Aja's showstopping performance in the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 is the latest entry to her iconic track record of Drag Race premieres.
At 22 years old, Aja kicked off her season 9 debut by making Lady Gaga gag for her Comme des Garçons look. She then had the girls shook — asking, "Is she gonna jump from there?" — with an All Stars 3 Variety Show number that landed her in the top 2. She was also the inaugural Lip Sync Assassin of All Stars 8, and demolished a lip sync to Beyoncé's "Freakum Dress" against Kahanna Montrese.
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In 2025, Aja returns to the Drag Race queendom by winning the first maxi challenge of All Stars 10 and obliterating the lip sync to "Think U The Shit (Fart)" by Ice Spice.
"Baby, let me tell you something: I am no stranger to a premiere episode turnaround. Drag Race, if y'all want the premiere to be turned out, y'all need to invite me for whatever it is," Aja tells Out. "I don't care if I have to go up there and fry some salami in a pan. I don't care if you want me to do a foot-rub tutorial. Girl, you want me to teach the girls how to write a script, or do interpretive mime dance? Then you need Aja on the premiere, Miss Thing! That's how you get it popping."
Between those Drag Race seasons, this chameleonic performer grew up in front of our eyes and unapologetically explored different sides of herself. Another glimpse of this long journey was seen in the third season of Legendary, as Aja established herself even further in the ballroom scene.
Looking back at the last eight years, Aja still laughs at how "the news of me stepping away from drag spread like wildfire. Everybody just knew, overnight. It was just like chaos everywhere." Understandably, she was excited to see how the fans would gag over her comeback. And gagging they are.
"This is the most unfiltered, and the most unhinged, that I've ever been on any show in my life. And I feel like the fans are eating it up," Aja says of All Stars 10. "This is what they wanted from me from the start. Who would've known that for me to get here, all I needed was three years of estrogen and maybe a good 50 pounds I gained?"
Aja on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10.
Paramount+
This first bracket of All Stars 10, a.k.a. Group Orange, included both Aja and Olivia Lux — two Drag Race alumni who belong to the International House of Miyake-Mugler in the ballroom scene. So they're family! And, you know… Just like family, Aja withheld some tea from being spilled right away to her fellow sister.
"Going into this, I obviously knew Olivia was coming. But I'm not going to lie: She told me that she was coming, and I didn't tell her that I was coming," Aja says, giggling. "I just didn't know how to break the news to her! She originally had reached out to me on a sisterly note like, 'Hey sister, I might be going to summer camp. Can I get a little help? Some ideas?' And I was like, 'Okay, yeah, girl.' I gave her a runway class and everything."
Aja recalls that it took her a while before telling Olivia she'd also be on All Stars 10. "Girl, I eventually had to tell her, because it would've felt awful if I didn't," she laughs. "I was like, 'Hey, just so you know, I might be camping out too.' And Olivia was like, 'Oh.'"
She adds, "But us getting ready to come to film All Stars 10 was definitely a bonding experience. It made us a lot closer, because we knew we were going to be in this, and we had a lot of talks about being in an alliance as the Miyake-Mugler girls. That's kind of how that came about."
Another Drag Race season, another viral moment served up by Aja straight out of the gate. In the lip sync against Irene The Alien to "Think U the Shit (Fart)" by Ice Spice, Aja captivated the judges and the fans, reminding them of just how incredible she is as a live performer.
"I had so much fun doing that lip sync," Aja says. "This was the first time I ever had to do a lip sync in front of the artist who sang the song, and that was a lot of pressure. I thought to myself, 'Miss Isis Sanchez is sitting on that damn panel. I have to pull out something… Because girl, if I don't, I'm just going to look like a wild crazy purple alien up in here.'"
But beyond the runways, the confessionals, and the lip syncs, Aja is aware of the new energy she's showcasing on All Stars 10. "In past seasons of Drag Race, I feel like I did heavily code-switch, turned down the banjee girl, and brought out the soft, approachable, lovable person. This time, I said, 'Fuck it! I am a banjee girl. I am a mess. I need the world to understand that I'm a good time girl.'"
"I'm not a 'go out to the club and get drunk' kind of girl," she explains. "But I'm going to stay in the living room, smoke like six blunts, then throw myself on the floor and start singing a random song. I have this rendition of 'Judas' by Lady Gaga that I do when I'm really stoned… I change up the entire song. That is the kind of girl that I am. And I feel like the world needed to see just a little bit of unhinged Aja."
Aja on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 episode 2.
Paramount+
As someone who was born and raised in Brazil, I can't help but ask Aja about a gorgeous photo she had taken for her "Brazilian visa." What was that about?
"Girl, I was supposed to go to Brazil for a gig! But my visa got cleared too late and I wasn't able to go," Aja says. "I was supposed to perform at an after-party for the Lady Gaga concert in Rio."
Wait, so Aja was booked for a gig taking place after Gaga's concert at the Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro that had a record-breaking audience of 2.1 million people?
"Yeah, but I'm going back to Brazil in July," Aja teases. "So get ready, Brazil! Mwah, mwah, mwah."
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 drops new episodes every Friday on Paramount+.
