⚠️ Content Note: This episode includes discussion of religious upbringing, LGBTQIA+ religious harm, deconstruction, and finding identity beyond the church.
This week on The Awakening, Tamara and I sit down with the one and only Flamy Grant — trailblazing artist, blistering vocalist, shame-slaying drag queen from Asheville, North Carolina (share) — and honestly, we are still not over it.
Flamy's 2022 debut record Bible Belt Baby reached the #1 spot on the iTunes Christian Charts, making her the first drag queen to ever top the Christian charts. (LGBTQ Religious Archives Network) She didn't do it by accident. She started doing drag during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, eventually giving a sermon in drag at her affirming church — and woke up the next morning to a viral video and thousands of people saying "this makes me feel seen." (TODAY.com) That moment crystallized everything.
But before the stilettos and the headlines, there was a kid in a pew. Flamy grew up inside the Christian faith, served as a worship leader for years, and lived inside the walls of a world that had no room for who she actually was. This conversation traces that whole arc — from religious upbringing to worship leader to the other side of those walls, where she found herself, her art, and her people.
Her sophomore record CHURCH hit #8 on the iTunes Country charts and earned a 2026 International Folk Music Award nomination for Best Album. (share) And a third album is on the way.
This is a conversation about shame, liberation, and what happens when you finally let yourself take up space.
In This Episode, We Discuss:
• Flamy's religious upbringing and years leading worship
• The journey from inside the church to life on the other side
• How drag became a vehicle for healing and truth-telling
• Topping the iTunes Christian charts as a drag queen — and what that moment meant
• Bible Belt Baby, CHURCH, and what's coming next
• Making space for LGBTQIA+ people who are still in the pews
Connect with Flamy Grant:
🌐 Website: https://www.flamygrant.com
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flamygrant
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flamygrant
▶️ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbgBGjEcEXcLa074iQsBNig
📘 Facebook: http://facebook.com/flamygrant
🍎 Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/flamy-grant/1613002844
🎭 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/flamygrant
Connect with Your Hosts:
Heather: https://linktr.ee/Happyheathersmiles
Tamara: TikTok @feralatheistjezebel321 | Instagram @tamarajo321
🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheAwakeningPodcast-w6s
📩 Be a guest: [email protected]
If you grew up being told there was no place for you — in the church, in the kingdom, in the family of God — Flamy's story is proof that you were never the problem. The walls were the problem. And some of us are out here kicking them down in stilettos. You belong here.
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