Taylor Swift definitely has a fan in Trinity K. Bonet.
“It was an honor,” the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum told Page Six Style of being tapped to appear in Swift’s “You Need to Calm Down” music video, which dropped Monday morning. “Taylor told us it was going to be the biggest video she’d ever done, but when I saw [the final version], I was ecstatic.”
The clip features a slew of LGBTQ celebrities, ranging from Ellen DeGeneres to the “Queer Eye” Fab Five; Bonet, 28, stars as rapper Cardi B in the “Pop Queen Pageant” sequence alongside seven other drag queens, each impersonating one of music’s leading ladies (Riley Knoxx plays Beyoncé, Adore Delano is Katy Perry, Jade Jolie stars as Swift and so on).
RuPaul then emerges to crown the pageant’s winner, but winds up tossing the tiara in the air instead to illustrate that, as Swift points out in the song, “we all got crowns.”
Bonet landed a part in the project with a little help from her friend Todrick Hall, the co-executive producer on “You Need to Calm Down” and a longtime pal of Swift’s, who called the drag star asking if she wanted to participate in an upcoming video he was working on. Hall didn’t offer up specifics straight away, but Bonet quickly figured out this wasn’t any ordinary job.
“I put two and two together; if this [shoot] wasn’t for him, it had to be for her,” she said.
Despite sharing the stage with one of music’s reigning superstars, Bonet said she and the other queens were treated like royalty behind the scenes. “I’ve been on a lot of productions, but this was one of the easiest I’ve been a part of because they made us feel so comfortable.” she recalled.
“Just a really comfortable, casual day. Taylor was there with us the whole time, drinking champagne with us and taking pictures, walking around with no security or anything. Talking to her was like talking to a friend.”
And the perks extended far beyond face time with a world-famous pop star. “The hotel they put us up in, the car service, the food and the pay were amazing,” Bonet said. “Honestly, there’s nothing I could say about the project or the people involved that wouldn’t be positive. If Taylor asked to work together again, I’d do so in a heartbeat.”
In the meantime, Bonet is ready to finally come face to face with Cardi B herself. The rapper shared a video of Bonet performing her hit song “I Like It” back in 2018 and declared her Cardi impression in Swift’s video “soooo cute,” but has yet to meet her drag doppelgänger in person.
“We’re working on it,” Bonet said with a laugh. “It has to happen. I’ll make it happen.”
She’s equally determined to help drag — which over the past few years has gone from sparkling subculture to global obsession, thanks in large part to RuPaul’s smash-hit reality competition — maintain its forward momentum in pop culture.
“There are still so many talented queens that deserve their turn, not to mention so many trans entertainers,” the star pointed out. “But I’m excited about the fact that drag is so accepted now, and that it’s something we’re able to showcase worldwide. Drag queens are in magazines, commercials, music videos and movies; we’re on talk shows.”
Continued Bonet: “I’m excited about the fact that drag is so accepted now, that everyone wants a piece of the pie. It allows doors to open for others. Drag is finally becoming what it should’ve been all along.”
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