Werq the World Is a Full-Circle Moment for Drag Queen DeJa Skye

DeJa Skye has RuPaul's Drag Race to thank for kick-starting her love of drag. Long before she became a contestant on season fourteen of the reality competition show, Drag Race's debut season inspired her to go out in drag for the first time. "My first day going out in drag was July 6 of 2011," she recalls. "I looked so busted, but I thought I was the one. I thought I was Beyoncé, girl!"

Eight years later, Skye was sitting in a theater in her hometown of Fresno, California, watching the 2019 production of Werq the World, the world's largest touring drag show starring Drag Race alumni, and manifested her future on that very stage. "I was sitting there with my friend, and I remember looking at her and saying, 'I'm going to be up there one day.' So it's absolutely insane that a few years later, I'm actually on the stage," she says.

Skye is now one of the main cast members in Werq the World's brand-new production, coming to the Colorado Convention Center's Bellco Theatre on Wednesday, July 12. We chatted with Skye to get the tea on how she arrived at this full-circle moment.
Coming from a cheerleading and dance background, Skye was no stranger to giving audiences high-energy performances. "That definitely helped. I think I'm very versatile, but I tend to gravitate toward R&B and hip-hop, and my cheer and dance background is obviously perfect for that," she says. Now, after more than a decade in the entertainment industry, she's developed her own performance style, characterized by hard-hitting, sharp movements and a balance of feminine and masculine energy.

"I think I have kind of an androgynous style of performing, especially now that I look back on my entire twelve years of doing drag. I hit things harder — I'm more in your face and attacking moves now. It used to be something that...not that I was afraid of it, but I guess I always thought [that] in drag, you've got to be feminine.' Now that I've gotten a little bit older, one, I've stopped caring what people think, and two, I embraced it. Like, 'You know what? I like Missy Elliott!' I even love performing male songs. Obviously, like Lil Jon," says Skye, referring to her winning impression of rap icon Lil Jon on the Drag Race season fourteen celebrity-impersonation challenge.

But when it comes to her fashions, Skye isn't wedded to a particular look, as long as it involves color. "I always say my style is colorful, campy and curvaceous. I'm not someone that has a certain aesthetic, but I'm attracted to color. Neons, pastels — they call me the pastel princess," she notes. "Color is really what inspires me, because it evokes an emotion. Whenever I put on color I feel happy and more me. Even in my hair and makeup choices, I'm very vibrant."

While she proudly made all of her own looks for her time on Drag Race, she's starting to get used to working with other designers now that she has "a little bit of coinage. I will make myself stuff that I know that I look good in, like catsuits. But I have been loving seeing the vision from other designers and seeing their style on me," she says. "They always say after Drag Race that your drag elevates, and it's because you have more money now."

Skye also recently started a new YouTube segment called Dusted by Deja, where she does other queens' makeup in her own signature style. "I think in order to get the signature Deja Skye look, you definitely need a bold black lip, huge lashes — either paper or spiky lashes — and a black heart on your cheek. That is the quintessential look, so as long as you have those elements, it gives off Deja. A bold colorful eye is good, too, but those three specific elements make or break a Deja Skye mug," she reveals.

Before Drag Race, she wasn't really interested in doing other performers' makeup, but something shifted during her time on the show: "I have two drag daughters, so I've painted their mugs a couple times, or done my friends' makeup here and there, but it's so funny because I always told myself that I don't want to paint other people. But once I got on the show, I was like, 'I want to give people the Deja Skye look!' Then a lot of people, mostly Drag Race alum, were like, 'I would love for you to do my makeup!,' so I was like, 'Why don't I make a series on this?'"

Skye hopes to continue filming Dusted by Deja, as well as her other series, Dejanalysis, in which she gives an in-depth analysis of Drag Race lip sync battles, while on the Werq the World tour with her fellow Drag Race queens. "I know there's a couple of girls on tour that would love for me to paint them on our off days. I want to have alum on my channel in some capacity, but it may not even be a painting video, it may be a Dejanalysis, or just a kiki, an interview, something," she says. "I would love to paint Fame, and we've actually talked about it. Another person I've talked with is Pearl, I've talked to Aquaria, so there are big names out there interested; it's just finding the right time to do it. But I'm so happy that people can see my talent and passion for it, and really trust me." 

