Countdown to the Crown: Crystal Methyd
On this special edition of "The X Change Rate," we hear from RuPaul's Drag Race Season 12 finalist Crystal Methyd. Get the all the tea before the finale tonight!
Video Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MONET X CHANGE: Yo, I don't even have the words, because I am so gagged over this look. These queens are serving looks. Welcome, Ms. Crystal Methyd!
CRYSTAL METHYD: Hello. Are you ready to party?
MONET X CHANGE: Crystal, please talk to us about this look. I am obsessed. I am so gagged and obsessed.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Oh, well, you know, I feel like this finale, being in the top three, it's such a celebration. And you can't have a party without a pinata. I'm just staying in theme with, like, my entrance line and all of that.
MONET X CHANGE: I love it. How are you? How-- how are you with this whole isolation quarantine, COVID-19? Like, are you-- are you going crazy?
CRYSTAL METHYD: I am-- I mean, I have been crazy, but I am definitely going crazy.
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS]
CRYSTAL METHYD: But, you know, I feel like I can't really complain. I feel blessed to be where I'm at. I feel lucky to be able to watch myself on TV on Fridays.
MONET X CHANGE: Yes.
CRYSTAL METHYD: So I'm happy.
MONET X CHANGE: Well, with watching yourself on TV, is there anything you saw filming the show on camera that you're like, A, you forgot about, or B, you were like, ugh, I hate this moment. I'm cringing. I hate it.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Oh gosh, I feel like the first like four episodes I just blacked out from my memory.
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS]
CRYSTAL METHYD: Because that's when I was, like, you know, really feeling intimidated about the whole competition in general, intimidated by all the amazing queens I was up against.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah, but kind of as the competition went on, and I just started having fun and being myself, that's when, you know, it started going good for me.
MONET X CHANGE: Well, yeah, because, you know, at the beginning people were-- people were pitting you as the underdog. They were like, oh, she's gonna go home soon. There's no way, but you started to turn the tide around.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Oh, yeah. I feel like, yeah, the Madonna challenge is really when I turned things around, and I even wrote it in my journal. I kept a journal, and I wrote, like--
MONET X CHANGE: Oh.
CRYSTAL METHYD: --I'm gonna do good, and this is gonna be the turnaround for me, and I'm gonna be in the top from now on. And yeah, somehow it happened.
MONET X CHANGE: Well, you know, and then now you joined the ranks of Miz Cracker and Yara Sofia as a queen who won on the 10th episode. Now, personally, I have to say the judges are smoking crack. They're fools. Like, how did you not win the makeover challenge? No shade.
CRYSTAL METHYD: [LAUGHS]
MONET X CHANGE: You know, [INAUDIBLE], but, I mean, because it is such an important runway and such a non-traditional that no one is expecting. And one of the oldest gay icons--
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah.
MONET X CHANGE: [INAUDIBLE] Bert and Ernie how did you not win? And where did you conceptualize this look?
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah. Well, growing up as a kid, I had a little Ernie doll that I carried around with me everywhere. You-- you did his little buttons and zippers. He was supposed to like teach you how to get dressed.
MONET X CHANGE: Work.
CRYSTAL METHYD: So I've always just been a fan of-- of Bert and Ernie. And so I thought that was just some-- like, a take on the family resemblance that, like--
MONET X CHANGE: So good. Yes.
CRYSTAL METHYD: --no one has ever done before. And yeah, that makeover challenge, whenever-- and then, one, I didn't win. And then no one went home. I felt cheated.
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS]
CRYSTAL METHYD: I was like, [INAUDIBLE] what was the point of this?
MONET X CHANGE: Well, also [INAUDIBLE] I think, like, walking-- going to the runway, like walking backstage of the runway, you're like, oh, bitch, this is mine. Like, can't nobody take this win, and they're like, Crystal, oh my god. This is amazing.
This was one of the greatest runways. You're saved. You're like, what the fuck? Anyway--
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah.
MONET X CHANGE: --but it was-- yeah, it was such a good look.
CRYSTAL METHYD: But you know what? I feel like it's always a blessing to be the robbed queen. Like--
MONET X CHANGE: 100%.
CRYSTAL METHYD: --people on the internet will--
MONET X CHANGE: 100%.
CRYSTAL METHYD: --they'll fight for you.
MONET X CHANGE: So now you're obviously-- with makeup and stuff, you're a very nontraditional queen. Like, did you start-- did you start your drag off that way, or you were like, oh, you found your way to that nay-- to that "nitch?" Niche. How did that work out?
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah, I think whenever I started out, I definitely was, like, trying to look more fishy, glamorous, all of that. But I also, whenever I did my makeup, tried to just switch it up every time to try and figure out my face.
