EDGE Interview: Lagoona Bloo Channels 'Ultimate Icon' Britney Spears for Ptown Appearance

It's a tale as old as time: A young graduate with a degree in musical theater heads to the Big Apple with dreams of stardom courtesy of the Great White Way. These dreams are often dashed by the rigors of being self-supporting while auditioning for roles you might not want and likely won't get. But in that pursuit, Louisiana native David Brumfield found something that turned into a career, and life, beyond his wildest dreams – drag.

Lagoona Bloo, the self-proclaimed mermaid pop star, has made quite a splash in both the music and drag worlds. People Magazine put her on its list of Talented Emerging Artists in November, heralding her efforts to be a "popstar first and foremost." She has performed on "The Voice" and auditioned for "America's Got Talent," receiving rave reviews from every judge but Simon Cowell; and, with Selma Nilla, she's won an episode of the quirky Netflix show "Nailed It!." But her first love is always music.

Her work, which includes the catchy "Elle Woods," "AQUA," "C U Tonight," and the album "Underwater Bubble Pop," has been streamed more than two million times on Spotify. Inspired by several music icons, Lagoona freely admits Britney Spears is everything.

Lagoona is heading to Provincetown for the first time with her show "Oops, She Did It Again!" at the Art House, August 14-17. It's all Britney, all the time. The musical drag performer with a three-octave vocal range is sure to do all the hits, including her rendition of "Can't Make You Love Me," a cover which is about to be released.

EDGE recently chatted with Lagoona about music, drag, and, of course, Britney Spears.

EDGE: How did you get the name Lagoona Bloo?

Lagoona Bloo: There's a doll line by Mattel called Monster High. Lagoona Blue is actually the name of one of the dolls. One of the first times I did drag, Brita Filter invited me to come out and I didn't have a drag name. She said, "Hey girl, what's your name?" I answered, "I'm David," and she said, "No girl, what's your drag name?" For some reason I said Lagoona Bloo, then I thought, "Oh shit I just named myself." For about six months I would do a double take whenever people said Lagoona, then I'd remember that it was my name. Turns out it's the perfect name for me, because I've always been obsessed with mermaids and pop stars.

EDGE: How did you get into drag?

Lagoona Bloo: I grew up in a very conservative world. I was first exposed to drag on Season Six of "RuPaul's Drag Race." I remember my friend asking if I liked drag. He said, "They do all the things that you're good at, like design, perform, and makeup." And me being who I was at the time, I said, "No, that's not for me." I wanted to be an actor. Six years later I found myself in New York City, and I was fascinated by drag.

EDGE: What brought you to New York?

Lagoona Bloo: I came to pursue musical theater. I have a degree in musical theater performance and directing. I came to New York with a big dream: To be on Broadway. I think a huge reason why I was so hesitant to start drag was because I thought it wasn't going to bring me joy or happiness, or the success that I wanted.

EDGE: But you started anyway.

Lagoona Bloo: I was working in theater and I was super unhappy with it. So, I started playing with drag and I fell in love. It completed and filled in all these voids that I was missing in my career.

EDGE: At what point did you think it could be a viable career option?

Lagoona Bloo: I guess the moment that I decided to pursue it is when I thought it was a viable option. Like I said, I was just really unhappy. I'm serving tables, I'm babysitting, I'm running errands. I have three jobs just so I can wake up early and go to an audition to hopefully get five weeks of a job that pays me 400 bucks a week to play some shitty role that I didn't want to play. I was 25 playing 40-year-old men, not singing, not dancing in the ensemble. I was a big fish in a small pond at school, and then I came to New York.

I just knew I needed a change. I decided to stop pursuing musical theater in 2017, and by 2018 I quit all of my side jobs to focus on getting shows in New York, booking nightlife work.

EDGE: The first time you did drag – not Halloween party drag, full-on drag – when you looked in the mirror, what did you feel?

Lagoona Bloo: It was the first time I felt pretty. The first time I ever felt beautiful. I grew up thinking I was really ugly. I was raised in a Christian home by bigoted, homophobic parents, and we went to a Mexican-American Evangelical Christian Church. They were really hard on me. I turned to food, and ate a lot of my feelings. I identified with being fat and ugly. It's funny, when I look at that first photo now, I don't really see it, but I felt so pretty at the time. And I remember feeling, "Oh my God, I'm beautiful." Drag has really opened my eyes to how incredible I am, in more ways than one. It's been a really invigorating experience.

EDGE: You're a drag queen who actually sings. Is it more lucrative if you sing rather than lip-synch?

Lagoona Bloo: Everyone's experience with drag is different when it comes to money. For me, it certainly has been. I'm sure there are many drag queens who say they can sing. I'm a singer and a musician first. I'm a pop star who does drag. I'm a singer who does drag. And that is the cool part to me. I'm creative. It's like the music is the wine, and Lagoona is the cup that it's served in. Music is where my heart is. Drag is the vessel for it. It would be foolish of me not to chase this dream. Yes, drag can be lucrative, but it's also very expensive.

