The comedian/singer's new album, 'Shartistry In Motion,' boasts a parody of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space."

Though drag performer Willam Belli -- known as Willam -- is familiar to many as a contestant on the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, he's also a successful singer, comedian, actor, social media butterfly and "stunt queen."

Willam's embrace of the "stunt queen" label -- a description given to him by fellow drag queen Alaska Thunderfuck -- is fitting, considering his often shocking performances. For example, in his live shows, he's sometimes given himself a champagne enema on stage. Or, there was that one time in San Francisco where an unsuspecting audience watched Willam sing Britney Spears' "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" while fisting someone. Yes, really. [Incidentally, this Q&A touches on several NSFW subjects. Consider yourself warned.]

RuPaul on 'Drag Race,' Brand-New Album & the 'Gayest' Show on TV

Still, don't let the stunts distract you from the handsome metrics Willam generates. He has the most-viewed YouTube channel (69 million) among the 89 Drag Race competitors, and he's the second-most followed Drag Race contestant on Twitter (160,000 followers) after fourth-season winner Sharon Needles (181,000).

Willam's YouTube channel boasts 439,000 subscribers who tune in primarily to watch his musical parody videos (his spoof of Alicia Keys' "Girl On Fire," dubbed "Boy Is a Bottom," is his most-watched clip, with 18 million views) and his Beatdown series (where he lampoons fellow YouTubers).

He's even visited the Billboard charts, notching six entries on the Comedy Digital Tracks chart -- including top 10 singles "Boy Is a Bottom," "Blurred Bynes" (a spoof of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines") and "American Apparel Ad Girls." His numerous parody singles, along with other original songs, have sold a combined 108,000 downloads in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music.

On June 2, Willam released his second album, Shartistry In Motion, which features three original tunes and five parodies. Among the latter tracks is a made-for-charity reworking of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space," titled "Ride for AIDS," which is raising funds in support of San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

"I want to go to hell for the really good, fun stuff," Willam says, jokingly. "Not for the shitty stuff that I do. So I figured a little bit of charity will help get me a window seat on the way there."

Billboard caught up with the globe-trotting Willam via phone -- he was home only "four days in May" and every weekend in June he'll be in Europe -- while in Bergen, Norway, for a concert performance on June 6. We talked about his new album, upcoming book, the Swift spoof, his racy new video for "Thick Thighs," the legalities involved with recording parody tracks (he's "skirting a fine line") and his run-in with Katy Perry.

Billboard: You came by our office a couple weeks ago. You and Manila Luzon were doing something for MTV and I missed you. I was so pissed off. Dammit, I missed Willam!

Willam: It's like sleeping through f---in' Christmas.

Exactly! I missed Santa! I kind of remember reading something about how a fan asked you about doing original material, or stuff that wasn't "funny."

Yeah.

And you said something along the lines of, "You know I found my lane and I'm really good at doing the funny stuff and I'm gonna stick with that." Was this always what you wanted to do? These kind of parody/spoof songs mixed in with some original humorous material?

I've always wanted to go in a very Lonely Island direction, but I was never capable enough of producing that kind of music on my own. I'm always just the drunk one who's re-writing songs in really inappropriate [ways] in my head… But I found some stuff that I liked finally, and teamed up with a producer that really got me, I guess. And we created some good stuff.

So the producer that you hooked up with, I'm assuming, was Markaholic [real name: Mark Byers]? Is that the person you've worked with the most on your material in the past few years?

Well, Markaholic is the guy that I've worked with the most, but he hasn't done my original stuff. (The Prodigal for American Commission produced the original, non-parody songs on Willam's new album.) One of the most flattering things is when other people are seeing what you're doing and then replicating that kind of thing. Because I've used Mark probably on 20 songs and now finally RuPaul is starting to use Mark. [Laughs.] He's got two songs on her new album (Realness) and it's amazing. It's a testament to his ability as a producer, but it's also like, "Oh, so she's checkin' for me?" It's kinda cool.

The original material… cause I've listened to the album and it's great and so much fun. There's not a clunker on it. You know, there's no filler, it's all killer.

Yeah, it's cute! It's a real tight [album]. I listened to it in the car the other day and I was like, "This is pretty tight! Ok. You did alright Willam."

Did you have the thought of making it a little bit longer, or were you like, "Nope, eight is great, we're gonna stick with these eight tracks?"

