Aquaria

Aquaria is the stage name of Giovanni Palandrani, a drag queen, performer, makeup artist, New York's IMG model, one of the Dazed Beauty entertainment editors, and the Season 10 winner of RuPaul's Drag Race.^[1]

Name Origin

Aquaria's name comes from her zodiac sign, Aquarius.^[2]

RuPaul's Drag Race

Before her season, Aquaria already was popular on Instagram, making some fans of the TV show believe (specially when she was announced as a contestant of Season 10) that she was all about beauty, and with no talent. But Aquaria proved them wrong, doing a great job not only in most of fashion challenges, but also in performative, and comedy ones like the "Snatch Game".

Aquaria had some struggle with her diction during the competition, and also landed 2 times in the Bottom 3 (on Episodes 8 and 10) but never in the Bottom 2.

On Episode 14, "Grand Finale", after lip syncing (for the crown) twice (1st against Eureka and then against Kameron Michaels, and Eureka at the same time) Aquaria was crowned the 10th "America's Next Drag Superstar".

Memorable Quotes

• "Bonjour!... Sorry to keep you waiting." (Season 10 entance quote; "bonjour" being French for "hi")
• "My name is Aquaria and I am a superstar!"
• "I don't define drag, drag is defined by me."
• "I need something to stand out because RuPaul doesn't see the star in me. That means that I'm not showing him my star... does that make sence?"
• "The key to doing well in this challenge is keeping your lip sync straight, your choreography gay, and your characterization bicurious."
• "Some girls in the werkroom chose to read books, I chose to turn looks."
• "Oh! Come on, Buzz Lightyear!"
• "Yesss! C'mon Postmates!"
• "My humor comes from a... very confused place in my brain."
• "Any hole is a goal." (as Melania Trump on "Snatch Game").
• "It's alright Barack, no worries." (to RuPaul, as Melania Trump on "Snatch Game")
• "I can't see shit!" (in Episode 8's Untucked)
• "The only vers I am is Versace."
• "I am very comfortable in front of a camera and I love me a good photoshoot."
• "I can tell by the twinkle in RuPaul's eyes that he is living for this." (referring to her runway look)
• "If you pee clear, cheer!"
• "Sometimes in life you're not always given a second chance. But if you do, take advantage of it and go out with a bang." (winner acceptance speech)

Trivia

• Aquaria has being doing drag since 2014^[3];
• Her drag mother is Season 4 winner Sharon Needles^[4]. Thus, they're the only drag mother/daughter duo to both win a season;
• She studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, majoring in womenswear, and living in the dorms. However, she dropped out after the second week of her sophomore year^[5];
• Before her season, she trained as a dancer for 4 years^[6], and started getting famous for hosting parties at Art Basel, performing in nightclubs, and doing makeups replicating viral memes^[7];
• She's a fan of pop singers Madonna, and Lady Gaga^[8] (both of them, like her, being from New York, and with Italian ancestry), as well as the anime Pokémon^[9];
• Season 7 winner Violet Chachki, and her were the 1st drag queens to ever walk Met Gala's red carpet^[10];
• She's often confused with fellow Season 10 contestant Miz Cracker in New York's drag scene. Both are from New York, have RuPaul's Drag Race winners as drag moms, and were nominated for 2018 People's Choice Awards' "Competition Contestant of 2018"^[11];
• Much like Plastique Tiara, she was the youngest contestant on her season (at age 21), had a large number of social media followers that wanted her competing, and has a drag mother who's a successful alumni;
• She's the 2nd contestant with the largest social media following prior to her season's cast reveal, being the 1st Plastique Tiara;
• She is the 1st winner to have been safe in the 1st 3 episodes;
• She is the 4th winner to win the "Snatch Game", others being Season 5 winner Jinkx Monsoon, Season 8 winner Bob The Drag Queen, and All Stars 2 winner Alaska. Chad Michaels won the "Snatch Game" of Season 4, however Chad won All Stars 1, not her original season. She was followed by Trinity The Tuck on All Stars 4;
• She's the 1st contestant to have won both the "Snatch Game", and the "Ball Challenge" on the same season, as well as the 9th contestant to reach the Top 4 without ever lip syncing for her life and the 10th one (overall) to never lip sync for her life;
• Monét X Change, and her are the only winner/Miss Congeniality duo to both be from the same place (New York City);
• Her statistics throughout Season 10 are very similar to Violet Chachki's. She was safe from 5 and Violet for 4 challenges, both never landed in the Bottom 2, were at the Bottom 3 twice, won 3 challenges, won the ball challenge, won the last challenge, and were crowned "America’s Next Drag Superstar" at age 22, being the 2nd youngest winners after Season 2 winner Tyra Sanchez, who won at age 21.

Gallery

 Season 10 Looks

 Season 11 Looks

 Videos

Meet Aquaria

Before the Workroom

Aquaria's Runway Looks

Best of Aquaria

Aquaria Rising Portrait of a Queen

Discography

 Non-Album Singles

• "Burn Rubber" (2018)

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Appearances

• "Looks" (2016) by Linux ft. Aquaria
• "Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical" (2018) by RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10 Cast (Kameron Michaels, Monét X Change, The Vixen, Aquaria, Asia O'Hara, Eureka, & Miz Cracker)
• "American (Season 10 Remix)" (2018) by RuPaul ft. RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10 Cast (Aquaria, Asia O'Hara, Eureka, & Kameron Michaels)

Filmography

TV

• (2018-2019) RuPaul's Drag Race, on Seasons 10, and 11

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Web Series

• (2017) Shot with Soju, on Season 1 Episode 14
• (2018) Cosmo Queens
• (2018) Untucked, on Season 10
• (2018) M.U.G.
• (2019) Transformations
• (2019) Fashion Photo RuView
• (2019) Werq the World
• (2019) Portrait of a Queen

Social Media

• Aquaria's Site | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
• Aquaria on YouTube | Apple Music | Wikipedia

References

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