Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Queen Of The Universe’ On Paramount+, A Drag Queen Singing Competition Where The Voices Are As Fierce As The Looks

The modern era of singing competitions is about 20 years old now, starting with American Idol‘s debut in 2002. Since then, there’s been almost every variation on the theme, including blind auditions, celebrities in elaborate costumes, and more. But we’ve never seen a drag queen singing competition. But thanks to RuPaul, MTV and Paramount+, we now have one. Could the competition on this show compete on Idolor The Voice?

QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see the earth from space, the announcer says, “On its surface lies one of the most precious life forms in the universe: Drag queens!”

The Gist: Queen Of The Universe, hosted by Graham Norton, is a singing competition where all the competitors are drag queens. The London-based competition draws some of the best singing drag queens from all over the world, and in a genre where many performers lip sync, a queen with a great voice is a rarity that this show wants to celebrate.

Joining Norton is the “Pop Diva Panel” of judges: Vanessa Williams, Leona Lewis, RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Trixie Mattel and Drag Race judge Michelle Visage. The winner of the competition will take home a cool $250,000.

We’re introduced to the first seven queens: Betty Bitschlap from Copenhagen, Chy’enne Valentino from Chicago, Gingzilla from Australia, Grag Queen from Brazil, Leona Winter from Paris, Novaczar from New York and Woowu from Guangzhou, China. The theme of the round is “This Is Me,” where they dress and sing in a way that reflects who they think they are as people and performers. The queens are being judged on what Norton calls WAP (not the song): Whaty they’re wearing, All-star attitude and Performance.

The performers are all introduced in video bits and shown off stage before they perform. The songs range from Woowu giving a funny take on “Material Girl” in both English and Cantonese, to Chy’enne Valentino belting out “Wrecking Ball.” Gingzilla, complete with real beard, growls out “Human”; Betty Bitcshlap sings “Dance Monkey,” Grag Queen does “Rehab”, Novascar does “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman,” and Leona Winter almost brings down the house with “Non, je ne regrette rien”.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? American Idol crossed with RuPaul’s Drag Race. In fact, RuPaul is one of this show’s executive producers.

Our Take: Despite the fact that drag queens and their elaborate clothes, makeup and showmanship are at the center of Queens Of The Universe, the first episode is pretty straightforward: The first seven contestants are profiled. Then they sing. Then the judging panel gives their opinions. It’s a format we’ve seen dozens of times over the last few decades, so the show definitely comes down to the quality of the contestants and the judges.

The judging panel is still feeling its way. We know that Williams has pretty unvarnished opinions about things, so we were surprised at the praise she liberally doled out. Some of it may have cloaked some constructive criticism, but it was mostly gushing. Lewis was all gushing, though she did question Woowu’s song selection a little bit, saying it lived “mostly in the middle”.

Visage is going to be the tough one, and once she got warmed up, she gave the contestants some pretty useful criticism. She even chimed in while Mattel was talking to point out that Novaczar should cut back on the white eye makeup, knowing that the look is also Mattel’s signature. We know that Mattel is going to be the comic relief; she got a little flushed when she touched Gingzilla’s beard, for example. But her insights on look and performance are needed because she’s the only drag performer on the panel.

The singing talent of the first seven contestants was surprisingly fantastic. Most not only were able to hold a tune, but show their range right off the bat. Like most singing contests, belting is going to be favored over more subtle and/or earthy voices. But we were impressed with almost all the voices, including Gingzilla, who started low and then was able to smoothly transition up during some of the high notes of the song. If most of the first seven appeared on Idol or The Voice, they’d go pretty far.

Sex and Skin: None, beyond Norton actually spelling out the title of “WAP” to tell the contestants they won’t be judged on that.

Parting Shot: The seven queens are introduced to the other seven contestants, who will perform in the second part of the “This Is Me” round.

Sleeper Star: We appreciated Leona Winter’s artistry, from her elegant makeup to choosing Édith Piaf’s most famous song to represent pride in being French. We also appreciated that Williams mentioned that the song has been played on an Allstate commercial about a billion times here in the States. Now we can associate it with something other than auto insurance.

Most Pilot-y Line: The profiles were refreshingly upbeat instead of focusing on life difficulties that the contestants have overcome. But they also could have been shorter.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Queen Of The Universe is a surprisingly straightforward singing competition, but the talent on display, along with the lively judging panel, should make the contest entertaining.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Queen Of The Universe On Paramount+