The brisk New York night was immediately electrified with warmth when Shea Couleé and her posse of fierce queens entered the Warsaw Theater for their third sold-out show on the new ‘The Love Ball’ tour. Fans accustomed to watching their fierce on-screen rivalry from the comfort of their own homes showed up and showed out, lining down the Brooklyn block to see their favorite drag queens in the flesh on the stage of a sold-out show.

MERDE founder Molly Apple called her ultra-talented, non-binary queer friend Daniel Roa to join her backstage for an up-close look at Couleé’s renowned couture looks and to capture the essence of her self-produced performances. Wigs were being brushed, heels were frantically seeking their matches, and glam was glamming, but most of all, laughter filled the green room, where Shea was joined by her castmates — none other than her headlining queens Monét X Change, LaLa Ri, Tayce, and Luxx Noir London, as well as opening queens Xunami, Kandy Muse and DJ Miss Toto.

The all-star lineup showcased the cultural power of drag in representing freedom of expression, and was certainly felt in the audience: A little girl sat on her dad’s shoulders as a smile stretched across her face; friends wrapped their arms around one another, glitter hugging their eyelids. The bass was bumping, the stage fan was blowing, and the performances were GIVING. Couleé gives us all the tea on the production process, her dedication to serving couture looks, and her undying love for Queen B herself.

MERDE: Tell us about your journey of being an ultra-famous drag queen. You’ve talked before about your first drag performance in 2011 to Beyonce’s “Sugar Mama,” and you mentioned feeling a sense of validation after that. Has that validation influenced your journey as a drag performer, actor, and recording artist?

COULEÉ: Yeah, definitely. It would be difficult to continue on in this journey of show business where there's a lot of hardship if you were never able to receive any positive validation or feedback. It would be really challenging to continue on. So definitely having people respond positively to my drag

has helped me to continue to push forward and pursue all of my ambitions as far as drag and queer entertainment go.

MERDE: How is your relationship with the other queens? You were in competition with some of them on RuPaul’s Drag Race but really came together to support each other on this tour. Can you tell us more about this collaboration?

COULEÉ: At least for me and my experience on Drag Race, I never felt the need to compete directly against any of my sisters. In my mind, at the end of the day, if we're all succeeding, if we're all shining bright, if we're all doing well, it reflects back positively on each and every one of us. It is an opportunity to see Queer people succeeding in doing what they love. So, in Drag Race, what was always my favorite part of the competition was being able to collaborate with brilliant, talented drag queens with such unique points of view. From that, I always learn something new. That lesson, to me, is a gift. Being able to translate that into this stage production felt like when we would do a group challenge on Drag Race, like a Rusical, where we're all utilizing the best parts of ourselves to help the collective put on an unforgettable performance and experience.

MERDE: Vogue has called your drag and costuming a medium for larger storytelling. Is there anything else you want to add to the storytelling behind the Love Ball? And how does fashion play a role in that storytelling?

COULEÉ: I have to think about the overall world and picture that I'm trying to create on stage. I knew that I wanted the show's beginning to feel dramatic and cinematic. I started off with a group number with all of the headlining queens to Danity Kane's ‘Strip Tease,’ which felt really sensual, futuristic, and empowering. I just love girl groups. You can ask anybody—girl group challenges have always been challenges that I've excelled at on Drag Race—I love existing in the context of a girl group.

I usually start off with a color palette because that drives a lot of how I design. I went through these phases of reds and blues to softer pinks but still remaining in the tones of passion. I encouraged the other cast members to cleanse the palate with silvers and blacks and whites.

Then, we have a whole moment at the top of act two where we go into this black leather and colorful floral motif, signifying the flowers one would get from an admirer during Valentine's Day.

It's all about trying to stay within a theme that revolves around love, which is so expansive, and finding a way to create really interesting moments on stage that help drive forward the narrative of the songs being performed.

MERDE: From a fashion perspective, what was the collaboration and selection process like for your looks? Do you have a favorite look from the tour?

COULEÉ: It all begins with me doing tons and tons of research… combing through magazines, through Pinterest, through fashion houses, Instagrams, watching fashion shows on YouTube. When I see something that really grips me, I make an association with a song or a moment. Then I start trying to understand—why was it that this specific moment made me identify with this song? How do I bring those two things together so that when the audience sees it, they say, “Oh yeah, that makes sense.” For example, I wore this really huge heart dress when I’m doing my ballads because I wanted something that felt like a set piece in and of itself but also something that felt almost larger than life. And, it kind of was. It's definitely one of the larger costumes that I have.

Originally, I wanted to wear a giant rose gown because, when you think Valentine's, you think about how we give people roses. As I continued to try and figure out how to create a sculptural rose costume that felt appropriate, I was just minding my business scrolling on Instagram, and I saw this Mak Tumang dress…this heart-shaped dress. I sent it to my collaborator Joshuan Aponte and said, “oh my gosh, have you seen this? This, this to me, feels like The Love Ball, this gigantic heart? This would be something that would be really beautiful to recreate.” We put our heads together as to how to recreate it and make it unique for this specific show. It wound up being my favorite look from the entire tour.

MERDE: Do you want to mention any other designers or collaborators that helped you with the rest of the looks for the tour?

COULEÉ: Yes. I worked with Jeffrey Kelly. I worked with an artist named Antwaun Wright, who hand-painted these leather pieces for myself, Luxx Noir London, and Tayce. Joshuan Aponte also did my closing white Grecian jersey gown, which he hand-draped to perfection, like in the style of Madame Gres. That was really fun to collaborate on. I also worked with my friend Viktor Luna, whom I've collaborated with many times. Utilizing these great creatives to assemble a whole package for this show was a lot of fun.

MERDE: What do you hope that audiences take away from these fashion elements and the stories that you're telling? What do you want them to feel when they look at you in that big heart piece?

COULEÉ: I want them to feel aspirational excellence like the biggest divas of our time that I'm inspired by: Diana Ross, Cher in her Bob Mackie elaborate concoctions, and Beyoncé and basically the entire fashion industry that she employed during the Renaissance Tour this past summer. She pulled from so many incredible, incredible creatives, and that, to me, was a source of inspiration that you can really do so much when it comes to the looks that you apply within a show. It was fun to create my own little version of that.

MERDE: We know Beyonce and the Renaissance Tour was a big inspiration. Was there anything other than the fashion that really inspired you from the Renaissance?

COULEÉ: Definitely the visual component of it and how she uses visuals for storytelling and how she uses them to create scenic elements. In the past, when I've done visuals for live shows, they've actually always been a little bit more involved. This time, after watching her documentary, we were able to find simpler treatments for them to evoke more of a mood that allows the viewer to make their own connections without having to, I guess, be hit over the head with themes…to leave room for people to develop their own interpretations.

The Love Ball NYC show will be available to watch on Patreon coming Spring 2024 here!