Joey Santolini, better known by his stage name Tatianna, is an Americandrag queen, musician, and reality television personality from Washington, D.C.. He is best known for competing on the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race and later the second season of .
Early life
Santolini was born on December 1, 1987 in Arlington, Virginia. He is of Italian and African American descent. He received a license in cosmetology after his senior year in high school. He started dressing as a girl when he was fourteen, and started drag professionally in 2007. He originally applied for season one of Drag Race, but was rejected for being too young.
Career
Tatianna was announced as one of twelve contestants for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race on November 2009. During the show, he won the first edition of the annual "Snatch Game" challenge, playing Britney Spears in episode four. She overall placed fourth in the competition after losing a lip sync of Aretha Franklin's "Something He Can Feel" to competitor Jujubee. Six years later, she was selected as one of ten contestants for the second season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, which was announced on June 17, 2016. He placed in the top two in the first episode, but lost a lip sync to Roxxxy Andrews. He was eliminated by Alaska the following episode after placing in the bottom for his second snatch game as Ariana Grande. He returned in episode five and won $5,000 with Alyssa Edwards after a double-save lip sync to Rihanna's "Shut Up and Drive". He was eliminated by Alaska again for placing in the bottom that following episode. He finished in sixth place overall. Outside of Drag Race, he hosted his own web show on WOWpresents called Tea With Tati which premiered in April 2018. He announced on June 18, 2018 the release of a new fragrance called Choices produced by Xyrena. Tatianna performed live with Charli XCX on October 13, 2018, singing a duet of Charli's song "1999". He portrayed Ariana Grande in the music video for Taylor Swift's "You Need to Calm Down" on June 17, 2019. On August 26 2019, Tatianna performed alongside Taylor Swift during her 2019 MTV Video Music Awards performance.
Music
Tatianna released his first single, "True" on November 8, 2010. A second single, "Touch" was released on May 6, 2011. Her third single, "Losing Control" was released on August 14, 2012. After a four-year hiatus, Tatianna released "The Same Parts" on September 1, 2016. She performed the single on the premiere episode of All Stars 2 as a spoken word version. Her fifth single, "Transform" was released on October 26, 2016. She released "Use Me" on November 28, 2017. Unlike his other singles, an official music video was released the same day as the single. She released her eleven-track debut album, "T1" on May 28, 2018. Rapper Cazwell and drag queen Salvadora Dali are featured guests on the album. A video for the second track, "Try", was released on May 18, 2018.
Personal life
Santolini was in a feud with season two winner Tyra Sanchez. Sanchez then posted Santolini's phone number publicly, and they blocked each other on all social media. Sanchez then threatened Santolini and Phi Phi O'Hara if they attended the 2018 RuPaul's DragCon LA, resulting in Sanchez's banishment from the event.
