Ciara Made a Surprise Appearance at a West Hollywood Gay Bar With RuPaul’s Drag Race Queens

We are thankfully living in an era when we don’t have to simply wonder what would happen if our favorite pop stars popped up, sans security guards, at our usual nightlife haunts just to have fun with us. While Jennifer Lawrence and Adele seem to be making the rounds at all of the New York City nightlife hot spots this month, it looks like West Coast gay bars have found their answer to the East Coast’s pop-up-diva trend of the moment in Ciara.

On Thursday night, current RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Vanessa “Vanjie” Mateo and Silky Nutmeg Ganache hosted the show’s weekly viewing party at Micky’s, a popular gay bar in the West Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The hosts put on Ciara’s “1, 2 Step” and danced along, and when the Missy Elliott verse began to drop Ciara herself emerged from behind the curtains in an on-trend neon-lime suit, much to the surprise of everyone in the audience.

Ciara then performed a rendition of her new single, “Thinkin Bout You,” while Miss Vanjie vogued in front of her and screaming bystanders captured the performance with their phones.

While Ciara’s performance appeared to be a big surprise for audience members who shared snaps of the experience on social media, Micky’s had already teased out an appearance by a special guest on the bar’s website and social media pages, encouraging fans to “1, 2 step over to Micky’s,” so some eagle-eyed fans of the singer might have guessed she’d be the one to show up during the viewing party. She was also a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars 4 in December 2018, along with Kacey Musgraves (who also joined her on an episode of RuPaul and Michelle Visage’s podcast, What’s the Tee), so it’s a safe bet that Ciara was a highly sought-after surprise guest for a Micky’s viewing party.

Related: Ciara Talks About Her Flaws, Fitness, and How She Found Her Confidence