The cornerstone upon which RuPaul’s Drag Race is built has always been the Lip Sync For Your Life — fans look forward to seeing the queens duke it out in a high-stakes battle-to-the-end in nearly every single episode.
So, what could be more fun than getting to see eight of those lip syncs in a single episode?
On Friday’s episode of Drag Race (aired Feb. 17), the 10 remaining queens entered the proverbial Thunderdome for the series’ third-ever “Lalaparuza” — for the uninitiated, a tournament-style lip-sync battle royale that forces every queen to show off their performance skills.
While All Stars 4’s Lalaparuza offered eliminated queens a chance to return, and season 14’s gave the girls a chance at redemption for one of the worst Snatch Games in the show’s history, season 15’s challenge merely aimed to see which of the girls could take a song and make it completely their own.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Drag Race if there weren’t a few twists and turns involved. From giving one queen the power to pick their opponent and the other the power to choose their song, to the final two being decided in one of the funniest (and shadiest) confessionals of the season, the Lalaparuza managed to entertain and shock viewers — especially after prove lip sync superstar Jax ended up going home.
But of the eight lip syncs fans were treated to on Friday night, which ones stood out as the best of the best? Below, Billboard takes a critical look at all eight performances from season 15 episode 8 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and ranks them from worst to best.
