Pearl | |
|---|---|
 Pearl at RuPaul's DragCon LA in 2018 | |
| Born | Matthew James Lent September 11, 1990 St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S. |
| Other names | Pearl Liaison |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 2012–present |
Pearl, occasionally known as Pearl Liaison, is the stage name of American drag performer and record producer Matthew James Lent, [1] who came to international attention on the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race , finishing joint runner-up.
Lent grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida with his mother and two sisters. [2] He spent time drawing "rich old ladies with big diamond rings and furs" and female nudes, which eventually morphed into his drag persona. [3] [4] When first beginning her drag career, she was unable to afford anything besides "thrift store lingerie" and "cheap furs"; however, Pearl has stated that she cared more about her makeup and wigs than the quality of her outfits, and that the aesthetics of what she previously illustrated translated easier with her cheaper wardrobe than "fashionable garments". [4]
After moving to Chicago, Lent began performing in drag in 2012, alongside Kim Chi and Trixie Mattel, using the stage name Pearl. [3] He first went out in public in drag while wearing a "she-devil" outfit for Halloween alongside Kim Chi. [4] He has described Pearl's persona as a "Stepford wife robot bitch". [5] Lent initially only planned to use drag as a hobby, but quickly began booking gigs at increasing frequency. He later moved to Brooklyn, New York. [3]
In December 2014, after a year and a half of performing in drag, Pearl was announced to be a participant on the seventh season of the Logo TV reality television series RuPaul's Drag Race . [6] [4] She had hired a friend of hers who had produced videos for other Drag Race queens, such as DiDa Ritz, to create her audition video, and received her acceptance call 3–4 weeks after moving to Brooklyn. [4] Despite a slow start to the competition, Pearl rebounded to win two main challenges and eventually became a finalist alongside fellow competitors Ginger Minj and Violet Chachki. [7] In the season finale, Violet Chachki was crowned the winner, leaving Pearl as the runner-up. [8] After the series, Pearl claimed that her lack of enthusiasm towards the show while appearing on it was due to an early negative comment towards her by RuPaul which was off-camera : “Nothing you say matters unless that cameras is rolling." As a result, she says she has not been invited back for an All Stars series. [9]
Pearl has been described as the drag mother of Scarlet Envy, who appeared on season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race . [10] Pearl denied this in an interview in July 2019, describing Scarlet as a good friend of hers. [11]
In mid-2019, she announced the possibility of moving to Hawaii to live with her boyfriend; however, as of 2023, she is located in Phoenix, Arizona. [4] [12]
On June 2, 2015, Lent released the album Pleasure , along with a music video for its first single, "Love Slave". [13] Unlike other albums released by Drag Race alumnae, Pleasure does not feature any vocals from Lent; he instead produced the entire album. The album charted at number eleven on the US Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart and number sixteen on the Heatseekers chart. [14]
On June 2, 2015, Lent announced the release of a fragrance, Flazéda, with perfume company Xyrena. [15] [16] In doing so, he became the first Drag Race alumnus member to release a scent. The fragrance started shipping on June 30, 2015. [16]
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Dance [17] | US Heat [18] | ||
| Pleasure |
| 11 | 16 |
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Love Slave" [20] (featuring Jaylee Maruk) | 2015 | Pleasure |
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Hey Booty" [21] [22] | 2015 | RuPaul, Miles Davis Moody | RuPaul Presents: CoverGurlz2 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | RuPaul's Drag Race | Herself (Contestant) | Season 7 - Runner-up | [23] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Untucked | Herself | Companion web series to RuPaul's Drag Race | [24] |
| Title | Year | Director | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Hey Booty" | 2015 | Matthew James Lent | [25] |
| "Love Slave" | 2015 | Michael Serrato | [26] |
| Title | Year | Director | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Bettie" (Violet Chachki) | 2015 | Michael Serrato | [27] |
| "Nerves of Steel" (Erasure) | 2020 | Brad Hammer | [28] |
Beauty Marked is the debut studio album by American drag queen Miss Fame, released on June 9, 2015, by Sidecar Records. Musically, the album is compiled of pop and dance music, with electronic elements, and features appearances from fellow Drag Race contestants, All Stars season two winner Alaska Thunderfuck, and season seven winner Violet Chachki.
