Phi Phi O’Hara

I’m ashamed to admit that I have just, for the first time, viewed “Bitchy,” the music video starring Phi Phi O’Hara (season 4 runner-up of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”), and was floored by it. Having never realized that Phi Phi, aka Jaremi Carey, could sing the way he does, I was more than impressed. After meeting Phi Phi on several occasions, I found her hard not to love, a handsome boy, a beautiful and extremely talented queen with a big heart, who hides behind the guise of “bitchiness.”

So how has life been since our last “Get Out!” conversation?
You know, same shit, different day. I’m glad I’m still working and doing all that stuff.

[The sound of a screeching subway car passes by.]

Where are you?
Actually, I’m out buying fabric for outfits for the pageant and the Get Out! Awards!

Nice.
Yeah, so that’s what I’m doing.

So you still make your own clothes?
It’s cheaper, and I just like saying I did it myself.

[Finally, the noise starts to quiet down, so we are no longer shouting questions and answers.]

You are an original and creative queen. So, do you have any new projects to report? Last we spoke you were doing your music video.
My music video wasn’t out yet, I don’t think.

No, not yet.
Well, I released “Bitchy,” and that was great. It got an amazing response, actually, even from people that were not fans before the show.

They are now.
Which is great! I’d rather people like me for my talent, not some edited TV show that they see. So, it meant a lot that they actually liked the product I put out there. I never wanted to do it as a drag queen. I like to sing naturally, anyway. I wanna just release music as Jaremi. So now I’m doing my Jaremi album, and it will be coming out soon. We’ll see how well that works. That way I’m the first “Drag Race” girl to break free from that. I’ve been talking to [my manager] David, and I don’t know if you met Lucia [another part of the management team]. She does all the music. She actually works with Courtney Love, Lincoln Park… She’s like, “We’ve been wanting someone to break free of the ‘Drag Race’ thing and just do something as a boy. I mean, we have Adam Lambert, but, you know, I wanna try and do that and see if it works.”

So you sing with your own voice?
Yeah, like, I love Pandora’s and Manila’s stuff, but it’s too campy, and it’s stereotypical drag queen. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to sing about that stuff. I don’t sing like a girl. So, “Bitchy” worked well for it, but it’s not what I wanna do. The producer that I worked with for “Bitchy” was an amazing, amazing guy, but it was my first time. I did it on my own, and I kind of just did whatever they said to do, and so now that the song was released, it put me in the hands of people who know what they are dong. I felt like they’re not trying to take advantage of the fact I have money, so they’re not trying to milk everything, which is good. The people I work with now just wanna make good music, and now I get to write my own stuff. I didn’t get to write “Bitchy.”

That is awesome. So you’re not just another pretty face?
Yeah, I’m excited, and the thing is that if I fail, like, it’s fine, cause I get to do something I wanna do. Does that make sense?

Yeah, it does.
So even if it fails showing wise, I know I accomplished it. It’s something I wanna do, and I think a lot of people are gonna look at that and maybe it will inspire people to do what they wanna do. We’ll see.

Send me a copy; I’ll review it.
Yeah, totally. I’ll do that. I’m still finishing the EP, but it will come out soon. I only have two more songs to record, and then it will be out.

Favorite cocktail?
Cherry vodka sours, but it’s more of like a Texas thing, so a lot of places up here don’t make it.

You’re a superhero: What are your powers and why?
I’d like to morph into other people. Because that way I’d wanna experience life as everybody else. I love the life that I’m in, but I’d like to experience other people’s lives. It might make you appreciate what you have.

You’ve made the headlines. What do they say?
Probably like a scandal, probably some sex scandal. Actually that’s probably what it would be.

That boyfriend of yours is hot!
He’s a looker.

Bring him to the awards!
I will; he’s going to come. I’m also going to bring my roommate. She loves glitter, the nails, the drag, the hair, makeup. I always tell her about you. I want her to meet you because you remind me of each other.

I love people who love glitter.
She’s a real girl in drag.

So am I! Anything else that we can promote for you?
Just my music. Of course, I’m doing the touring, and people can always look on my website, but now my focus is my music.

I’m excited to see you at the pageant and the Get Out! Awards!