- Hello, everybody, it's Michelle Visage
and welcome back to another episode of Whatcha Packin'.
(dance music)
- And we are here with Brita!
- Yas!
I'm so happy to be here.
- Hi, Brita!
- Hi!
- So how are you?
- I'm great, I'm great, I'm good.
I've taken some time off, refocus, rethought,
was a little depressed in the beginning,
but now I'm good, I'm good,
I'm coming back to my normal self.
- You actually shouldn't be depressed
because I think you did a really good job.
I think the one thing, about you that people love
and people are drawn to is your joy,
you're just a joy to be around.
Where do you get that from?
What do you think that is?
- I think it's just wanting to be happy.
The reason that I love drag is
'cause I love bringing joy to other people.
Like, sometimes people are having a crappy day
and you can come to my show for two hours
and like, forget about the nonsense that's happening in
the outside world, and, like, laugh for two hours,
and just be joyful and get a little drunk
with your friends, so, I love bringing people joy,
so that's why I like this.
- Are you ever in a bad mood, are you ever pissed off?
- Oh all the time.
(laughing)
- You should have seen me when I got eliminated,
my mother was like, "What's wrong with you, fix it!"
(laughing)
- So you were raised in Arizona.
- Yeah, born and raised in Arizona.
- And when did you move to New York City?
- And then I moved to New York City,
it'll be 12 years this year, yeah.
- And why did you choose New York being a west coast kid?
- Well, I originally gonna move to LA,
and then I went to school for musical theater
and New York is like, my place,
I knew that was the place for me and I haven't left.
- I wanna know who taught you, because one thing I told you
from day one, consistent with you, is your undergarments,
your body padding and your foundation.
- Yeah.
- Who taught you how to type your body
and figure out how to do it?
- I have an incredible designer, Domino Couture,
made me a custom corset that goes over my pads,
so that it doesn't crush them
and it really cinches my waist in.
- I don't think kids know how important
the foundation garments are.
- Listen, when I got this corset, I was like, oh my god!
- What you do is really, actually one of
the best I've seen in a very long time.
I think Jinx has it down to a science.
There's certain queens that really
just get their bodies with the foundation garments
and every time you came out there was not a lump,
there was nothing out of place, that's a skill.
- Thank you, yeah.
- And kids could learn from you,
whoever you learned from taught you really, really well.
And you also have this beautiful,
as you sit here in this form, beautiful big face and
with that big face you can wear a ton of makeup.
- Yeah, right, a big old canvas.
- And you wear it well.
- Thank you, thank you, thank--
That means so much coming from you.
- No, it's true and I complemented you
on the show about it.
You know the show goes as it is,
it's challenge by challenge.
- Yeah.
- I think you were loved and I think you did a great job.
Yes, you left too early, but was your experience good?
- Yeah it was good, I mean, looking back on it there is--
I was in the bottom a lot, a lot.
Like I think almost every time, I was safe once
and I was in the bottom every single time.
I had to lip sync three times, everyone is so good.
- It's a tough season.
- Everyone is so good.
And then you know, if you wanna be
the best you might as well compete with the best.
The only thing I regret is my Snatch Game,
Jennifer Holliday, I love her so much
and I wanted to do it justice.
And I didn't want to offend anyone
or her just 'cause I love her,
so that's the one thing that I would have done,
but I had a great time.
- It's just so funny how much you look
like Jennifer Hudson in drag.
- Yeah, yeah-yeah.
- But, again, both of them are not easy to do.
- And then I just got nervous,
I was in my head and I was like (gasps),
what do I do, what do I do?
- It's scary, it's scary, Brita.
- Yeah. - You're not alone.
- Let's talk about your fashion.
- Whoo!
- So this one, is this part of your Tongan heritage?
- Yes, I really wanted to bring something,
an issue was gonna be like my signature drag,
I wanted to represent Tonga and the Polynesian Islands,
so a designer friend, Theodore, made this gorgeous,
gorgeous number, it looks so good on,
I feel like Anna in the King and I when I put it on.
