My Pride Anthems: Crystal Methyd

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and that includes how we’re all celebrating Pride in 2020.

With huge public gatherings out of the question, we’re asking a range of LGBTQ celebrities and allies for their personal Pride anthems, to help us all get into the Pride spirit from lockdown.

Sharing her own weird and wonderful playlist in today’s My Pride Anthems it’s RuPaul’s Drag Race favourite Crystal Methyd.

Crystal made it all the way to the final of this year’s season of Drag Race, and is now at home in Misourri where she’s been, in her words, “busy as ever” and “trying to recover from my loss of $100,000″.

These are the song she’s picked as her must-listens for Pride month...

Ezra Furman – Maraschino-Red Dress $8.99 At Goodwill

“Ezra Furman is one of my favourite artists. They’re just like an openly queer person with fun style, and an amazing stage presence. They came to [Springfield, Misourri] and I got to meet them, and I just fell in love.

“This song is just… it says it right in the title, a red dress that’s $8.99 at Goodwill, which is something I’m very passionate about. I love literally all of their music, I find myself performing a lot of Ezra Furman. But I thought this song would be good for people who haven’t heard of them before.”

Pabllo Vittar and Charli XCX – Flash Pose

“Pabllo Vitar is a Brazilian drag phenomenon. I think she’s totally stunning, she’s kind of what I think I look like when I’m in drag.

“And I think it’s kind of cool that this song is totally in English because she talked about how she was touring in the United States and Canada, and her fans were trying to learn Portuguese so they could tell her how much they loved her. So she did this song in English to just show her English-speaking fans she loves them back. And I think spreading love is what all artists want to do.”

Of Montreal – It’s Different For Girls

“I don’t think that this song is necessarily a Pride anthem, and when it was written, it wasn’t really supposed to be a feminist anthem either. But this is one of the songs that I like to perform, maybe when we get on the road I’ll be able to do it on tour.

“I just think it’s a silly approach to how men see women, and even Kevin Barnes, who wrote it, he said he got negative feedback from his own family about this song. And I think if you’re not getting negative feedback then you’re doing something wrong. And that’s definitely the case for drag.”

Kiddy Smile – Let A B!tch Know

“This song is just about being queer and giving zero fucks. The video is so fun, too, it features a bunch of queer and trans people being sickening.

“And a fun fact is that Kiddy Smile is friends with my season 12 sister Nicky Doll. Literally, when I found out she was his friend I was just like ‘oh my god I have his vinyl!’.”

El DeBarge – Rhythm Of The Night

“I had no idea who El DeBarge was before Drag Race. And I still probably don’t know as much as RuPaul would want me to. I think this is a song that’s going to follow me around now, and I’m OK with it. RuPaul giving you a theme song is the highest honour.

“And the first time I heard it played on the show, I was like ‘oh my god, they actually bought the rights to this song!’. I could not believe it.”

The Cast Of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12 – I Made It/Mirror Song/Losing Is The New Winning

“This is seven minutes and 49 seconds of pure ecstasy, I would say. The lyrics really speak to me – I can relate to losing.

“The weird thing is, it was kind of hard for me to put together a list of songs because... I feel weird when I say this and sometimes people get angry at me, but I’m not like a music-listener. Growing up, I never really listened to music, my family… I don’t know, we just didn’t do that. So now, whenever I find something that really speaks to me, I’m like, oh yeah, this is it.

“I’m very visual, and so the music part, I sometimes need a little help with.”

Crystal Methyd will be touring the UK and Ireland throughout November. Her tour with Klub Kids begins in Edinburgh on 5 November.