The winds of Nymphia continue to blow far and wide! Fresh off of being crowned the season 16 champ of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind — the first East Asian queen to win — had a grand homecoming. Last week Nymphia performed at the Taiwanese presidential office in Taipei City, at the personal request of outgoing President Tsai Ing-Wen. Nymphia performed three songs (two Taiwanese, and Lady Gaga’s “Marry the Night”), brought along her fellow sisters from the House of Wind, and made a heartfelt speech. The whole thing has me feeling very verklempt!
An invitation from the president: The latest winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race — who was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Taiwan — traveled to the Asian nation last week to perform for President Tsai Ing-Wen. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, as Wind was crowned just weeks before Tsai left office after serving two terms. “Her team reached out a few days after I had won Drag Race and they had extended an invite for me to meet the President,” Nymphia told PEOPLE exclusively. “I’m still in disbelief and truly speechless. This goes beyond anything I could have imagined or thought was achievable.”
Nymphia on her song choices: Nymphia performed a three-song set for President Tsai and her cabinet. Each lip sync routine had a special meaning. She opened with “Chase Chase Chase” by Taiwan pop star Huang Fei. “It was a really good opener to get the vibes going and a song that I love doing,” Nympia explained. She followed with “Marry the Night” by Lady Gaga. “This song to me represents the fight for oneself, a battle to live free, it’s inspiring and motivational,” Nymphia said. “I wanted to bring that kind of energy into the presidential hall … in a way shake things up because it can be serious in such an establishment.”
The third song was especially meaningful: For the last number — set to “Wxmanly” by Jolin Tsai, another Taiwanese artist — Nymphia was joined by other performers from the House of Wind, all decked out in different colors of the rainbow. “This song is singing about a primary school student who was bullied to death on April 20, 2000, and this sparked the conversation of LGBTQ rights in Taiwan,” Nymphia explained. “When I won the crown, it was 4/20 Taiwan time. Which kinda is this full circle moment that symbolizes the growth Taiwan has gone through. So we decided to use this song as a thank you gift to President Tsai for what she has contributed in the movement towards equality.”
President Tsai is an ally: Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have championed LGBTQ+ and legalized same-sex marriage in 2019, a first for any Asian nation, per Reuters. Following the performance Nymphia and President Tsai chatted. “This is probably the first presidential office in the world to host a drag show,” Nymphia told Tsai. “Thank you for your contributions to this country, so that I could grow up to be like this today,” she added, tearing up. “Thank you for your eight years of dedication, becoming our Taiwan mother.” … During the visit, Tsai told Nymphia “Shantay, you stay” and the other attendees, “if you can’t love yourself, how you gonna love somebody else?” — two catchphrases said by RuPaul on Drag Race.
The significance behind what Nymphia wore: For the occasion, Nymphia wore her signature color yellow, but her outfit’s floral design also had a special meaning. “I wanted to meet the president in something that was representative of Taiwan, so the look is inspired by the Taiwanese yellow water lily. Like the lotus, it blooms from mud, which is a metaphor for how as a female president fighting for gay rights, going against the grain, she persisted and succeeded,” Nymphia explained.
Nymphia posted a great video of clips from the event on her Instagram. I’m telling you, hearing President Tsai say Mama Ru’s classic “Shantay, you stay,” was nothing short of life-affirming. How do we get Biden to say it? We need to hear the American president say “Shantay, you stay!” Until then, I will be imagining Biden standing in front of a mirror each morning and reciting it to himself as a pep talk. And side note: those orchids in the Taiwanese president’s office are so stunning and dramatic! Can we get some set up at the White House, please? I think it would be a welcome addition.
What a wonderful moment for Nymphia, and how lovely that she brought her sisters with her to share in the once-in-a-lifetime experience. Dang, Nymphia has now met Dr. Jane Goodall (over Zoom but it still counts!), the president of Taiwan, and she’s put Marina Abramovic on alert that she’s game for a collaboration. What will we see next from Nymphia? Only time and the passing winds will tell…
And now I want boob cannons for myself. Or are those boob space lasers?
Sorry, ex-president Tsai is a b*tt-licker of the orange45 ever since he won the election in 2016 & also closed to the GOP. She is a politician through & through, and an user. She is using our Taiwanese LGBTQ community. Do not think she has done good things for my country & country’s future, she did not. A fake democracy person in truth an authoritarian.
Still like Nymphia. Wish her brighter future ahead.
Thanks for educating – I didn’t know that.
I’m Taiwanese-Australian, born in Taiwan and raise in Australia. Spent lots of holidays in Taiwan and visit every few years. I keep up with the news. Everything I write in this comment is factually verifiable.
Tsai Ing-wen is no authoritarian. She’s an LSE-educated lawyer and her party, the DPP, basically led the efforts to make same-sex marriage legal (2019) in Taiwan. It’s Taiwan’s leading social democratic party (with left and centre-left factions) the biggest pro-independence party, however, and the most successful one, so often attracts vitriol from pro-KMT supporters, who typically want unification with China. The KMT is the same party that kept Taiwan under martial law for 38 years (look up the history of the KMT including the White Terror). The DPP continues to lead in Taiwan with Lai Ching-te being inaugurated earlier this week.
You’ll find all the Taiwanese politicians will go out of their way to support whoever is POTUS and just about any US politician who supports Taiwan, because the US is Taiwan’s most important ally (check out the US’s Taiwan Relations Act), especially in obtaining arms to defend itself against aggressors like the PRC. It doesn’t mean they agree with Trump or Republican Party values. Again, the DPP is a left-centre party. Note the GOP has historically been more suspicious of and characterised by stronger opposition to what they consider to be communism, so in the US they’ve typically been a stronger supporter of Taiwanese independence.
Worth noting that one can’t overstate how indispensable TSMC (the world’s leading and most sophisticated chip foundry) is now to the US and the rest of the world, esp with AI ramping up. No other company is likely to catch up to TSMC in the short to medium term, which means enabling Taiwan to maintain its de facto independent status is even more crucial for the US (and the rest of the world).
But don’t Taiwanese speak Mandarin just like the Chinese? Aren’t they just a runaway province? It’s like saying the US is the same as the UK, Australia, NZ, and other English-speaking countries. I’ve been to the PRC and have Chinese friends. In addition to the distinct and separate political system, there’s a distinct culture, accent, and (obviously) history.
You don’t have to be Taiwanese to appreciate how amazing it is that there’s Chinese-speaking democracy that’s so committed to liberal values, including LGBTQ+ rights.
Thank you so much, Green! I learned a lot from you.
👍
Love her! She was incredible in the final lip sych on Drag Race and she’s doing such great things with her crown. ❤️
This is a great story, and I’m so glad to see it covered on this site. Keep the RDR posts coming!
Agree this is a great story about RDR.
And I’m a longtime CB reader and it was a nice surprise to see my birth country’s president on CB, of all places, today!
I’ve been to Taiwan and the White House. Professional drag shows are amazing in Taiwan and the White House’s Chief Floral Designer does arrangements far more spectacular than orchids.
Well now I am verklempt too. Go, Nymphia, go!!!
YESSSSS! So happy for Nymph! She’s spectacularly talented and kind-hearted- she’ll be a great representative for RPDR and drag in general.
The pictures remind me how much I loved ” Bird Cage “. Have seen it multiple times.
Awww it’s so nice to see her with other house of wind girls 💕 I am always curious about the drag families of my faves from RPDR. Love Nymphia 💛🍌🍌🍌🍌