gates.[13] She was a model for Moschino and H&M's November 2018 Capsule Collection with Bria Vinaite and Jeremy Scott.[14][15] She received a contract from IMG Models, and was announced as the Entertainment editor for Dazed.[16]

In 2019, Aquaria was announced as one of the faces of MAC's Viva Glam campaign.[17][18] She attended the 2019 Met Gala, and was the first drag queen to walk the red carpet.[19][20][21] In June 2019, Aquaria was one of 37 queens to be featured on the cover of New York Magazine.[22]

In 2019, Aquaria released her very own makeup palette in collaboration with NYX Cosmetics.[23]

In September 2019, at RuPaul's DragCon NYC, Aquaria was named as one of a rotating cast of a dozen Drag Race queens in RuPaul's Drag Race Live!, a Las Vegas show residency from January to August 2020 at the Flamingo Las Vegas.[24]

Aquaria performed as a part of Rihanna's Savage X Fenty Beauty Fashion Show during the Fall 2019 New York Fashion Week.[25]

Music

As part of the final challenge of season 10, Aquaria and the other top four contestants wrote and recorded their own verses for RuPaul's song "American." The song reached number 12 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart.[26] Aquaria was featured in the song "Looks" by Linux in 2016.[27] He released his debut single, "Burn Rubber", in June 2018. The song was written by Jesse Saint John.[28]

Personal life

Palandrani lives in Brooklyn, New York City.[29]

On July 3, 2018, singer Bebe Rexha criticized Aquaria and the other Drag Race top four queens over Twitter for supposed bad behavior toward her at the VH1 Trailblazer Honors, such as not talking to her and being "cold". Aquaria responded with a series of tweets defending herself and her fellow queens.[30][31]

In May 2018, she criticized rapper Travis Scott for removing Amanda Lepore, a transgender woman, from the cover art of his 2018 album Astroworld.[32]

Discography

As lead artist
Title Year
"Burn Rubber" 2018
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
US
Dance
Digital
[33]
"Looks"

(Linux featuring Aquaria)

 2016 — Non-album singles
"Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical"

(RuPaul featuring the Cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Season 10)

 2018 —
"American"

(RuPaul featuring the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race, season 10

 23
"Rim"

(Brooke Candy featuring Violet Chachki and Aquaria)

 2019 — Sexorcism

Filmography

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2018 Real Housewives of New York City (Season 10) Herself Season 10, episode 2: "Running Your Mouth"
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race (season 10) Herself Contestant (winner)
2018 RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked (season 10) Herself

Music videos
Year Title Artist(s) Ref.
2020 "Malibu" (At Home Edition) Kim Petras [34]
2020 "Always" Waze & Odyssey [35]
2020 "Cum" Brooke Candy ft. Iggy Azalea [36]

Internet series
Year Title Role Notes
2018 M.U.G.[37] Herself Guest (with host Naomi Smalls)
2018 Queens of Kings[38] Self (in and out of drag) Subject of one episode
2019 Portrait of a Queen[39] Herself Guest
2019 Fashion Photo RuView Herself Judging Season 11 runway looks (with Raja)
2019 Drag Queens React[40] Herself Episode: "Giving Birth"
2019 On/Off[41] Herself Filmed and assisted by Jordan Stawecki
2020 Werq The World[42] Herself Featured queen

Awards and nominations
Year Award Ceremony Category Work Results Ref.
2018 People's Choice Awards Competition Contestant Herself Nominated [43]
2020 Shorty Awards Best in Fashion Herself Won [44]

