Spilling the THC-Infused Tea with Laganja Estranja

A drag queen, music artist, dancer, and choreographer Laganja Estranja is a force to be reckoned with. 

Before launching to fame on the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Laganja earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in dance and choreography from the California Institute of Arts and appeared on several other television competition shows like So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Got Talent. 

Although these times of COVID have been challenging, she has not let isolation stop her from connecting with fans or using her voice and platform to push for social change. Laganja is a major cannabis advocate who has hosted several conversations on cannabis legalization and is the first LGBTQ icon to grace the cover of Dope Magazine. Laganja first discovered the benefits of cannabis when she hurt her back in college, and it has now become an integral part of her life. 

OFM caught up with the Queen of Green to talk about how she has developed herself as an artist while in quarantine, projects we should be on the lookout for, and her new CBD line with Honey Pot Products.

We spoke last year, right when the COVID pandemic started. A year later, we are not out of the woods yet. 

What has the COVID experience personally been like for you?
It has definitely been one of a lot of personal growth. I realized that my life was so busy. I was on a plane all the time, and I never got to be introspective with myself about what it is I want. I think this time and unemployment allowed me to explore the landscape in which I exist as an artist. While I love being a drag queen and totally miss the nightclubs, I truly found my voice as an artist, and I have been focusing on things like my gender and exploring what it means to be nonbinary. These are two things I don’t think I would have been able to give such a genuine space to had we not been locked down. 

Have you been staying connected with fans during these difficult times?
I am lucky that my Buds—that is what I like to call my supporters—have been very supportive. They have been showing up for me in all types of ways. Whether it is supporting my merch line or showing up to all my online events, gigs, and lives, I have been able to connect with a lot of different people and make new friendships because everyone is online now. I am working with companies I may have never worked with had we not gone to an online way of promoting. Since I am Laganja and have built this platform, I am so lucky to be able to do this. I still feel like I am very much connected to the people who follow and support me. I am always a DM away, and I will reply to anyone.

People can go to your website, laganjaestranja.com, to find your merch?
Yes, you can go to my website, and I have a shop there. It is super exciting because I have tried many, many times to do merch, but it has always broken even. I am very excited about the new business format that we have. It is print to order, so I don’t have to own hundreds of T-shirts and then try to ship them out myself. Working with this third-party company has been incredible. I love the pieces we are putting out, and we are also creating supplemental pieces each month that are inspired by an artist’s photography. 

Thanks to technology, we have seen an incredible rise of live streams and virtual events. This may be the norm for now, but do you think it will become a permanent staple in the entertainment industry?
Everyone keeps saying they think it will be, and I thought that at the beginning when things were hot and people were really participating, but I have seen such a decline in numbers on live events that I do not believe they will continue to last. Do I think that some companies will still implement them, like the Cancer Support society that I work with? Absolutely. Their company has benefited from going online because they are now able to provide services globally opposed to just here in Los Angeles. So, I do think we will continue to see online support for certain companies, but I think specifically when it comes to the drag community, people want to go to bars and see us in person. I do believe there will be an influx or sort of revitalization of the club scene. A renaissance, which I am very excited about. 

Fortunately, you have been able to stay creative and work on music and dance. Before Christmas, you released your new single, “Daddy,” and you had the opportunity to choreograph Katya’s video for “Ding Dong.” Do you currently have any projects in the works?
I do. My next single is called “Hype Man,” and it is definitely a departure from “Daddy.” “Daddy” is very sexually explicit, and I wanted to take it there with the “WAP” song being such a viral hit, I felt like it was only right that the queers had something in our space that could represent them. It was amazing and I got great reception, however, I am not a sex worker. I did not put that video on OnlyFans for a reason, and that is because I do believe I am a global artist. So, this next song is much cleaner, and it is all about being your own hype man, the struggles I have faced, and how I have been able to cheer my own self up by being my best supporter. I hope that this song will really inspire others, and I hope it will reach some of my younger fans where “Daddy” was obviously not able to. 

Did you ever release your album, HIGHconic?
No, HIGHconic was not released due to financial stability issues that I hit when the pandemic started. We decided to hold the album, and it is exciting because I am actually in talks right now with a small independent record label. If everything goes the way as planned, I will release the other couple of songs that were supposed to be on HIGHconic as singles. Then, I will release a brand-new album with 10 tracks. That is the hope and goal. If that contract does not go through, then I will continue to release singles, but I am going to hold off on HIGHconic because I feel that is such an incredible title and name, and I really want that album to be all new content and speak to the artist that I have become, especially since quarantine. 