(laughter)
- The Polynesian.
- "Shall we dance?" - Yeah, right.
(laughs)
- That's gorgeous and this one in the middle.
This is by the way, even on the mannequin,
I can tell this is structured for Brita's body.
- Oh, yeah, 100%, Domino who made my corset,
designed this and it's absolutely stunning,
literally finished it right before I had to get
on the plane, like worked on it so hard.
I wanted it to look like a waterfall,
- It looks like a waterfall.
- And it looks like a waterfall.
And so it's one of my favorites, I can't wait to wear it,
I haven't really worn it yet, I put it on without a face.
- Well the good thing is because you haven't worn these,
these are all new, these are all spectacle pieces.
Like this purple one behind me, is intense.
- Isn't it insane?
It is insane, did Domino do that one as well?
- No, this was Casey Caldwell,
and Sick, Kiss Designs, who did the latex on it,
I'm really obsessed with Gak as a child.
- Oh my god like the...
- Yeah, yeah, that putty stuff.
I was like I wanna be like a couture Gak piece
and so I found these two designers
that collaborated to make this insane,
ruffle, like who needs sequins when you have latex?
- This sounds like a really stupid question
'cause I travel with the Queens all the time,
but how do you transport, like do you get nervous
when you transport these pieces?
- All the time. - Yeah!
- I have such bad anxiety about it, but--
- I totally would.
- Right, coming to Drag Race, they only give you
a certain amount to pack and
listen, Mama found her way around it,
I was like I'm gonna bring a box which is one pound,
as opposed to a nine pound suitcase
and just shove them in there.
- And you get there and they're all fine and there not--
- Yeah, they're fine, they're fine, they need some love
when they get out of the box, I mean I was worried
about neoprene 'cause it can fold and crease
but it turned out fine.
- Neoprene is kind of the new fabric of choice for Queens.
The only thing about neoprene, for me,
is I feel that it's bulky so sometimes,
I'm not a petite girl, so sometimes I can feel a bit--,
and if it's not skintight it gets
a little (blows raspberry).
But it seems to be the fabric of choice at the moment.
- Yeah, it holds a damn good ruffle.
- It sure does.
- What do you wanna do next, Brita,
now that you've conquered the world of RuPaul's Drag Race?
- You know, I really wanna tour,
I really wanna create amazing nightlife events
all over the place.
My idea is that I wanted to be the like
the pure version of Brita during the day
and do like a children's musical with drag,
like once upon a drag, I used to do it in New York City.
And then at night show you like the anything
but pure version of that and do an adult show.
- Yeah.
- And have it be like a nightlife spectacle
and like a theatrical experience around you
with like dancers and popup shows and--
- Then you need to do your one woman show.
- Absolutely.
- That's what you should be writing, right now, Brita.
- Yes, yes, yes, I wanna have dancers,
I wanna do a little Broadway show.
- Good, you should, that's what it's all about.
I just wanted to say that you were fantastic,
you were a joy to be around honestly,
every time you came out, I knew that you would have
the best attitude, when I gave you critiques,
you weren't defensive, you understood
that what we were trying to say was
to help you in any way that we could,
whether you listened to them or not.
I think your one was fantastic,
I know the world loves you, you really are a sweetheart,
so no matter what happens with this journey through
the next few years when you're making all that coin,
save your money, pay your taxes
and never, never veer from who you are.
You were raised well, your parents did a wonderful job
'cause you are a lovely, lovely person.
- Oh thank you.
- And a fabulous Queen.
And it's been my pleasure getting to watch you
and you were wonderful to critique,
to judge and just to sit there and be entertained by.
- Thank you.
- So I can't wait to come to New York City and see you!
- Yah, Michelle, that means so much!
- It's true, how do we find you one social medias?
- You can find me on all social media @thebritafilter.
- I never thought about that.
- Yeah, right.
- Fantastic.
(laughing)
- Thank you, Brita!
- Thank you so much.
- All right, thank you guys for sticking around,
we'll see you next time on Whatcha Packin'.
Bye!
(dance music)