MS Features: Opera Tang on being fabulous and queer in Singapore
“Two girls were just walking down the road the other day and they called me bapok [an effeminate male],” said Opera Tang.
“I was just in my [army] admin t-shirt and shorts… They point you out for being different.”
The Singaporean drag artist, who has more than 42,000 followers on Instagram and a film feature under her belt, is no stranger to such derogatory terms pointing out her femininity.
Opera, 29, has learned to brush off such ‘haters’ and noted that such comments are now few and far between.
She has come a long way in embracing her queerness — from coming out to her religious family at 18 years old, to now performing drag and creating costumes with her 93-year-old ah ma.
Opera, who declined to share her legal name, speaks to MS News about the struggles of being different in Singapore and her journey of acceptance.
Relationship with ah ma blossomed through drag
“I like to say that I’m a ‘pandemic queen’,” said Opera, who made her performance debut at Pink Dot in 2020. “That’s when I debuted ‘Opera Tang’ as my public persona.”
Since then, she has taken both the local and international stages by storm — having starred in Lei Yuan Bin’s film ‘Baby Queen’.
Opera described the hour-long documentary portrait, which premiered at the 2022 Busan International Film Festival, as the highlight of her career.
The film shows raw, behind-the-scenes glimpses into Opera’s life beyond the flashing lights, and features one of her biggest pillars of support, ah ma, whom she credits for teaching her how to sew.
While ah ma is a veteran seamstress with close to 80 years of experience, Opera only picked up the skill when she started drag around five years ago.
Since then, they have made about 30 costumes together, from elaborate pieces with Victoria’s Secret-esque ‘wings’ to a simple, but still fabulous, hot pink romper.
“She says I’m good at sewing, and that I’m a fast learner,” said Opera, slightly bashful about the compliment.
At the start, learning from ah ma was challenging given the language barrier.
Opera would struggle to communicate in Mandarin and Teochew, but ah ma would remain calm through it all. She said: “I’ve never in my life seen or heard her raise her voice.”
For ah ma, passing down her skills to her grandson was a matter of “duty” — apart from that, she’s not bothered by her uncommon interests and identity.
Ah ma, who is 94 years old this year, added that Opera is her own person, and is free to live her own life.
A playful boy who sewed clothes for dolls
Opera credits drag for bringing her closer to her grandma, and allow her to embrace her true self, even though they have lived together her whole life.
Describing Opera as a “playful boy”, ah ma fondly remembered always having to “call [her] many times to eat”.
She also recalled her earliest memories of her grandson’s skills with the needle, saying that Opera once crocheted clothes for her sister’s Barbie dolls.
For Opera, her love for all things feminine started at a young age. She said:
“I think I’ve always wanted to do drag… before I even knew about the term or the art form, I was very drawn to feminine silhouettes, anything womanly.”
Opera calls herself an “OG drag race fan”, having watched the first three seasons of the American reality television series ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ as a teenager in secondary school.
Watching and appreciating drag brought joy to the closeted teen, who was then inspired to create beautiful costumes for her school’s drama club.
She shares that she juggled four to five co-curricular activities in school, even though she considered herself a bit of a “loner”.
Drag, along with her identity as a queer person, were things that she had to keep to herself for most of her youth.
“It was the internalised misogyny in me and even homophobia or transphobia,” said Opera, who was raised in a Catholic household.
“[This] wasn’t in my comfort zone… Being gay is one thing, but being trans is another thing.”
However, Opera reflects that her struggle was less related to religion, and more so linked to societal norms and also, the pressure of being a first-born son.
The struggles of becoming Opera Tang
“My dad is a very masculine man, he gyms… he dragonboats. I even joined him once, but it wasn’t for me,” said Opera.
“He told me to get out of his sight when I came out [as queer].”
The father-son pair did not talk until the next morning. It was then that he affirmed Opera that he still loved her as a son.
“In hindsight, he just needed some space to process the news,” acknowledged Opera.
Since then, the family has continued to support Opera in life and also, love.
The drag queen’s long-term boyfriend recently joined Opera’s parents, siblings, and ah ma, on a holiday cruise.
While the rising star continues to make waves in the drag industry, Opera has bigger dreams:
“Hopefully, one day, I can get married too.”
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Featured image by MS News.
