RuPaul’s Drag Race producer reveals how lip-sync songs are picked
Drag Race’s executive producer Tom Campbell has revealed how songs are chosen for the show’s iconic lip-sync smackdowns. Since its 2009 debut, the Emmy Award-winning series has received wide praise for the format, which sees the bottom two contestants lip-sync to a track while deploying sickening tricks such as flips, kicks, splits – you name it, in order to remain in the competition.
Over the course of 14 seasons (and seven seasons of All Stars, as well as four UK seasons, two seasons of Thailand, three seasons of Canada, you get the gist), there’s been legendary anthems from stars such as Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Whitney Houston, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Madonna, Sylvester and Pink.
And, according to data from Luminate, the songs see an average increase of 138% on streaming services following the episode.
As per World of Wonder, Campbell credited Drag Race’s music supervision and production teams with the lip-sync choices, describing them as “queer people who are obsessed with pop music and pop culture.” The producer revealed, however, that RuPaul has the final word as he will “reject songs because they’re the wrong tempo, they don’t build, there’s all of these factors he’s thinking about.” “Back in the iPod days, when RuPaul gave you an iPod that he had loaded with music, it was a gift from god,” he said. “He is truly a PhD in pop culture, especially when it comes to music.” Campbell also recalled how difficult it was to clear song choices in the show’s earlier years because of unaffordable licensing agreements. “We were this little show that nobody knew, we were trying to get clearances, and it was really tough,” he explained.