What do you hope audiences take away from your music?
I hope audiences can get up and shake their ass. My favorite inspiration, Missy Elliott, what she does best is she makes pop music that is able to reach my generations and make them do what I think is the ultimate form of communication, which is dance and movement. What I also love about Missy Elliott is that she also has a message behind her music. There is always another layer that goes deeper than just pop. I hope that I am doing that too. 

For instance, with my “Look at Me” music video, I am obviously talking about racial profiling and the discrimination against people of color within the cannabis community. “Daddy” being about destigmatizing sex and having queer people be able to express themselves just as openly as a straight person. Again, “Hype Man” is all about trying to build up your own inspiration. So, again, I always like to have a message and I hope my audience is taking that away. I hope that they away that I am a lot of fun and glamorous, but I am also smart. I am here to make a change in the world. An impact. 

Not only does the world know you as a drag artist and musical superstar, but you are also a passionate advocate for cannabis. Why is cannabis so important to you?
Cannabis is my medicine. Cannabis is how I get up every day, it is how I regulate my eating and sleep cycles, and it how I keep my mood stable. It really is an integral part of my day-to-day life. Not only as an artist, but also as a human being. It was important for me as a queen to have a platform like cannabis that is bigger than myself, and that I could spread education and knowledge. Without it, I would be a lot like season six and feel very attacked. 

You have some products on HoneyPotProducts.com. Can you tell us more about them?
Absolutely. This is with an award-winning company, and I am thrilled to help create their first-ever CBD line. They are known for their THC products and finally moved into the CBD market. They have so many international fans, and I wanted to deliver a product that is close, near, and dear to my heart. 

We did a bath set, so it starts off with a Lemon Blaze shower gel, which is taken from the limonene terps that I love so much that helped me deal with my depression. Then we move into the Blue Dream Cream, which is a stunning lotion that has 1,000 milligrams of CBD in it, which is quite a lot. I am very proud we were able to get so many milligrams in this product. It utilized blue tansy, which is an incredible essential oil used for rashes, eczema breakouts, and things in that nature. I love the lotion. I think it is going to win awards this year. Then we go to the nighttime bath balm, which is a lavender lime by the name of Sugar Daddy Purp. 

Again, I wanted something that was relaxing, but still had a citrus flair to it since the whole line is citrus based. I forgot to mention that the blue dream cream is grapefruit, so there is always some sort of citrus that keeps the line cohesive, but I do feel already that the Blue Dream Cream is a breakout star of the three. I think we are going to explore and create more products in the signature scent. 

Are you still collaborating with Fruit Slabs?
We do not have any new collaborations on the table just yet.

Now that Joe Biden is in office, do you think we are any steps closer to fully legalizing cannabis nationwide?
Yes and no. I definitely think we are going to see some great movement in this goal of our industries, and I see a positive trajectory now that we have Joe, but I do believe it is going to take quite some time before we become federally recognized on one level as medicinal, which has always been my hope and goal. That is why I voted no for going recreational out here in California. So, I still think there is a lot of work to be had in that arena, but I do think we are well on our way. 

You have been very vocal about the homophobia within the cannabis industry. What more are you going to do with your platform to break those stigmas?
I hope that I can continue to create safe spaces and events for queer people, but more importantly, I hope just by living my day-to-day life and showing people how I can be queer and in cannabis and how this is successful. That I am inspiring people on a micro level. I think a lot of activists think really large, and that is amazing, but at the end of the day, I am an artist first and foremost. 

I have to be smart about how I am being an activist in the industry, and I think the best way that I do that is by providing visibility and using my platform to share the voice of the cannabis community, sharing the struggles and tribulations of the queer community, and to really be a face for this. That is kind what I hope to do. To continue to provide visibility, and eventually when I am financially stable, create my own safe spaces like a dispensary run by drag queens, or a smoking lounge that would have drag performers. 

Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you would like to mention or plug?
I cannot officially announce which television programs I am going to be on, but I have landed a couple roles. I also have a movie that I am working on, but again, can’t release a lot of information, but I can tell you it does star another favorite Drag Race contestant. Actually, several Drag Race contestants, but one I know is a huge fan favorite. A lot is definitely coming.

To stay up-to-date with Laganja, visit laganjaestranja.com, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Her music is available on all digital streaming platforms, and you can catch her every Monday night at 6:00 p.m. on Twitch with her friend Adam Ill for their show, Misters and Marys. Also, check out her Patreon for the second season of her series, Muse Me.