Justin Andrew Honard, best known by the stage name Alaska Thunderfuck 5000 or mononymously as Alaska, is an American drag queen and singer from Erie, Pennsylvania. She is best known as the runner-up on the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the winner of the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
Bianca Castro, commonly known as Jiggly Caliente, is a Filipino-American drag performer, singer, and actress best known for competing on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, for judging Drag Race Philippines, and for her recurring role as Veronica Ferocity on the FX series Pose. She released her debut album, T.H.O.T. Process on March 9, 2018. In 2020, she co-hosted Translation, the first talk show on a major network hosted by an all-trans cast.
Miss Fame is the stage name of Kurtis Frank Dam-Mikkelsen, a gender fluid American model, makeup artist, drag queen, recording artist and reality television personality best known as a contestant on season 7 of RuPaul's Drag Race. After appearing on the show, Dam-Mikkelsen as Miss Fame launched a music career, releasing their debut single, "Rubber Doll" on April 28, 2015. Their debut album, Beauty Marked, was released on June 9, 2015. Miss Fame appeared in numerous fashion publications.
The seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race began airing on March 2, 2015. RuPaul and Michelle Visage returned as judges, while the space previously occupied by Santino Rice was filled by new additions Ross Mathews and Carson Kressley. Matthews and Kressley were only both present for the season premiere and took turns sharing judging responsibilities. Shawn Morales, a member of the Pit Crew since the third season and Simon Sherry-Wood, a member in the sixth season, did not appear this season and were replaced by Bryce Eilenberg. Like the previous two seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race, the season featured 14 contestants competing for the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar", a one-year supply of Anastasia Beverly Hills cosmetics and a cash prize of 100,000 dollars. The season premiere debuted with a live and same-day viewership of 350,000, a 20% increase from the previous season. On March 20, 2015, it was announced that LogoTV had given the series an early renewal for an eighth season.
Joshua Allen Eads, better known by the stage name Ginger Minj, is an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, and reality television personality. After achieving recognition for placing as the runner-up on the seventh season of the reality television competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, Minj returned to compete on the second and sixth seasons of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Minj has acted in three Netflix productions—the comedy feature film Dumplin' (2018), the animated series Super Drags, and RuPaul's fictional series AJ and the Queen, and has acted in numerous theatrical productions. Minj appeared in the 2022 film Hocus Pocus 2, the sequel to Hocus Pocus. Minj has released three studio albums—Sweet T (2016), Gummy Bear (2021), and Double Wide Diva (2021).
Violet Chachki is the stage name of Paul Jason Dardo, an American drag queen, burlesque/aerial performer, content creator, model, and recording artist best known for winning the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Violet Chachki is genderfluid and uses she/her and they/them pronouns.
Brian Joseph McCook, known by his drag persona Yekaterina Petrovna Zamolodchikova, or mononymously as Katya, is an American drag queen, actor, author, recording artist, and comedian. Katya is best known for placing fifth on the seventh season of RuPaul’s Drag Race and placing as a runner-up on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, as well as for appearing in the World of Wonder web series UNHhhh and the Viceland series The Trixie & Katya Show with co-host and fellow season 7 alum Trixie Mattel. Trixie and Katya often appear together as a popular comedy duo.
Pleasure is the debut studio album by American drag queen Matthew Lent, released under his character pseudonym Pearl. The album was released on June 2, 2015, through Sidecar Records. As opposed to other albums released by RuPaul's Drag Race alumni, Lent provides little-to-no vocals for the project, and instead produced the entire album.
Naomi Smalls is the stage name of Davis M. Heppenstall, an American drag queen and reality television personality, best known as one of the runners-up on the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race as well as RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 4.
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Kade Gottlieb, better known as Gottmik, is an American drag performer and make-up artist. Gottmik was the first trans man to compete on RuPaul's Drag Race, coming in shared 3rd/4th place on the thirteenth season with fellow contestant Rosé. Gottmik later returned to compete in the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Gottmik co-hosts the podcast No Gorge alongside Violet Chachki.
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