See also

References
  1. "The Unauthorized Rusical". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 10. Episode 8. 2018-05-10. Event occurs at 8:22. VH1. Retrieved 2018-07-03. My name's Aquaria and my birthday is February 12, 1996.
  2. Dommu, Rose (2018-04-05). "Aquaria: The Unreal Housewife of New York". Paper. Retrieved 2018-06-08.
  3. The Editors (June 10, 2019). "The Most Powerful Drag Queens in America: Ranking the new establishment". New York. Archived from the original on June 10, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
  4. "West Chester-born drag queen Aquaria makes it to 'RuPaul's Drag Race' finale". Philly.com. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  5. Katz, Evan Ross (2018-01-16). "It's the age of Aquaria — and we're just along for the ride". Mic.
  6. Cuby, Michael (2018-04-05). "Aquaria Doesn't Need Drag Race To Become a Superstar". them. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  7. Lorusso, Billy (2018-02-08). "The 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 10 Cast Will Be A Doozy If These Queens Are In The Running". Bustle. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  8. "'RuPaul's Drag Race' queens share their beauty secrets". New York Post. 2018-06-02. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  9. "Yes. It's me… Susanne Bartsch - Vogue.it" (in Italian). Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  10. "'RuPaul's Drag Race': 5 Memorable Moments From Season 10 Finale". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  11. Baggs, Michael (2018-06-25). "Drag Race: Who should win season 10?". BBC News. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  12. "30 Viacom Shows and Movies Up for People's Choice Awards: Vote Through October 19". Viacom Corporate. 2018-09-26. Archived from the original on 2018-10-02. Retrieved 2018-10-02.
  13. "Aquaria on Instagram: "🎙 Aquaria as Mina 🎙 🎶 For @vogueitalia October 2018 issue 📸 Photographer @michaelbaileygates 🧥 Fashion Editor: Brian Molloy @brian__molloy…"". Instagram. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  14. "Aquaria of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' modeling for Moschino x H&M". Page Six. 2018-10-11. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  15. "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10 Winner Aquaria is Turning Looks Like You've Never Seen in These Stunning New Spreads". VH1 News. Retrieved 2018-10-13.
  16. "EXCLUSIVE: Aquaria Signed to IMG, Named New Entertainment Editor of Dazed Magazine". WWD. 2018-10-15. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  17. "Aquaria and Troye Sivan Are the Faces of MAC's Viva Glam Campaign". www.out.com. 2019-05-01. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  18. Nast, Condé. "Troye Sivan and Aquaria Star in M.A.C.'s New Viva Glam Campaign". Allure. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  19. "Aquaria's Met Gala Look Could Kill You Three Ways". www.out.com. 2019-05-06. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  20. Levesley, David. "This year marked the first time drag queens attended the Met Gala". British GQ. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  21. "Aquaria Made History by Being the First Drag Queen to Walk the Met Gala Red Carpet | NewNowNext". www.newnownext.com. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  22. "On The Cover: The Most Powerful Drag Queens In America".
  23. Stiefvater, Sarah (29 May 2013). "Drag Queens Are Taking Over the Makeup Industry (and Honestly, It's About Damn Time)". PureWow. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  24. Ramos, Dino-Ray (September 7, 2019). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Sets Live Show In Las Vegas". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  25. Schmidt, Ingrid (11 September 2019). "NYFW: Rihanna's Savage x Fenty Fashion Performance Delivers "a New Type of Sexy"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  26. Youtt, Henry (2018-07-11). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Queens Who Landed Entries on the Billboard Charts". Billboard. Lynne Segall. Archived from the original on 2018-07-18. Retrieved 2018-07-23.
  27. Aquaria - Topic (2016-03-31), Looks (feat. Aquaria), retrieved 2018-07-04
  28. "Aquaria Gears Up for Another Tight Race in Debut Single 'Burn Rubber'". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  29. "'RuPaul's Drag Race': Which queen will win Season 10? Who should?". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-06-29.
  30. "Bebe Rexha Spars Online With 'Drag Race' Winner Aquaria Over Behavior at VH1's Trailblazer Honors". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  31. "INTO: A Digital Magazine For The Modern Queer World". intomore.com. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  32. "Aquaria Calls Travis Scott's Apology For Removing Trans Model From 'Astroworld' Art 'An Apologist Mad Lib'". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-08-10.
  33. "Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales - June 30, 2018". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  34. Kim Petras (May 11, 2020), Malibu – Kim Petras (At Home Edition), retrieved May 11, 2020
  35. George Michael (May 21, 2020), Always (Drag Stars Official Video), retrieved May 21, 2020
  36. Rude, Mey (December 23, 2020). "Aquaria, Francois Sagat Bring The Sex in Brooke Candy's Music Video". Out.com. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
  37. "Aquaria's MUG: M.U.G. 209". M.U.G. Season 2. Episode 9. 2018-08-18. WOW Presents Plus. Retrieved 2018-08-19.
  38. Garner, Glenn (2018-09-05). "Exclusive: An Intimate Look at Aquaria in Queens of Kings Teaser". Out. Joe Landry. Archived from the original on 2018-09-15. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
  39. Aquaria Rising: Portrait of a Queen | Logo TV. Logo. July 10, 2019. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  40. DRAG QUEENS REACT: Giving Birth w/ Aquaria, Derrick, Nebraska, Jade, Sonique, Kimora, & Nicole. WOWPresents. March 25, 2019. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  41. AQUARIA: ON/OFF ep. 1. Giovanni Palandrani. October 25, 2019. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  42. Dino-Ray Ramos (May 19, 2020). "World Of Wonder Sets U.S. Premiere Dates For 'How's Your Head, Hun?', 'Canada's Drag Race' And Return Of 'Werq The World'". Deadline.com. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  43. Ramos, Dino-Ray (5 September 2018). "People's Choice Awards Unveils New Categories; Opens Nomination Voting". Deadline. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  44. Nguyen, Nikki (May 4, 2020). "Aquaria and Jasmine Masters Win at the Shorty Awards". WorldOfWonder.net. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
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