Synthia: I'm Synthia Kiss, and you're watching Xtra Magazine's
Synthia: After the Sashay.
Russ: Hey squirrel, friends, I'm Xtra contributor Russ Martin,
Russ: and this is After the Sashay, our weekly
Russ: kiki with the most recently eliminated contestant from
Russ: Canada's Drag Race. Now let's get into it. On this week's episode, y'all
Russ: had a really wonderful conversation that modeled
Russ: pronouns and how we should talk about them.
Russ: So in the spirit of that, I'm Russ, my pronouns are he/him
Russ: and I'm also comfortable with they.
Russ: What about you?
Synthia: So out of drag, I'm he/him.
Synthia: When I'm Cynthia, I'm she/her.
Russ: Fantastic, thank you. What was it like to be part of that
Russ: conversation? What did you take away from it?
Synthia: So beautiful.
Synthia: I feel like it's so classic that
Synthia: drag queens crusade and have those courageous
Synthia: conversations.
Synthia: You know, what I love about Kimora is she doesn't
Synthia: hold back. You know, she's like, I don't know.
Synthia: It confuses me. Like, Let's break it down.
Synthia: I think there is a strength in asking questions.
Synthia: And, you know, we're always evolving.
Synthia: My sound bite talking about how we update technology
Synthia: on this monthly basis.
Synthia: I think that really resonated with the audience because
Synthia: it's true. If we're going to quickly adapt, you know,
Synthia: all of our apps and software, we can update
Synthia: ourselves, you know, as humans, we can adapt as well.
Synthia: It's no longer an excuse to say, Well, back in my
Synthia: day, we didn't talk like that.
Synthia: It's like, well, it isn't that day anymore.
Synthia: And you know, there's a spot at the table for everybody.
Synthia: And you know, when you meet someone
Synthia: just like you asked me about my pronouns, that's
Synthia: a beautiful catalyst to get to know someone.
Russ: Now, speaking of Kimora, Kimora called you Hurricane
Russ: Synthia, but safe to say that you are officially a lipstick
Russ: assassin. Are you comfortable with that legacy?
Synthia: I am comfortable with that legacy.
Synthia: Yes. Yes, indeed.
Synthia: The only girl who can send me home is Kendall's right
Synthia: breast popping out during the lip sync.
Russ: You're very close friends with Kendall.
Russ: How was it different lip syncing against Kendall versus the
Russ: other contestants that you had previously lip synced
Russ: against?
Synthia: It was tricky. You're right.
Synthia: You're touching on a really good point.
Synthia: I knew how capable she is as a performer.
Synthia: She's fantastic. She can perform, you
Synthia: know, the house down boots when it comes to a Beyonce
Synthia: number.
Synthia: And at that point, it was my third lip sync.
Synthia: I almost kind of ran out of my hat tricks.
Synthia: Do you know what I mean? I was like, oh shoot, I already
Synthia: did the pinwheel, I already did the cartwheel.
Synthia: I was like, what more
Synthia: do I have to do? Like, I think I need to make
Synthia: some new, new party tricks.
Synthia: I want to learn how to do like a backflip or something, or
Synthia: maybe the splits.
Russ: You showed up today in your quote unquote "ugly look."
Synthia: Aren't I disgusting?
Russ: Did you really think that that short wig would make you
Russ: look ugly?
Synthia: This was one of those designs that just like, it just gets
Synthia: out of hand. Like, do you ever have a project where it
Synthia: starts one place and it goes somewhere completely
Synthia: different? You build what you build for the show so
Synthia: quickly that for us, we kind of,
Synthia: we're just like throwing it together.
Synthia: My wig stylist did such a beautiful job
Synthia: styling all of my wigs that I didn't
Synthia: open them. He packaged them for the show, essentially
Synthia: for the travel. So I actually was unveiling them to myself
Synthia: when I got on set, putting them on my head and then walking
Synthia: on the runway. So there was certain moments that I
Synthia: didn't actually see, like the full full full concept
Synthia: until you were about to walk out.
Synthia: And that was one of those moments where I really should
Synthia: have like, maybe in the moment I don't know, like,
Synthia: not even worn a wig or like, or really try to like,
Synthia: mess it up or like switch looks.
Synthia: When I got back from the show, my boyfriend was like, Why
Synthia: don't you wear your clown look for ugliest sin, and
Synthia: this for the circus look?
Synthia: And I was like, That is actually really clever.
Synthia: I'm really mad I didn't think that in the Thunderdome,
Synthia: because we could be, you know, I could have been talking to
Synthia: you later in the season, Russ.
Russ: I've got a fun question that I'm asking each contestant: I
Russ: want to know about the most famous person in your DMs and
Russ: a little bit about your interaction.
