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After touring Europe and Asia, what did it take to lure French drag artist Nicky Doll to Portland?
Just talk nerdy to her.
“There is a big geek and nerd community [in Portland],” Doll says. “I’m very, very excited to showcase that side of my drag.”
The host of Drag Race France, who competed on the flagship franchise’s cursed 12th season from 2020, touches down in Portland on Saturday, Jan. 4 at The Get Down. Doll will headline Final Fantussy, a drag dance party from party producer Evan Stewart celebrating Japanese role playing games including but not limited to the Final Fantasy series.
Doll will reappear in Drag Race outfits that first united video game and drag fans under her banner. Her two favorite Final Fantasy titles are FF8 and FFX-2, and while she doesn’t get to play as often as she wants to these days, Doll says she buys a new video game console whenever a FF or Kingdom Hearts title gets released.
“Growing up as a young queer kid that wasn’t fully finding his groove in the real world, being able to play in such an immersive alternative society was great because for a few hours of my day—or of my week, or otherwise it sounds like I only did this—it allowed me to disconnect from the reality and just play as someone else,” Doll says.
“Overall I feel like in Japanese pop culture and video games, the whole gender and codes of masculinity and femininity gets thrown out the window, so I was able to recognize myself as the male or female character.”
Even if readers don’t watch Drag Race, they surely recognize Doll as one of the artists who not only made history carrying the Olympic torch in full drag, but for also performing in the 2024 summer Olympics opening ceremony’s ode to the 17th century Dionysian painting Le Festin Des Dieux by Jan van Bijlert.
“America took on [cabaret culture] and transformed it into the showgirl vibe with Vegas and the starlets,” Doll says. “You brought it to the next level, but the roots of that is really and truly cabaret. We let America keep the glitz and the glam and the Marilyn Monroes and showgirls, and we’re very proud of the underground, rough-around-the-edges performers.”
Instead of reveling in cabaret as a uniquely French artform—or, she notes, beating out Lady Gaga, Celine Dion and the metal band Gojira to perform the ceremony’s only non-cover song—Doll was forced to go on the offensive, suing British actor Laurence Fox in French court for calling her and her costars pedophiles online (Fox lost a similar case in British court in January 2024).
“I just believe that if we have a platform, it is our responsibility to use it for good, and [Fox] was not doing that,” Doll says. “Michelle Obama said ‘when they go low, we go high.’ When they go low, I go lower.”
Doll’s first visit to Portland might not be her last, but locals still shouldn’t take it for granted. Drag Race France airs its first all-stars season of memorable alumni challengers later this summer, and while Doll is working on new music, there’s no guarantee that her record label, Universal Music France, will send her back to Portland on tour. For her part, Doll will try to come back as soon as she can.
“I love that part of the country,” Doll says of the Pacific Northwest. “The people are so fun, and it’s just a beautiful area.”
SEE IT: Final Fantussy at The Get Down, 680 SE 6th Ave., thegetdownpdx.com. 8 pm Saturday, Jan. 4. $10–$30, 21+.