I did, but I've always heard about people on the road, like, "Oh, I'm on the road, I'm touring, I can't." And I've always just thought like, "Get in the f---ing studio and record it. There's a studio in every city somewhere or, you know, a tour bus." But the logistics of me doing it all on my own -- doing the art, the album, the writing, some of the producing -- all of that. And then only being home like four days in May. Because I was home without getting on or off a plane only four days in May. And that was just…

Good lord.

Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to just do normal stuff that you're like, "Oh, let me do that!" And those four days I was home, I was filming other stuff usually, or working, or doing a video. So I had to delay it [the album's release] once, and I needed to get it out. You know? Because it was just like, I had already given a [release] date and then I changed it, and I hate doing that to people. Because then they're like, "Oh, what's he doing?!" You know? And then I did a Kickstarter. So people are like, "He's probably just shopping!" [Laughs.] And I'm like, "F--k you." So I wanted to get it out. Last time I did an album, within a month later, I thought of "Boy Is a Bottom" and released that, and it wasn't on the album. So it's like, one of those things where you can never predict what you're going to think of next. I just thought of another one [song] this morning. It's really commercial, and I'm like, "I wish I could have gotten that on there, but wah-wah."

Put it on the deluxe version when you reissue the album later.

I'm gonna do a hard copy version with some remixes. So maybe I'll put it on that. [Willam then explains the idea behind the new song, a spoof of a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 single. Billboard tells Willam that we shouldn't divulge the idea in print, as someone could swipe the idea and "beat you to the punch."]

So…

My next video is pretty crazy. I don't think anybody can beat me on that, though. I'm doing a cover of [Britney Spears'] "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" while I fist somebody. I filmed it in San Francisco like two weeks ago. It's so cool. I'm so proud of it.

Wait, wait, wait. So, wait. Did you say fist?

Yes, sir.

Ohh…kay! Like, actual fisting or is this just like sort of comedic ha-ha "we're cutting away…"?

No. I'm fisting.

Oh, good lord. Ok.

Yeah.

And this is on stage somewhere? (Laughs.)

It was on stage and I told someone, "I will perform for free at your afterparty, if you let me fist somebody." And they're like, "Yeah! Sure! We'll just say it's simulated!" And I was like…

It's San Francisco, why not?!

I love San Francisco! I'm trying to take drag back to its down-and-dirty roots where people get offended at first, and then they're like, "Oh my God, this crazy queen." I just want to be like a little bit of Bluto from Animal House, mixed with like some amazing diva like RuPaul. You know? I've always loved Ru, but I've always gravitated more towards craziness like [performance artist] Leigh Bowery and [drag icon] Lady Bunny and that type of performance, which has a certain antic. I work with Alaska Thunderfuck a lot, who's another drag queen that I love. And… Oh, you know who she is, nevermind. I'm used to talking to straight people. (Laughs.)

You're like, "Let me explain what drag is."

Let me explain what an Alaska is.

(Laughs.)

She did a song about fisting and then later I was, like, "Uh, ok, I'm gonna actually fist somebody though tonight. You wanna come to the club girl?" She's like (impersonating Alaska's dry drawl), "I caaan't. I want non-alcoholic beer and they don't have it." Like that type of thing. … She said to me, "You know what I like about you? You're a stunt queen." And I was like, "Yaaaas! I am a stunt queen!" It was one of those things that stuck.

So the fisting video, is that for one of the songs on the album, or is this like something totally separate.

No, it's just totally separate. It's on my YouTube or XTube channel. What I'm planning on doing is anytime on the video that my fist or anything objectionable shows, I'm actually split-screening that part with the "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" actual video. We'll see how long that stays up. (Laughs.) And then the actual uncensored version will be available on XTube. I have a tucking video on XTube, which is uncensored…

Right. With Kennedy Carter, I think, right?

Oh, you know all the names! You got Wifi!

(Laughs.) But no, I remember that was taken off of your YouTube a while back and then you had to go to XTube and put it on there. I still don't understand what's actually happening when you're trying to show the tucking. I watched a different instructional YouTube video from [RuPaul's] Drag Con [convention in Los Angeles, where Willam moderated a panel where he showed the audience how to tuck, using a volunteer model] and I'm still not clear on exactly what happened.

Yeah. A lot of my material is very adult, and it involves penises sometimes, or titties. I need a place where I can showcase that without being censored, so I go to XTube.