Synthia: Oh my goodness.
Synthia: Jeanne Beker, when she saw my runway after
Synthia: the Made in Canada week, she reached out.
Synthia: She's been retweeting, she's been posting.
Synthia: She is just so cool and I owe a
Synthia: career in fashion because of her.
Synthia: So if there's anyone who's going to reach out like Jeanne
Synthia: freakin' Deker. Like to me, I just think that's so cool.
Russ: Stephanie earlier in the season called the Brat Pack a
Russ: group of narcissists.
Russ: Are you mean girls?
Synthia: I'm not.
Synthia: I am fun.
Synthia: I may look like a mean girl.
Synthia: This is my thing.
Synthia: You might look at me at first glance and be like, Oh, she's
Synthia: going to be really bitchy full of herself.
Synthia: But the minute I'm actually in the room and getting to
Synthia: connect, like I erase all
Synthia: of that stigma. Like, I think for me, the biggest
Synthia: compliment at the end of the season was everyone being
Synthia: like, You know what, Synthia?
Synthia: I thought you were going to be a bitch and you weren't.
Synthia: You're actually very sweet.
Synthia: It's like, I let my beauty kind of like, get
Synthia: me into the door, let me have these opportunities, but
Synthia: my professionalism, my lighthearted nature, that
Synthia: gets the call back, that gets the next gig.
Russ: Your clown character that we saw on the show was based on
Russ: Loonette from Big Comfy Couch.
Russ: Is it time that we get her on the show as a guest judge?
Synthia: I mean, yes.
Synthia: I honestly, I think that'd be amazing.
Synthia: That was really my inspo for my costume in that
Synthia: Rusical. And when people were clocking the comparison, it
Synthia: was like, Yes, you got it!
Synthia: It was definitely Loonette vibes!
Synthia: Loonette vibes all the way.
Russ: Yeah, I think it would be absolutely iconic.
Russ: Now on your website, it says that you were raised by a
Russ: family of powerful women and gay men.
Russ: Did you have your birth family?
Russ: Do you have queers in your fam?
Synthia: Oh my god, Russ.
Synthia: We're all queer. I feel like it's simpler for me to tell
Synthia: you of my siblings and cousins who's not.
Synthia: I have a gay brother, I have queer cousins,
Synthia: my father's gay, like we talk about on the show,
Synthia: and everyone else who's female is like strong,
Synthia: fierce and powerful.
Synthia: So it's just, it was a lot of big personalities growing up.
Synthia: So for me, that's really the formative years of my life.
Synthia: Quick wit, my confidence, but also just
Synthia: my deep and mad adoration
Synthia: for women, like I literally just like, am obsessed
Synthia: with powerful women. And in pop culture, it's like
Synthia: a Tina Fey, like Amy Poehler, Julia Louis-Dreyfus,
Synthia: like beautiful and funny to me, is like
Synthia: the magic combination.
Synthia: And that's Synthia Kiss.
Russ: You and your partner created all of your looks for Drag
Russ: Race together.
Synthia: For better or for worse!
Russ: What was it like being in the pressure cooker with them getting
Russ: ready for the show?
Synthia: I actually met my partner through work.
Synthia: He's a designer as well, so we thrive when
Synthia: we have a project together, like I was funemployed during
Synthia: the pandemic for like way too long.
Synthia: Like, there was a point there where he's like, Girl, you
Synthia: need to do something, like get yourself project because
Synthia: you're like driving me crazy.
Synthia: And so when I got the call, it actually
Synthia: was a really beautiful moment where we got to kind
Synthia: of put our game face on, have a real
Synthia: big project to focus on.
Synthia: It was, you know, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Synthia: So for us, it was actually really incredible.
Synthia: It almost reminded us of when we first met,
Synthia: like our dynamic when we were on a design team together.
Synthia: So that was really beautiful.
Russ: Oh, I love it.
Russ: You have an amazing singing voice.
Russ: Do you have any music projects in the works?
Synthia: It's gotta happen. Honestly.
Synthia: My name is Synthia, like inspired by synthesizers.
Synthia: You know there's going to be some just like beautiful,
Synthia: complex production.
Synthia: Something is definitely going to come out.
Synthia: It's in the works.
Russ: Wonderful. Well, I can't wait to hear it.
Russ: Thank you so much for joining us today, Synthia, and thank
Russ: you. I can't wait to see you on tour.
Synthia: Oh, see you there!
Synthia: Muah! Thanks for watching Xtra Magazine's After the Sashay.
Synthia: And you can follow me on Instagram @synthiakiss
Synthia: and Tik Tok on synthia_kiss.