Bold & Beautiful: Cherry Poppins

Meet Cherry, your local barista with a passion for illustration and a flair for mastering video games. Come weekends, you can find Cherry transformed into Cherry Poppins: a vampiric drag star, drenched in fake blood or sporting a protruding brain on stage. 

Cherry Poppins didn’t come to be overnight; they existed for years within Cherry’s imagination, awaiting the perfect time to make their first public appearance. Circumstances and societal expectations kept drag out of Cherry’s reach for much of their life. “For a long time, I thought that I couldn’t be part of the drag scenes because [people think] it’s more for cis[gender] gay men,” Cherry says. “But the pandemic was kind of a slap in the face of like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’”

Cherry was raised Mormon and expresses that existing in a high-demand religion “makes you feel like you have to fit into this very specific box.” They desired an outlet to express themselves, as unconventional as that person may be. “My drag character is a way for me to express that side that I never really got in touch with when I was younger,” Cherry explains. “I want to be as weird as I want, as kooky as I want and [to] fully express myself as a scary little vampire.” 

In 2020, Cherry Poppins was finally able to come into the spotlight. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cherry discovered digital drag. “I would literally stack up Tupperware boxes, prop my phone on there and put makeup on,” Cherry recalls. “I would do shows on Twitch or YouTube; That’s where I met people within the drag scene and where I started to gain experience.” From there, they began fleshing out a distinct drag persona. 

“I started out wanting to be the haunted painting that you find in your grandma’s attic.”

Cosplay and illustration built the foundation for Cherry’s talent for character-building. They studied character design for animation and used that knowledge to construct a personality. Cherry explains this process: “I studied how to express who this character is through visual cues; the silhouette, how they wear clothing, how they move, how they choose to [speak], anything like that.” And so, Cherry Poppins came to life. 

The persona of Cherry Poppins morphed over time. “I started out wanting to be the haunted painting that you find in your grandma’s attic,” Cherry says, “but as I experimented with a bunch of different vibes and ways to present myself, it slowly grew into who I am now.” 

Curating each singular drag show takes a great deal of creativity and planning. From curating the perfect playlist to designing a spooky wardrobe, Cherry works to wow the audience with a well-thought-out story. Cherry explains that it all begins with the music. They would cycle through playlists of songs, putting together songs that flow, and eventually, a story will surface from them.  

After all of the careful curation, Cherry Poppins is ready to take the stage. They are sure to both thrill and terrify audiences with their blood-red contact lenses and fanged teeth with fake blood dripping from them. “If the audience is feeling the number, it’s a lot of fun to go up to them and play into it,” Cherry states. “It’s one of my favorite parts of doing drag—the audience interaction. I can go up to them and either make them laugh or scare the shit out of them.” 

Cherry generously describes their experience living with autism and being a drag performer. Off stage, they explain that their autism can make it difficult to have social interactions. But on stage, their ability to hyper-fixate on details others might overlook becomes a tool to create a vibrant performance.  

To Cherry, their autism is not a roadblock. “I kind of have a unique outlook on the world because my brain interprets the world differently than neurotypical people,” Cherry describes. “I’m able to apply that to my drag and show other people the world I see. The millisecond I hit that stage, all my worries are gone and I’m in the moment. I’m able to be fully present.” 

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Cherry explains that their asexual identity carries a stigma, especially in the drag community. The misconception that drag is inherently sexual has made people challenge asexual performers, or at the very least, misunderstand them. Cherry is working to disrupt this stereotype. 

“The millisecond I hit that stage, all my worries are gone and I’m in the moment. I’m able to be fully present.” 

“When I’m in the wig, I’m being a character. I’m doing things that this character would do. Outside of that, I’m me. We are not the same person,” Cherry firmly explains. “It has been a challenge to tell people that because they assume [when] I perform a certain way on the stage, that I’m going to be the same outside of drag.” 

Though Cherry acknowledges the hardship of doing drag in a conservative state, they say they are not looking to leave Utah any time soon. “I love the little community we have here,” Cherry explains. “There are a lot more alternative artists popping up now, and I feel like we’re having a mini takeover moment where more and more artists are doing more weird stuff. I want to be able to stay here and continue to see that grow.” The camaraderie of participating in drag, from pageantry to goth, has made Utah an unlikely home base for drag artists all up and down the valley. 

There are many opportunities to see Cherry Poppins live in Salt Lake City in the upcoming months. Find them downtown every third Friday at Area 51 starting at 7 p.m. or in the AFAB-ulous show at Why Kiki on the second Friday of each month. Keep an eye on Cherry Poppins’ Instagram @ohcherrypoppins for more upcoming events and check out their illustration account @cherripai_art for commissions. 

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