And I think that's really how I just came to be where I'm at. I do a lot of just like photos with people, and, like, when you're standing there for a long time, it, like, hurts to smile. So I was just like, I'm just gonna-- I'm just gonna throw one on. It'll help. And, you know, I just add all the black under my eyes to hide under all the bags and all that.
MONET X CHANGE: Girl, [INAUDIBLE] though. Yes, ma'am. I'm really mad about this COVID situation, because I can't get a little filler, which is really [INAUDIBLE].
CRYSTAL METHYD: [LAUGHS]
MONET X CHANGE: But anyway, that's neither here nor there, which brings me to my next point-- is Michelle-- like, from the beginning, she was at your goat about changing the makeup. I'm like, bitch, did you not see my audition tape? Like, this is like what I do.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah.
MONET X CHANGE: Like, how did you take that? Because I know when she said it to Dusty, Dusty struggled with that so much, because, like, after episode one, she's like, the dots. You're like, well, girl, that's what I do.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah, I mean, you know, I cried on stage. I cried in "Untucked."
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
CRYSTAL METHYD: I was crying constantly, but, I mean, especially for that buttons and bows challenge, that was like one of the runways that, like, was not finished going into my suitcase, leaving for the show. So I was like, I have to make up for this outfit. I'm gonna just go all in with the face. They're gonna love it, and-- and it did not work in my favor.
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS] Well, speaking of love, could-- do you have any comment about this alleged affair with Gigi Goode? I want to know the motherfucking [INAUDIBLE]!
CRYSTAL METHYD: You know, you know, sometimes you just meet someone, and there's just a magical connection. We just bonded in a way. I don't know. We're just really, really close.
MONET X CHANGE: Work. OK.
CRYSTAL METHYD: You know, we rode in the back of the bus together, and we [INAUDIBLE].
MONET X CHANGE: Oh, girl! I'm gonna tell you something. Honestly, but the back of the bus on our season was very wack, but in season 11, I heard it was lit. And I'm happy y'all are keeping the tradition in season 12.
CRYSTAL METHYD: [LAUGHS]
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS] Now, but whenever-- again, with the competition and how you kind of found your way towards-- towards the middle of the competition, was there ever a point you were like, oh, this is it. This is a wrap. I'm going home. Or you were like, nah, I'm gonna make it to the finale?
CRYSTAL METHYD: You know, as more and more girls kept going home, I was just like, am I iconic? Am I [INAUDIBLE]?
MONET X CHANGE: [LAUGHS]
CRYSTAL METHYD: I-- I really just felt like I just kept getting better and better. I was like, this is-- I'm here. Here we go. This is mine.
MONET X CHANGE: Am I iconic? I love that. I love that. Love, love that. What can we expect from the finale? From you-- for especially Crystal Methyd, because if this is your interview, I want to see what is coming in this finale, bitch.
CRYSTAL METHYD: You know, I-- I really-- you know, the comments on, you know, maybe not liking my makeup-- leaving the show, I went back to doing what I was always doing, big and crazy. I mean, that's what I want to keep doing after I win.
MONET X CHANGE: Yeah.
CRYSTAL METHYD: So I definitely tried to bring the bizarre to the finale, and I'm really hoping that it pays off.
MONET X CHANGE: Oh! Miss Crystal Methyd! I love that. Also-- and I love also the-- the tie with-- tying it-- tying in your pinata to your-- to your Latin heritage, because a lot of people don't know that about you.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Yeah.
MONET X CHANGE: And they-- they like-- they discount that, but that's what people do with this fandom unfortunately sometimes. They just try to erase part of your-- your heritage, and I'm happy you're paying homage to it with this look.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Oh, yeah.
MONET X CHANGE: [INAUDIBLE]
CRYSTAL METHYD: Look, I-- I try and show it out whenever I can because, you know, I grew up in Missouri. I didn't have a lot of, like, Mexican friends.
MONET X CHANGE: Right.
CRYSTAL METHYD: And I was-- and all my Mexican relatives live in California, so I was never really close to them. So I like to represent, let those kids know it's OK to be proud of who you are.
MONET X CHANGE: I love that. You know what? Crystal Methyd, I fucking like you. I really like you.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Oh, thank you.
MONET X CHANGE: You're fun. You're great. That was iconic. Just fucking tickled me all the way pink. You are so funny.
[LAUGHTER]
CRYSTAL METHYD: Thank you.
MONET X CHANGE: Good luck in the finale. We're all looking forward to see what you guys are gonna do, and I cannot wait.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Thanks for having me.
MONET X CHANGE: Of course, of course. Be safe. Wash your hands, and wash your pinata.
[LAUGHTER]
All right, my dear. Mwah.
CRYSTAL METHYD: Bye.
MONET X CHANGE: Work.
