To be considered a true icon in music, it takes more than just a few hits – you need songs that stand the test of time, unforgettable fashion, and a devoted subset of queer fans. Kristine W checks all those boxes and then some, so it makes sense she would be asked to perform at the largest LGBTQ celebration of the year – WorldPride in D.C.

The dance floor diva recently sat down with the Washington Blade to discuss her upcoming performance for WorldPride, her new music, and how the LGBTQ community has always been at the core of her audience.

With hits like “Feel What You Want,” “One More Try,” and “Land of the Living” – songs that became part of the dance floor culture that gave LGBTQ people love and light during the otherwise dark time of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the ’90s – Kristine W created more than just music to dance to; she created a refuge for the LGBTQ community.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Kristine W said when asked about the opportunity to perform at WorldPride. “I’m having a full-circle moment. I remember performing the single ‘Stronger’ when we did the march on Washington for marriage rights, and there were close to a million people there.”

Since that march, marriage equality became enshrined by the Supreme Court in 2015 with Obergefell v. Hodges, only a few hundred feet from where she will perform on Saturday, June 7, after the WorldPride Parade.

“We were all out there beating the drum,” she said. “It’s just really cool to have so many gay friends now that are married. It’s just incredible to look back at how far we’ve come.”

Looking to the future, she shared some exclusive details about her upcoming performance on the Capitol Stage with the Blade.

“I’m going to bring my Vegas dancers,” said the longtime Vegas resident and record holder for most live shows at the Las Vegas Hilton, besting even Elvis Presley. “They’re incredible. The boys are incredible and I’m going to bring all four of them.”

While she will bring some of her Vegas magic with her, she’s also incorporating some Washington talent into her performance. “We’re going to be using some D.C. singers… local singers that are going to sing with us. We’re putting charts and things together for them right now.”

Not only will some of the performers be new, but Kristine shared that she has written a new song she will debut at WorldPride.

“We’ve got a new single coming out on the Friday of Memorial Day. It’s called ‘Love Personified.'”

“We wrote this song that’s incredible,” she said. “It’s just all these strange, wonderful connections. It’s gotta be a God thing, because I have no explanation for how it all came together.”

“Love Personified,” like many of her previous tracks – including her hit “Land of the Living,” which spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart – is an attempt to reflect what she and her fans are living through. “‘Land of the Living’ was really an ode to struggling artists. But then it took on new meaning, because we were battling AIDS,” she said. The song’s meaning deepened as medication transformed HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a manageable condition. “It was a kind of celebratory time, because we had the meds.”

“I mean, resilience, perseverance, survivors – that’s been the backdrop of my body of work,” she added when reflecting on her music career. “People need encouragement when they’re going through hard times. I feel like my music is medicine.”

Kristine co-wrote “Love Personified” with Allan Rich and Jud Friedman, the Oscar-, Grammy-, Golden Globe-, and Emmy-nominated songwriting duo behind Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” from “The Bodyguard” soundtrack. It’s the same team she collaborated with on “Stronger,” the powerful ballad she performed at the marriage equality march in Washington.

“They’re incredible,” Kristine said about the duo. “They wrote some of the songs on The Bodyguard soundtrack and they’re the funniest songwriting team. Allan is very gay and hilarious, and Jud is very straight and more buttoned-down. They are so great together, and we just had such a great time.”

Kristine continued, explaining how her LGBTQ fans have always been there, supporting and singing while she was on stage.

“I didn’t realize how big I was in the gay community until later, when I was in Vegas and all the drag queens started coming to my shows,” she said with a tone that can only be described as sounding like a smile. “Full face, full glam, impersonators from every drag show in town.”

“I feel like I was there at a time when I was really needed,” she added. “I didn’t shy away from it, even to my detriment at times. The record labels at that time were not into you doing the shows in those [gay] clubs. They would say, ‘Oh, you know you’re gonna be stuck in the gay ghetto. You play community gay clubs.’ That was really a strange thing that I went through with the labels, but I’m glad I hung right in there and I didn’t go anywhere. I feel like we’ve all grown together, and it’s just been a blessing – I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

“I have so many great LGBT friends – including my trans sisters, and one of my best friends who is a lesbian. I just have such a neat family. We’re all a cast of characters but we all love each other, and it’s pretty cool. I wouldn’t trade it – my great family.”

That connection only continued to grow as she leaned into the pop diva status that had been laid out for her.

“We did Donna Summer medleys with my dancers. One of them had toured with Donna. And the guys that remixed some of my “Stronger” album tracks had worked on her ‘Crayons’ album.”

“When you see the cover of “Love Personified,” that’s the original dress from Donna Summer’s ‘Once Upon a Time’ shoot. Zandra Rhodes lent it to me. That was surreal.”

Another surreal moment Kristine shared with the Blade was when iconic drag queen Lady Bunny came up to her at a performance and dubbed her an honorary member of the LGBTQ community.

“I can’t even tell you how honored I am to be a part of it. And I’ve been honored to be a part of the gay community for a long time, and as a straight female, I feel blessed. I had no idea who Lady Bunny was. She comes up to me with her wig so big it’s the equivalent of about 10 wigs, comes running up to me, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, shit! What did I do?’ And she goes, ‘Kristine W, we chose you. You didn’t choose us.’ And I didn’t even know what she was talking about.”

“We’re really good friends to this day, and I love her. And looking back on that, I go, ‘Wow. What an honor.’ I got freaking blessed by Lady Bunny at my first show in New York – the Sound Factory with Junior Vasquez. I thought she was going to kick my ass because she came at me like a truck. But she was anointing me – literally. I’m just… I’m just happy to be a part of the other family, honestly. And I’m just proud of everybody. Really proud of everybody.”

When asked what she hopes the people at WorldPride take away from her music – and from WorldPride in general – she said:

“I just want them to know that they are loved and they have a lot to celebrate. There’s always going to be things you don’t agree with – things you’re angry about. I mean, that’s life, right? But we should take a minute and just be grateful that you can love who you love. We haven’t cured AIDS, but we’re getting close. But people can live with it. It is things like that that make me feel good. It’s a good time to be alive, and in the land of the living.”