THE VOICE’S SELLMA SOUL: ‘SAM SMITH MADE ME FAMOUS’
THE BRISBANE DRAG QUEEN HAS ALREADY CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF ONE SUPERSTAR
You’ve never seen anyone quite like Sellma Soul take the stage at the blind auditions!
The 25-year-old drag queen – whose real name is Ethan
– is set to take the stage by storm and the entertainer is no stranger to performing in front of superstars.
In November last year, British singer Sam Smith shared a snap of Sellma while visiting Brisbane nightclub The Beat where Ethan regularly performs his drag act.
“I stepped outside for a cigarette,” Ethan tells New Idea.
“And I hear this English voice say, ‘Hi, can I take a photo?’ I turned around and was about to say that I was just going to have a cigarette and then I would take a photo with them soon – and it was Sam Smith!
“I just thought he was just taking a photo but he ended up putting it on Instagram and captioning it, ‘My favourite person in the world.’
“Within 10 minutes I had, like, 30 people messaging me telling me I was on Sam Smith’s Instagram. He was really, really normal and just down to earth. He just wanted to have a drink and was down to party.”
The next day, Ethan says his phone was blowing up with messages from friends and fans
after seeing Sam’s post.
“I had so many notifications on my phone the next morning,” Ethan says.
“I’d gone up almost 2000 followers on Instagram and just [a] stupid amount of messages.
“I was even in a magazine in Japan!”
Since then, Ethan says he and Sam have spoken a few times.
“We have exchanged some messages on Instagram,” he reveals. “He told me he’s obsessed with me.”
According to Ethan, that “changed a lot for me”.
“I have a message when it comes to drag,” he says.
“And that is, if you’re fat, ugly, you’ve got a hunch, just work with it because I’m sick of people telling me that I’m not skinny enough or pretty enough because I got that all through high school and I got that all through musical theatre.
“I got told that I was too fat and I would never amount to anything but, baby, here we are!”
THE VOICE AIRS SUN., 7PM AND MON.–TUE., 7.30PM, ON NINE