After the season finished filming, Skye participated in part of the 2022 Werq the World tour, but this year will be the first time she has her own number in the show. "The first time I was actually doing Yvie Oddly's number, so I was a fill-in. I had literally less than 48 hours to prepare something. I ran to the fabric stores and made a costume, got together some hair and outfits, and was on the plane in less than 48 hours," she explains. "It was very stressful, but I'm glad I had the opportunity, and now I'm fully on the tour." This time, she's getting the full Werq the World experience, including multiple months of preparation. "This year is actually 'with the network,' as they would call it, and we have our own numbers. We each get to play a different character, and I don't want to give anything away, but I really love my character. I think mine is really cool, very ethereal, so I'm excited," she hints.

She's also excited to reunite with some of her season fourteen sisters, as well as a few other Drag Race queens that she's worked with in the past. "Lady Camden and Bosco are on the leg with me, so I'm very excited. I've known Laganja for years, so that should be a good kiki. Of course, the season fifteen girls were added to the roster — Mistress Isabelle Brooks and our winner, Sasha Colby — so that's amazing. I've worked with Sasha for years, and ironically, I worked with Mistress during the last show that she did before she went to go film," she divulges. "We were in the dressing room, and all the other girls had left, so she closed the door and was like, 'Hey, do you have any advice? I got cast!' So I said congratulations and we kikied, and now it's such a full-circle moment that we get to tour together."
Skye says she has a special relationship with season fifteen contestant Salina EsTitties, who she actually predicted would be on Drag Race in a vlog months before the cast was announced. "It's insane that it happened within the next season. I've worked with her for years, so I was a fan of hers. She's so creative and campy and fun. I can see her on TV, in movies, everywhere. I adore her, and I'm so happy for what's to come for her," she says of her fellow California queen.

Since she's now successfully manifested both herself and EsTitties onto Drag Race, we of course had to ask who else she's willing on to a future season. "There's one queen in this world that I want to see on Drag Race, and it's Aunty Chan from Chicago," Skye says. "She inspires so many drag queens. She can be sassy, she can be friendly, she is everything. I think she would excel at every single challenge, and I think she would she would be a fan favorite."

Along with Bosco, Lady Camden, Vanessa "Miss Vanjie" Mateo, Laganja, Mistress Isabelle Brooks and hostess Asia O'Hara, Skye will be bringing a  sci-fi-inspired Werq the World production to Denver on July 12. "It's loosely based on The Matrix, so each of us are going to be playing an iconic character in The Matrix. So it's like, 'Are you going to take the red pill or the blue pill? Do you want an alternate reality or an actual reality?'" she teases. "The best thing about Werq the World, for me, is that it's the biggest traveling stage for Drag Race. It's the full production: dancers, costumes, a fabulous hostess — everything it takes. The queens and performers on stage, we obviously do our thing, but the people behind the scenes are what really take it there. We have people flying, choreographers, lighting people — it really does take a village." Though Werq the World is full-blown celebration of all things Drag Race, the cast is also acutely aware of the hostile political climate in which they're touring. The show will be stopping in multiple states that have introduced anti-LGBTQ legislation, particularly targeting drag performers and trans people. For Skye, touring through these states is the ultimate kiss-off to those attempting to eradicate queer people: "I think that there is nothing more anti-straight or anti-right wing than being like, 'You don't faze us. You are not going to take away our happiness."

She reflects back on how she felt as a person of color during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests, drawing a parallel between the two. "I know that in a lot of rural places, especially, it is very scary. I am half Black, and I identify as a person of color, and I can say during the BLM movement, I was scared, I really was," she admits. "But there's one thing that the queer community will always do, and that's persevere. We will always bounce back no matter how many times you try to diminish us and erase us from history. We're queer, we're here, and we're not going anywhere. That reigns true to today."

Werq the World, 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 12, Bellco Theatre in the Colorado Convention Center, 1100 Stout Street. Tickets start at $59.95.