A flurry of rose petals cascade over a bald head as the beat drops for the first chorus of Whitney Houston’s ‘So Emotional’. This is was the moment that changed the course of RuPaul’s Drag Race and made a global star of Sasha Velour. In advance of her performance at the Mother Pride Block Party, the iconic queen spoke to Ethan Moser about what to expect.

Velour appeared on the ninth season of the drag competition show, which has since firmly established itself as a global television phenomenon, with franchises spreading from Thailand to Brazil. While the cerebral queen went into the finale as an underdog, Velour was a fan-favourite from the moment she walked into the Werk Room.

Velour’s alternative, intellectual, and political approach to drag quickly cemented the queen as a contender for the crown, but it was in the finale that Velour truly stole the show.

Lip syncing against assumed front-runner Shea Coulee, some expected to see Velour sashay away from the competition, just inches from the crown. But as that song began playing, Velour removed her ginger wig to reveal not only her now-iconic bald head, but also a shower of rose petals. The moment, now cemented as one of the most iconic Drag Race lip syncs, has established a new normal for finalists of the show, with reveals like Nymphia Wind releasing black boba balloons in her Season 16 finale lip sync and Asia O’Hara attempting to release live butterflies during her finale lip sync in Season 10 all trying in vain to match Velour’s unexpected moment.