Everything You Wanted to Know About Juno Birch

V talks with the UK-based drag artist Juno Birch on ‘60s lounge music, the Sims, and Brexit.

She’s a confused alien housewife from the ‘60s with over 200,000 Instagram followers. Juno Birch, who looks like she just fell out of the sky and is trying to blend in as a human, is a drag artist with one of the most unique styles attached to her name. 

But she doesn’t stay confined to the world of Instagram. One top of Juno’s magnificently outlandish look, she has a vast collection of art including sculptures and prints that resemble some of her best moments. When she’s not sculpting, the alien queen is performing drag to her favorite, most played songs.

Find out everything you’ve always wanted to know about Juno Birch below.

V Magazine Where do you find your inspiration for your art and your style, which with your sculptures, are typically synonymous?

Juno Birch I was inspired by Tim Burton a lot when I was little, and I’ve been drawing since I was a toddler. But when it comes to drag or my sculptures, I’m really inspired by stereotypes or what makes something iconic. I always talk about the Sims game, I’ve played it all my life, but the Sims are actually something that inspires my work because they stereotype certain concepts to the point where they look cartoonish. For example, a burglar in the game has a stripey black and white top with the black eye mask and the beanie hat and the bag over their shoulder. That’s definitely something that’s inspired my work, like the hotdog costume, it’s something that’s iconic but you can’t really explain why it’s iconic. 

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Miss bunny ??? (for sale) junobirch.com

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Who are some of your favorite musicians? What’s your favorite genre?

JB I don’t really listen to a lot of artists and bands, it’s usually one song that I’ll listen to over and over and over on repeat and then I end up performing it. But my favorite musician is Danny Elfman, he did the music for a lot of the Burton movies and his soundtracks just inspire me so much, I absolutely love him. I also love listening to elevator music and ‘60s lounge music because it’s really awkward, it has an awkward feel to it. If you have five people sitting in a room and you start playing an awkward lounge song, the scene automatically turns really funny. I love listening to it while I’m sculpting because then my sculptures get awkward too.

What are some things you’ve been working on lately?

JB I’ve been working on some new merch, new t-shirts and stuff, but none of it is available yet, we’re still working on designs. I’ve been working on new sculptures as well. I’m working on one that’s going to be in a room, a ‘70s bedroom kind of thing, hopefully with a swinging chair; but I’ll see how it turns out. I’ve also recently been learning the dance from Napoleon Dynamite. 

What does a busy day look like for you? 

JB My busiest days are usually filled with drag, if I’ve got a show, I’m quickly styling a wig or putting an outfit together. If I’m performing somewhere else, I’m packing a suitcase. If I’m sculpting, I’ll spend the whole day doing that. Usually, when I’m done sculpting I put the sculpture in the oven and when it’s done, I take it out and leave the oven on to stick a lasagna in.

What does a more relaxed day look like for you?

JB I just isolate myself and play the Sims. It’s just a really weird game and that’s why I love it. But if I play Sims for too long, I get really guilty and feel like I should be styling a wig or making a sculpture and doing something more productive. At the moment I’m tackling that problem by starting a YouTube channel, where I want to make videos of me in drag playing Sims.

What was the single best thing that happened to you in 2019? 

JB It would have to be trying oysters for the first time with Jennifer Coolidge. I went to L.A. and stayed at Trixie Mattel’s house while I did a few shows, and when I was there I met up with Jennifer and went for dinner. She is my absolute idol, if somebody said to me “If you could meet one person in the whole world, who would it be?” I would choose Jennifer Coolidge. So I went to a restaurant and ate oysters with Jennifer Cooldige and it was the most bizzare thing, but it was the highlight of my 2019. Her iconic voice is something I immediately go into when I’m on stage or I’ve had a few drinks. I’ll just all of a sudden be like “Oh, no! You look like the Fourth of July!” or “You make me want a hot dog real bad!” It just comes out, but this one time I was filming a makeup video with Trixie and she was like “Make sure you don’t do the impression too much if [Jennifer] is going to be watching!”

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@theofficialjencoolidge ?

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What’re you most excited for in 2020?

JB I’m excited to perform more, all around the world. I would love to perform in more countries. I’m also excited to make more videos, because I really love making them and then editing them myself and using that little stupid Mr. Bean inspired theme where I’m just kind of walking around a park and feeding the ducks like a confused alien in a weird environment. 

Being based in the UK, what are your thoughts on Brexit? How do you see it affecting or not affecting your everyday life?

JB I get really confused about Brexit. I had a problem with getting my hormones, because I’m transgender and decided to medically transition, I’ve been taking them for the past eight years or so. It’s been okay in the past couple of months, but recently when I’ve gone to the chemist they said they had problems getting the forms for the certain hormone I take or something like that. It was really complicated and confusing, but I remember someone saying it was because of Brexit. It seems to be okay now, but it was all really confusing. 

Do you see your style changing or evolving in the future?

JB A lot of people, when they talk about me, assume I’m always blue. I think it’s just a memorable color but especially in the past few months, I’ve definitely been doing more natural makeup in terms of color. I’ve been matching my own natural skin color but still doing the eyeshadow, thin eyebrows, massive lips, and the glasses. I think that’s something I’ll always have, I take my glasses off a lot when I perform, but nowadays  I’m learning how to become more human and better disguise myself as a human.

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