Q&A: Flamy Grant

We loved interviewing Flamy Grant at Greenbelt Festival 2024. We met her in a cosy little press tent at our favourite festival and she made us laugh and think in equal measure. 

Here's a sample of what you'll read in S(h)ibboleth Issue 1: 

S(h)ibboleth: You are the first drag artist to get a number one on the iTunes Christian charts – that’s pretty cool.

Flamy: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. And also, no-one else wants that, so… But I don’t want to be the person that downplays the accomplishment, because getting a number one on anything is a big deal, and I do celebrate that and I'm really, I'm very proud of that.

How has being a representative of the drag community in the Church (and vice versa) been? Super fun, I imagine…

There are definitely drag performers who come up alongside me and are like:  you go, girl. We love this. We got your back. That kind of thing. And then I've also had – far fewer – but a handful of encounters where it's like: what are you doing? Is this even drag? Because I’m not lip-syncing, I don’t do stunts, it really is singer-songwriter, but I happen to be in drag. That is what I do.

But to me, the thing that connects all drag is that it is gender fuckery of some sort. That's the baseline. We're all playing with gender. We're all challenging the status quo and pushing boundaries on that field. But beyond that, drag can be anything. It can be comedy. It can be very dramatic, it can be dance and stunts. It can be singing. It could be lip syncing. It can be whatever. Lots of drag performers use puppets.

I think it was RuPaul who said: “You bring who you are to drag and that's what makes it yours.” And I've been a songwriter since I was nine years old. And once I saw that what I was doing was resonating with people, I saw, oh, I’ve been going down this one path as a songwriter, going down this path as a worship leader, and I’ve always been interested in performance art in some form. But I've always kept them on their separate paths. And here is where those paths merge and come together in drag. It has really enabled me to figure out my life.

Your lyrics do not feel a million miles away from the kind of music that could help an evangelical experience deep worship. How do you feel when you’re singing that stuff?

I mean, I was a worship leader for 22 years. I think that through that experience I learned so much about the power of music. It's a unique thing we have as humans, to be able to craft songs and craft lyrics that move people. Like, what? A thought from my brain can make someone cry? That's crazy to me. I love music for that reason, and as a worship leader, I learned really well how to...

There's so much more to the Flamy Grant interview. You can read more in S(h)ibboleth Issue 1.

Flamy's album, Church, is out now wherever you get your music. It's really very good. Find Church and all things Flamy at flamygrant.com