Khrys’taaal: The Queen Who Believed Herself to the Cover

Imagine getting a text message from your friend that you’re on the cover of a magazine. Luckily for OUT FRONT, we were able to surprise one Colorado queen with exactly that.

In the search for the cover model for the commemorative Stonewall issue in June, the editorial team dug through years of archived photos from Prides past to find the perfect image to encapsulate the essence of LGBTQ liberation. As we searched through digital folders and photographer portfolios, an image taken by Jeremiah Corder stood out from all the others.

A fabulous, POC queen struck a fierce pose on a set of cobbled stairs, hair perfectly coiffed and a painted mug to die for. Wearing a Bob Marley t-shirt and boots made for executing the fiercest moves, we had to have her on the cover. The anonymity of this queen was what we celebrated most; we wanted her to walk into a Denver coffee shop or a queer nightclub and see this amazing photo of herself on the cover of a magazine.

The issue was released on June 19, 2019, and by June 21, we had heard from our cover model, Fort Collins’ own Khrys’taaal. She got a text from a friend who spotted the issue of OUT FRONT, and shortly after, we got the chance to meet our cover queen and hear her story.

How did that now famous photograph come to be?
That was taken, I want to say the fourth time I was able to perform at the Pride stage, and I had just finished the ‘Best of Drag Nation’ performance. I was just sitting there waiting to do the cattle call, and Jeremiah was like, ‘Ooh, bitch, give me a quick pose!’ I gave a quick dab to my forehead, threw my head to the side, and gave a quick look to the left. I never thought it would be used for anything, and personally, I never thought anyone would want to use me to advertise anything.

You told us before that you didn’t think your aesthetic is something that would be on the cover of a magazine. Why did you think that?
It’s that mentality of when people tell you something for so long, you start to believe it, like, ‘This is what drag is. It’s not going to change; you’re going to have the pads, you’re gonna have to wear dresses; you’re gonna have to contour.’ I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to do this in my chains, my bedazzled jeans, and my Converse, and that’s just who I am.

What makes your style of drag so different?
I’ve always had this kind of tomboyish image. I’m from Detroit, so I’ve always enjoyed that type of hip hop, street edge. I love sneakers. I don’t know why, to this day, but it turned into such a big scandal. ‘That queen from Fort Collins is dancing in flats; she’s not a real queen; she’s not padded, and she’s not contoured,’ and it was this checklist of things that I wasn’t. No one was saying, ‘Oh she can perform; that’s ok,’ it was, ‘She’ll never be; no one wants to be a part of her drag family; she doesn’t look the part.’ She’s not gonna be on anyone’s flyer or on anyone’s magazine.’ Everything has come full circle as far as that.

Do you feel pressure to conform?
Absolutely, from 2013 to 2014, I was trying so hard to be like the other queens, the other drag families, and I was trying to be that pretty, cute girl and look more ‘fishy.’ It just was not working out for me because I was trying to paint like them. As I did more shows and really thought about and meditated on who I am, I just came to the realization that everything I have right now is enough to get me to where I want to go. And then one day, people will have to respect what I do even if they don’t like it. And it took a long, long, long time.

What made you want to continue to pursue drag if you didn’t think there was a space for you?
In a conversation I had with my mom, she told me, ‘You’ve been bullied; you used to get your ass kicked by the kids down the street because you’re just different. But it’s a different that keeps you out of trouble; there’s nothing wrong with who you are. So If you feel that you’re doing something you’re not passionate about, it’s time to move on.’

That really stuck with me because I thought about being in talent shows in school; the bullies would call me names, but when they would see my performance, they would leave me alone. They saw me for who I was, and they accepted me and gave me respect for that.

If I want to be authentic and relatable and have longevity, then I have to be honest with myself and with other people. I’m no longer going to hide who I am. It’s all about muscles and mascara. Take it and love it; love it or hate it; it is what it is.

It does feel like drag is evolving in a way that artists have more freedom to express their authentic selves.
It is, and I never thought that would happen. Kids are so impressionable; they want to see someone that looks like them and is doing the same things that they do so they can feel validated, so they don’t feel weird like I used to when I was little. I wish I would have had someone that was leading the charge, but that lets me know that I’m in the place where I have to be that leader.

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You mostly perform in Fort Collins; what would you say is the biggest difference between Northern Colorado and Denver?
I think up here, it’s a little less saturated. The first Saturday of the month when it’s time for our show, everyone gets excited genuinely because they know it’s only once a month.

Do you think that makes the audiences hungrier?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. We do a theme every other month, so they never know what they’re going to get, but they know that it’s gonna be a really good-ass show with consistent professionalism as well. There’s not going to be any drama; no one’s there to have a bad time.

What can people expect from a performance by Khrys’taaal?
I don’t want to lie; I’ll look cute for like the first two minutes of the song, but after that, we’re going in. It’s a whole cardio, Orange Theory, workout kind of thing. Especially when people tip; I don’t feel like I deserve to get people’s money until I feel like I’ve earned it. It’s very visual; it’s very conceptual; as far as the music I mix and the things that I wear, it’s reflective of where I came from when I was a little kid. I like things that make you reminisce about the good times. There’s so much negativity going on in the world with politics and religion, so sometimes people just want that old feeling of reminiscing about when times were good, and it makes them feel invested into the performance along with you.

Photo by Jeremiah Corder