Today we’d like to introduce you to Carnelian Clinique.
Hi Carnelian, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
When I was 12 years old my favorite band was Nirvana. I was a shy kid, bullied, and awkward. Music was my safe place. I remember seeing a picture of Kurt Cobain and RuPaul holding a baby Francis Bean. I was enamored by this ‘giant lady’ and set out to find out everything about her. Fast forward to high school, and Drag Race aired its first season. I finally had regular access to the world I wanted to badly to see more of. I started getting into makeup (this was before YouTube tutorials were a thing and all makeup was cake or chalk) and going to school in – more or less- drag. In college, I started going to drag shows every chance I could at Play Dance Bar. I was taking mental notes on how to move, how to dress and creating a new persona in my head. After 5 years of performing at the Tennessee Renaissance Festival , learning how to sew, and continuing to go to every show and meet every entertainer I could, I was finally at a place where I felt I had overcome my shyness enough to move forward with my dream of being a drag entertainer. I never even considered if that was something a person assigned female at birth (AFAB) could do or a space I would be welcomed into. Audacious, I know. The last 7 years have been an amazing adventure full of making new friends, performing in multiple states, learning all kinds of new things and just being a silly lil guy.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I would say it has been a pretty smooth adventure. When I had only been doing drag for 6 months I got my first paid booking at Tribe for Cassanova’s Wicked Wednesday movie nights. It has been a rapidly upward trajectory from there! Booked and busy most weekends, working on new projects others, winning SiSSi in 2022 (the first AFAB and POC winner) and going on tour. AFAB performers all over the country deal with producers who won’t book them because of their genitalia but we have wonderful producers in this city who see art, not junk in pants. i would say me biggest challenge is still my raging imposter syndrome but I pay a very nice lady a lot of money to help me get through that.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What do I do? I like to call it “real life shit posting”. I love a silly little number. I’m most known for winning a competition dressed as a cockroach. You may ask “why would someone do that?” and the answer is ” If I can pull it off then why not do it? i refer to myself as Nashville’s Neon Nightmare or Neon Queen. I’m really proud of my creativity and my ability to ask for help when I need it. The ability to learn new skills and try new things even if it doesn’t work out is definitely something that puts me out there.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I actually don’t really consume drag media much anymore. I may look at pictures of a runway from Drag Race or Dragula but drag programming has changed so much in the last 16 years that you really shouldn’t compare what you’re doing at your home bar to something a person took a second mortgage out on their house to make for a TV show. If I get an idea from somewhere it usually something random I saw on the internet, being inspired by a fabric or one of my friends, and possibly wanting to make a better version of a Shein outfit because I won’t buy it but I WILL make a better one!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1_carnelian_pls
- Twitter: https://bsky.app/profile/ccarnelian.bsky.social
