Queen Of The Universe, organized by Graham Norton, is a singing competition where all participants are transgender people. The London-based competition attracts some of the best singing queens worldwide. And in a genre where multiple artists align their lips. A queen who is with a great voice is quite a rarity for this show to celebrate.
Norton included the judges’ “Diva Pop Panel”:
Vanessa Williams, Leona Lewis, RuPaul Drag Race winner Trixie Mattel and Drag Race judge Michelle Visage. The true winner of the race will actually receive an impressive $250,000.
We met the first seven queens: Betty Bitschlap from Copenhagen, Chy’enne Valentino from Chicago, Gingzilla from Australia, Greg Queen from Brazil, Leona Winter from Paris, Novaczar from New York and Woowu from Guangzhou, China. The circle’s theme is “It’s me,” where they dress and sing to reflect.
Who they believe to be as a person and performer. Queens are judged on what Norton calls WAP (not song). What they wear, their attitude towards the stars, and their appearance.
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All performers are presented in video clips and shown on stage before the show. His songs range from Woowu, who throws a playful glance at “Material Girl” in English and Cantonese, to Cheyenne Valentino. Who unfolds “Wrecking Ball”. Godzilla, full of natural beard, snarled “Man”; Betty Bicshlap sang “Dance Monkey”, Greg Queen sang “Rehab”, Novascar sang “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman”. And Leona Winter almost destroyed the house with “Non, je ne reue rien”.
Even though drag queens and their fancy outfits. Makeup and showmanship are the focus of Queens Of The Universe. And the first episode is quite pretty self-explanatory. The first seven candidates are depicted. Then they sang, and the jury then gave their opinion. It’s a format that we’ve seen a dozens of times over the last few decades. So the whole show depends on the quality of the entrants and panel of judges.
The jury fumbled his way further.
We know Williams has a lot of pure opinions on things, so we’re surprised at the compliments he’s generously given. Some may hide constructive criticism, but the most important is passion. Though a little sceptical about Woowu’s choice of songs, Lewis gushed and said he lives “mostly in the middle”.
Visage will be the most difficult, and after the warm-up, he makes quite a helpful critique of the competitors. She even joined in when Mattel spoke to suggest. That Novaczar should cut back on white eye makeup. By knowing the look is Mattel’s signature too. We knew Mattel would be a considerable relief; for example, she blushed slightly when touching Gingzilla’s chin. But his appearance and performance insight is necessary as he is the only slider on the panel.
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The singing talent of the first seven candidates was fantastic. Most of them managed to keep the melody and immediately showed their range. As with most singing competitions, belts are preferred over a smooth and understated voice. But we were impressed with nearly all of the voices. Including Gingzilla, who starts low and then manages to rise gently over the few high notes of the song. If most of it the first seven have been appeared on Idol or The Voice, they would have come a long way.
Queen Of The Universe is a straightforward singing competition. But the talent on display along with a lively panel of judges should make the competition fun.