EDGE: Do you make your own costumes?

Lagoona Bloo: I design most of them, but I don't make them. When I started out, I was very poor. I didn't have the means to even buy the things I needed at the time. So, like any baby drag queen, it was hand-me-downs and thrift shops.

EDGE: People Magazine put you on the list of Talented Emerging Artists of the Winter in 2023. Thoughts?

Lagoona Bloo: Isn't that so wild? That was so crazy. I was astounded. I had just come out with "Elle Woods," and it made a little splash. I think the writer of the piece saw me open for Aqua that summer and began kind of following my journey. It was incredible. I couldn't believe it. It was also really cool to be one of the only drag queens ever to be on that list. It was so validating.

EDGE: And you've won several Glam Awards (Best in NYC Nightlife)

Lagoona Bloo: I'm a three-time winner. At the time I was doing a show called "Bloos in the Night" with a live band every week. We put together a set with this amazing jazz band led by Tim Young. It was really cool, really fun. I haven't done a cabaret in a long time, other than performing out on Atlantis [Cruises]. I've done a lot of cruise lines the last two years. In January I did a cabaret at Joe's Pub, and my next show will be "Oops, She Did It Again!" in Provincetown.

EDGE: Let's talk about the upcoming show.

Lagoona Bloo: I've sung Britney my whole life. I have done "Lagoona Sings Britney" in a few different places, like the Atlantis Cruise Lines where it was my most popular show. It was always packed. I perform Brit in most of my shows, but this is my Provincetown debut. I wanted to do something in Ptown that is a representation of who I am as an artist that is also super attractive to a gay audience. We gays love Britney. She's my ultimate icon. It's a musical tribute to her.

I'm also excited because the show goes hand in hand with my brand new single cover of "Can't Make You Love Me," from her second album, "Oops, I Did It Again," which was a very world-defining album for me.

EDGE: How so?

Lagoona Bloo: I was in the fourth grade when that album came out, and I was obsessed with it. I couldn't get enough of it. Even to this day, when I listen to it, it still slaps for me. It gives me this deep nostalgia that is so unmatched. A lot of my music is inspired by her. You can hear her all over my records, especially "Toys." Some of the vocal choices I make, and the nasality of my tone, are inspired by Britney, which my voice teacher smacks me on the hand for.

Music was always a safe space for me, because I had a hard time growing up and wasn't allowed to like what I liked. I was always shamed for expressing myself, constantly in trouble for what I liked. Music was easier to hide because I could just listen to it in my headphones. And I could listen to it alone in my room, where I could pretend whatever I wanted to pretend. I discovered this through Britney Spears, truly, and Christina Aguilera, and Shakira. Those three icons for me, my pop icons, were the places where I really found my voice. I was able to express myself in a way, explore my sexuality, explore these themes of being feminine or being girly, or saying curse words, or provocative things as a young teenager, like it or not.

EDGE: I was watching some of your YouTube videos, and I thought a number of them felt Britney-inspired.

Lagoona Bloo: Thank you. I'm very honored and flattered. I don't know what it is. I've always just been obsessed with her and her unique voice. It defined pop for a long time – I would say for the majority of the 2000s. I love her so much, and I hope she's okay. I wish people would leave her alone. But I also hope that she understands how many people she's touched. There are so many queer people I know whose lives are different and impacted by her.

The first time I ever said I liked boys was when I sang her song "Boys." The first time I ever, you know, thought about masturbating was because of the song "Touch My Hand." So many of my formative queer experiences that I wasn't allowed to talk about at home, wasn't allowed to discuss with my parents, wasn't allowed to talk about at all anywhere, were felt through pop music.

EDGE: If you could speak to that little boy, David, singing Britney songs into his hairbrush, what would say to him?

Lagoona Bloo: There are many times when I would like to go back and hug him. I grew up in a really violent home. It was scary. I never felt safe, accepted by anyone, or loved. I remember when I was about six years old, I was crying and my parents said, "Why are you crying? You're always crying. Stop crying." I wish I could tell little David that it's okay to cry. That everything is okay, and you're gonna be great. I love you, and oh, my God, you're going to be just like Britney Spears! I wish I could.

EDGE: Hopefully you can reach some of the little Davids currently living like you did.

Lagoona Bloo: It's a blessing to do what I get to do, to share my story with people. I hope that some queer kid in the South who feels like he can't be himself sees me and thinks, "I can do that." I never thought I could do that.

EDGE: And look at you now.

Lagoona Bloo: Look at me. I made cakes on "Nailed It!," called Simon Cowell a hypocrite on national television, I continue to make music, and am singing Britney Spears songs at my P-town debut. I love it. What a life blessing. Truly.

For ticket information for "Lagoona Sings Britney," at the Art House, 214 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA, August 14 -17, click here.

For more on Lagoona Bloo, visit her website.