Skip to main content
Anticipation simmered for a decade for the rapper Logic’s newest album, Ultra 85, which is finally slated for an Aug. 9 release. Tajh Jordan started their drag journey as Flawless Shade in 2014, the same year Ultra 85′s narrative arc began on Logic’s debut album, Under Pressure. Shade measures up as one of Portland’s tallest drag queens. Shade started out hosting bingo at the Southeast Sandy Boulevard sports bar Century (now Jackie’s). From there, they became one of the local drag scene’s most visible figures, winning Miss Gay Oregon right before the pandemic. During lockdown, Jordan placed runner-up on Painted with Raven, a RuPaul’s Drag Race spinoff series.
Jordan’s latest title? Video vixen.
Appearing in and out of drag, Jordan stars in the music video for “Fear,” Ultra 85′s lead single, which was released back in February. The video, which Jordan co-produced, depicts them in and out of drag, with its closing shot lingering on Shade reclining on a chair, staring out a nighttime window after a high-energy show. “Fear” has racked up nearly a million views since its February release, and while Jordan says they avoid comments sections, they’ve found viewers are more likely to make jokes comparing Shade to Doja Cat and Joe Budden than to outright disrespect them, compared to death threats they received when Painted with Raven first aired.
“When you think of an ally, I think of someone like Logic, who does not care what people think about anything and just appreciates the art,” Jordan says.
Rainbow Review is a biweekly print column where WW editor Andrew Jankowski reports on a person or event significant to Portland’s LGBTQ+ community.