Getting back to the music…

Yes, sir.

I've listened to the whole album and I'm unclear as to which of the songs are original or non-parody tracks. Which ones are originals?

The originals are "How Much Can't," "Coin on the Dresser" -- my prostitution song, and, uh…

Is "Thick Thighs" original?

Yes. "Thick Thighs!"

I was fascinated by the disco vibe of "Coin on the Dresser," because it's so…

Yessss!

It's like so throwback, so Studio 54, but at the same time it's still fun and contemporary. Was that the vibe you were going for?

I told the producer I wanted transploitation vibe. Which was very blaxsploitation, but trans. The whole time I was watching Nichelle Nichols in Truck Turner… (Nichols plays a foul-mouthed character who manages a den of prostitutes.)

Oh my God! (Laughs.)

She was like slappin' hoes. And Shaft. It was that. And the video was gonna have me cut in… like… I filmed the video Wednesday and I was gonna have a cut-in of me screaming at actual hookers. But I was only able to get two or three actual real working people, and they're the stars of the video, and I play an Uber driver in it. It's so much fun. We just filmed at the Jim Morrison motel room [at] Alta Cienega where he stayed and everybody writes on the walls. And then another David LaChapelle hotel room. It's so cool. I'm really excited.

Wow.

But that's exactly what I was going for! I'm glad you got it! That's so exciting!

If you are in anywhere by a pool screaming at hookers, as Nichelle Nichols does in Truck Turner…

(Laughs.)

Please, give me more. That is iconic.

Yeah, I know. I might need to do a reshoot and cut that in, definitely.

I want to know… In the song "How Much Can't," what does the lyric "how much can't could a white girl can't if a white girl couldn't can't even" mean?

Ok. This is something that you really don't get until you see me perform it, because you know how stupid white girls are like, "Uh! I just can't with her! I can't even today." You know? Like that type of thing. It's that. It's "How much can't could a white girl can't?" You know? It's "Okay?" Once it pops together (he sings "okay," in a sing-songy bird-like voice, which sounds like another drag queen Laganja Estranga), and then tongue-pop. (Willam makes a clicking tongue-pop sound with his mouth, which is a sort of hallmark of another drag queen, Alyssa Edwards.) "Can't even!" You know? It's a little bit drag, a little bit street, a little bit everything. I just combined it all. I was on a gay cruise while I wrote it. We were stopped in Venice and I'd been hanging out with like 20 drag queens…

Laganja? (Laughs.)

With everybody. [In] a van. And everybody was just (makes a series of quirky, clucky sounds)… Alyssa and [drag queen] Shangela up in my ear, just doing all that. And Laganja, and all that bull… Yeah, her. She who shant be spoken. So I just wrote it one day in a couple hours walking around Venice in the rain. I was just like, "This is catchy. It feels very playground wars, and I'm gonna do it."

But it's not specifically a comment on those drag queens, obviously. It's a riff on that kind of whole vibe of young, vacant, valley girl crossed with drag queen-speak.

Oh, no, it's a comment on it. My way of doing things is to take something and lampoon them with such a straight face that people don't know. That's what I think is great about the original songs that I did. That's what Lonely Island does too. They take something and they make a f--king banger of a jam, and once you listen to it and break it down, you're like, "Oh! But wait, this is actually funny." You know? The music is totally bumpable. You want to turn it up in the car and sing along. And then you're like, "But it's actually humorous music." The video just usually solidifies and really hits that out of the park, that it is straight forward and then you're like, "but there's all these little funny things thrown in." So it's kind of like a mind f--k. That's what I'm kind of doing well, and learning that I'm good at f--king with people's minds. The stunt queen.

You get that in "Thick Thighs." When you listen to it, you're like, "This is a legit track." And I don't mean that in a derogatory way. But you're listening to it, and you're like, "Man, this is super bouncey." And when [drag queen] Latrice Royale comes in and is growling at you like, "GRRRR!" It's like "Ok, we're going to New Orleans! Ok, cool!"

Yeah, she's f--kin' DMX on it. It's rad!

Is that that direction you gave her? "Alright, take your voice down three more notches!"

Yeah, well, we had a demo with the producer doing some stuff, and his voice had to be lowered with the machine. And she just got in there and we're like, "Can you go hard?" And she's like, (mimics the deep-voiced Royale) "Yeah mama, let me back up."

