Yvie Oddly

Yvie Oddly, stage name of Jovan Bridges, is an American drag queen, performer, fashion designer, and singer, from Denver Colorado who came to international attention in 2019 when she competed on, and won the eleventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race. Oddly was announced to be on season eleven of RuPaul's Drag Race on January 24, 2019. She is the second queen from Denver to compete on Drag Race, after Nina Flowers. Flowers was runner-up in the show’s 2009 debut, competed in “RuPaul’s Drag U” in 2010 and “RuPaul’s All Stars Drag Race” in 2012. During the competition Yvie was noted for her eccentric and conceptual looks, her performance ability and her quirky and outspoken personality, she quickly became a fan and judges favorite. Oddly was the winner of the second episode main challenge with Scarlet Envy. She spent six weeks in a row placing in the top of the competition which makes her the queen with the most times in a row placing in the top after Jinkx Monsoon with eight times. In the eighth episode, she was in a double-save lip sync with Brooke Lynn Hytes to Demi Lovato's "Sorry Not Sorry."During the show, she was in a constant rivalry with fellow competitor Silky Nutmeg Ganache. When asked by RuPaul who should go home Silky named Oddly because of her twisted ankle even though Oddly did the choreography, Oddly named Silky as the one who should leave because she was resistant to critiques from RuPaul and the other judges. Entertainment site Gold Derby held a poll with 94% siding with Oddly against Silky. During the March 21 episode, while the queens were being taught some complex choreography for a live production of the political satire Trump: The Rusical, Oddly revealed she had to be careful about dropping to the ground as her joints often popped out of place. She has a connective tissue disorder called Ehlers–Danlos syndrome type 3 which means she doesn’t produce as much collagen. Hers is a subtype that is known as hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS). In the penultimate episode the final five queens wrote, recorded, danced, and performed a verse in a single-shot video hip-hop version of RuPaul’s “Queens Everywhere”. Out said Oddly’s performance was the best with her work on point and well performed. They added, “Her risks, boldness, and weirdo ideas have often landed her harsh critiques and enemies on the show — but at least she’s out here taking risks”. Judge Todrick Hall later apologized for calling her choreography spastic, he was told by fans in the United Kingdom that it was a taboo thing to say there. The judges praised her performance, her verse and her final runway look and she received the best critiques of the night making her the first queen to be named by RuPaul to move to the finale. Out of the top four she had the fewest wins but also the fewest times in the bottom. In May 2019, Honey Davenport featured Oddly in the Pride-themed song and music video "Stan for U." Oddly released her first single with Cazwell, "Weirdo", on May 22, 2019. The music video was released the day before. In the season finale, held in Los Angeles’ Orpheum Theatre, Oddly was in the final three and lip-synced against A'Keria C. Davenport to Rhianna’s “S.O.S.”, which she won. For the first battle she wore a dress decorated with stuffed animals toys and neon fake fur. Oddly then faced off in the final lip-sync of the season against Brooke Lynn Hytes to Lady Gaga‘s “The Edge of Glory”, which she also won. For the final battle Oddly wore a distinctive headpiece with mirrors that from the front made her look like she had three faces, and on the back was a second mask. Her parents, who hadn’t spoken to one another in years, sat together in the audience in support. Oddly was declared the winner of Season 11 of Drag Race, and “America’s Next Drag Superstar”, on May 30th, 2019. She encouraged the audience to, “Follow your oddities and fly your freak flag!” Her win is the latest in a series of title wins by black queer and trans people in drag pageants and leather competitions, a turnaround for LGBTQ communities. Oddly has been diagnosed with type 3 Ehlers–Danlos syndrome. With her heightened status she’s found a community of people living with HEDS, and other invisible disabilities, who call themselves zebras as they have more exotic disease than doctors would expect. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.