With her mesmerising, booby-popping performance of CeCe Peniston’s house track He Luvs Me 2, Jazell Barbie Royale became the pandemic’s fiercest viral sensation. The video - which has amassed almost four million views on YouTube - has since circulated all of the social media’s on various occasions, catapulting one of the LGBTQ+ community's most revered and unsung icons to greater recognition in the process. In the words of one of Jazell’s new fans, “I’m not even gay but I love this performance.”
Over the course of her 20-year career, Jazell has conquered over six thousand pageants (we made that up, the real number is close, we think), most notably the prestigious Miss Continental (2016) and Miss Universal Queen (2019), the latter of which saw her make history as the first entertainer of African descent to do so. This year, Jazell is making her mainstream television debut on the second season of Queen of the Universe, World of Wonder's drag-singing competition that will continue to spotlight queens from all corners of the world as they "battle for global domination", (bragging rights) and a cash prize of $250,000.
“When Drag Race started, it really put drag on TV and I connected with it. But, it wasn't until Queen of the Universe that I saw something that truly spoke to who I am and that's a singer,” Jazell says, before explaining that she was “scared” to showcase her musical talents, especially when she’s known to audiences for her lip-sync abilities