And she just… she let loose! It was like, Lil Jon meets DMX meets Sylvester. It was amazing. She's one of my favorite people to work with. She's always been 100 with me, and she was one of the first people I thought of that "I need to get her on something."

Where did you guys film that video? (Which is full of gyrating male go-go dancers.) I've seen the video a couple times now, because, you know, who wouldn't see it a couple times…

(Laughs.)

It looks like it was filmed in New York somewhere.

No, we filmed it at [the strip club] Cheetahs in Hollywood. I wanted something like very…

Oh, wow!

It was the 17th day out of 21 in a row, in drag, for me. I got off the plane… I did a U.K. tour for 12 days and then I went straight to Cannes for my Magnum ice cream commercial thing that I did. And then I went from the Cannes airport to Amsterdam to LAX. And then straight from LAX to Drag Con. Did Drag Con for two days. (May 16-17.) Monday (May 18) I did a video with Alaska, "Ride for AIDS," which was all for charity. It's a Taylor Swift parody (of her song "Blank Space"). Tuesday I did another video. Wednesday I did the video with Latrice. No! It was the 21st day of 21 days in drag. I was like, "Let's get this done. This is Latrice's only available day." We rented Cheetahs out. It was a huge undertaking. And I'm glad it all fell into place.

Wow. I'm assuming that you helped recruit the dancers for the video. Was that a casting call that you did yourself?

I actually have a company -- I've had it for like 12 or 13 years -- called Box Meat. It's a stripper agency, where I book dancers for clubs.

Oh, ok. See, I knew that you had done that, but I wasn't sure if you were still involved with doing… managing the go-go boys…

Why would anyone give up a job that books strippers? It's like, no. Uh-uh. Best job ever.

So this was not only a music video, but also a promotional vehicle for Box Meat.

Oh, no. That business runs itself and I don't need to promote it. I just pulled from an easy resource, you know?

I see.

Yeah. And Andrew Christian (a fashion designer that specializes in underwear and often-racy advertisements involving barely-clothed male models) gives me free stuff whenever I use his whores.

Entertainers! Entertainers! Whore is a strong word 'cause most of them don't charge.

Oh, hey now! The only Andrew Christian model that I recognized was Murray Swanby. The others names I don't really recognize, but I'm sure they're all lovely gentlemen.

Yes. (Laughs.)

I want to ask a sort of serious question about -- and you brought it up already -- the Taylor Swift parody and doing spoofs and parodies in general. Generally speaking, if you do a cover of a song, or you're interpolating a song, you have to get a mechanical license from the original song's copyright holder and a synch license from its publisher, if you make a music video involving a cover song. Do you have a clearance and legal team at the ready that has to deal with all this stuff?

My motto has always been it's easier to say "sorry" than "may I?" But I did end up getting a lawyer at one point, (Milton Olin) he was the COO of Napster, so he knew a lot of ins and outs about music. He educated me a lot on parody law and that kind of thing. That as long as the parody directly juxtaposed the subject of which the original song is about, it's fine. That's what I usually try to do. Like, "Boy Is a Bottom" was the opposite of (the song it parodied, Alicia Keys') "Girl On Fire," in theory, because "Girl On Fire" is (about a) girl on top of her game, "Boy Is a Bottom" [is about a] boy [at] the bottom of his game. You know?

Mmmm.

So, as long as it's an actual parody and you're not just saying, "I'm gonna grab a Taylor Swift song and write about butt sex," you know?

Right.

I am actually skirting a fine line, but I'm inside my rights, which is awesome. And my husband's a lawyer. So he's always like, "Don't do that one! You're gonna get sued! We're gonna lose the house!" Like that type of bullshit. But, it's a fine line, and I'm careful about it. I'm careful about my subjects. I really think "How would you argue this in court, Willam?"

Right.

And then… I do it! Knock on wood, muthaf--kas, but we good so far. All the artists that I've parodied have liked my stuff. I was performing "Chow Down" [a parody of Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" about Chick-fil-A] once at a party for… it was Neil Patrick Harris' I think 40th [birthday party] or something. And some girl's screaming, she's like, "Just do 'Boy Is a Bottom!'" We're like, "Shut up, we're singing about chicken right now, for Chick-fil-A. We'll sing that in one moment." She's like, "Just do it!" And we're like, "Oh my god, that's Katy Perry." Like, screaming for us to do a song. It was neat that people actually know [and] have seen what we've done. Because every female artist has gay male dancers and a stylist in their ear, you know? So it's kind of neat that they know about us. That they know about the drag.

You kind of run in that circle now. You're part of that orbit of pop divadom in a way. You're part of pop music. In the past few years, drag has been elevated and the entertainers from the drag community have gone beyond drag. People are watching your videos that aren't necessarily defined as "drag queen fans." They're just fans of funny stuff and good music. Have you thought about trying to collaborate with artists that are maybe established in the pop world? Is that a dream or anything? Like, "Hey, maybe Katy Perry would like to work with me!" Have you thought about that sort of thing?

(Laughs.) Of course I have. But… that's like people in my family back in like Philly going, "You know you should do more movies." It's like, "Oh! Good idea! Why didn't I think of that?!"

Why don't I?!

"That sounds like a great thing for my career!" Yeah, it's totally one of those. I would love to if the opportunity presented itself. Amazing. But it hasn't yet. I'm really happy doing what I'm doing, but I hope that it continues to grow and those kinds of opportunities do present themselves, through my own talent or a blackmail situation of some sort. One or the other.

I have not seen you perform live before, I'm wondering…

Lucky!

No, like what is the live show like...?

You know there is a splash zone, right?

Oh? It's like going to Kylie Minogue's Aphrodite show where they give you ponchos when you walk in? This is what happens in the first rows of a Willam show?

Well, I have the "Only Anally" Katy Perry parody. It's [Perry's] "Unconditionally" but my version is "Only Anally" is for this [YouTube] cartoon called Jiz and the Mammograms. It's a parody of [the '80s TV animated series] Jem [and the Holograms] where instead of all the girls living at an orphanage that Jem, or Jerrica [Jem's real name], runs… I don't know how familiar you are with Jem, they're all…

I am.

Just. Ok! … For "Only Anally," he [the producer of Jiz] had me come in and play this crazy rock star who was like one of the boyfriends of the Misfits [the rival rock band of the Holograms]. There's a part [in the song] about butt-chugging in it and liquor not touching my lips. "But how do you get drunk? I do it anally!" And I butt-chug on stage with a Fleet enema every time. I pour out the water, pour in some champagne, and then take it up the butt. So…

Wait, uh… at every show you do this?

At every show I do "Only Anally" I do it, yeah. So that's kind of my splash zone there. I don't do it at brunch shows cause you do not want to do a butt-chug with like a bloody mary. That looks like an abortion.

That adds a whole new level to stunt queen, though, so it's something to consider.

Yeah. It kinda does. I mean, it's not like I turn on the audience and spray it at 'em like a fire hose or anything. But, like, usually, that's my last song in the set. And then it's like, "Ok! Bye! Suck my balls, gotta go! See ya at the meet-and-greet!"

Is that even… Have you gotten in trouble for that sort of thing? Is that even like something you're allowed to do legally? I have no idea what I'm asking, but…

(Laughs.)

Could you get in trouble for something like that?

Uhm… I did it on the cruise, and someone's like, "Don't do it on the ground, because there's like levers in the floor." And I stood in a bucket and did it. I told them I wouldn't do it on the floor. And they were like, "Good, we really don't want that in the show." And I was like… I was just quiet then. Say sorry, don't say may I. If you ask, there's always gonna be a no. I'm not gonna… It's again, skirting the line. You know? I love it.

You're like Nike. Just do it. I get it, yeah.

Yeah. Boots.

Well, you know, I've…

That was first time I said boots! That was pretty good, damn.

Normally is boots the go-to word?

Boots is an affirmative drag word. It's a derivative of house down boots. I just pitched a book to my literary agent and he didn't understand half the words so I made a glossary for him. And he's like, "This is funny, this needs to go into the book." House down boots and boots is in there. He's like, "What is it?" I'm like, "Well, it's an affirmative modifier… which is kind of like, 'OK, we're going to the mall. Oh? Boots!'" You know? I'm trying to take drag mainstream but my way this time. Dirty and down and out there. The book is called Suck Less: Where There's a Willam There's a Way.

Can we say when the book is coming or is that too far off in the future? Or are we even allowed to talk about the book at this point?

Oh you can talk about it. But this is one thing that I learned from my album: Never give [release] a date.

No, never do it.

Never give a date. "Currently working on…"

Currently working on. In the studio.

On a writer's retreat. In Norway.

(Our conversation with Willam was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.)







