At just 26-years-old, singer and social media superstar Bella Poarch has already lived more life than people double, heck even triple, her age. Poarch shot to public attention when, after creating a TikTok account in early 2020, she began posting videos of her lip syncing and going about her life in Hawaii. Normal 2020 stuff, right? Well, by August of that same year, Poarch ended up creating the platform’s most-liked video of all
time.

The 10-second clip, which sees Poarch lip syncing to rapper Millie B’s “M to the B” while bopping her head back and forth, has been viewed over 763 million times and has 62.1 million likes to date. Since 2020, Poarch has posted videos with her French bulldog PooPoo, her cat Pee-Pee, Brazilian superstar Anitta and friend and fellow Filipino creator, Bretman Rock. She’s donned cosplay, introduced her followers to a plush alpaca (aptly named Paca) and nervously shared herself singing Ariana Grande’s “raindrops (an angel cried)” in her bathroom mirror. She has accumulated 92.6 million followers and 2.3 billion likes on the platform, and relocated to Los Angeles in real life – but there’s far more to this breakout star than TikTok. Born in the Philippines, Poarch was raised by her grandmother until she was adopted at age three by an American man and his Filipino wife, joining two sisters and a brother who were all also adopted by the couple. The family had a farm where Poarch and her brother were forced to do excessive chores in the middle of the night, by their bully father, who would become abusive if the work wasn’t up to his standards.

Poarch’s older sisters were spared their father’s behaviour, though they chose to stay behind in the Philippines when the family moved to the US when Poarch was 13. Her brother moved with her and enrolled in the Navy; she followed in his footsteps at age 17 and started basic training (boot camp) in Chicago. She then attended Aviation school in Florida, and for a few months was stationed in Virginia until she found herself stationed in Japan, and Hawaii after that.

“The Navy taught me a lot of lessons and I guess the most important one was to be patient,” smiles Poarch, a few days after her Wonderland shoot. “Not a lot of people have patience. It also taught me how to be detail oriented so, when it comes to music, I’m kind of a perfectionist.”

Her perfectionism has paid dividends thus far. Poarch released her first single, “Build a Bitch”, in 2021; a catchy Pop track that calls out the societal pressures on women to look a certain way and adhere to Barbie-style beauty standards. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100 and its accompanying video, which takes place in a factory where men can select different body parts to build their dream girl, has been viewed 465 million times on YouTube. Poarch’s friends and fellow social media stars, including Rock and Mia Khalifa, appear in the video.

“It was really important, for me, for my first song to have a really strong message,” says Poarch. “It’s also important to me that my fans can relate to my music. “At first I was kind of like, ‘Do I really want to put “Build a Bitch” as my first song?’ Because the word ‘bitch’ was in there,” but I felt like it had the strongest message. I was really excited and scared when I first put it out, because I wasn’t sure how my fans were going to react to it; they were either going to love it or hate it. I was nervous and had a lot of mixed feelings for sure, but I was very grateful when they loved the song and the video. It was really awesome.”

Poarch followed “Build a Bitch” with her 2022 EP, “Dolls”, a six-track dark Pop record featuring collaborations with Grimes (“No Man’s Land”) and Sub Urban (“INFERNO”), the latter of whom is a fellow
Warner Records signing who produced much of the EP. Now, she’s working on her debut album. “My music style has definitely changed,” says Poarch. “I’m going for more fun and brighter sounds, changing it a little bit. Hopefully I release [the album] this year. I’ve been working with a lot of new producers and so I’ve just been finding the right sound.” Also on Poarch’s lengthy to-do list is touring and performing live for her fans. “Definitely in the future,” she says. “Stay tuned for that!”

With her massive TikTok following predating her musical success, I ask Poarch if she considers the platform’s ability to make a song go viral when penning new tracks. “For me, the priority would be writing a song that’s true to myself and if it does well on TikTok, then it does well on TikTok. It’s like the last thing I think about,” she laughs. “Great music will always be on TikTok, you know?” As for who she watches on the platform, Poarch says, “Recently I’ve been obsessed with Terri Joe. He goes live a lot on TikTok and he collaborates with a lot of people. It’s so interesting; he puts on this character and it’s just very entertaining.” Terri Joe is a character invented by Houston-based creator, Kelon Campbell, who has gone live with everyone from Madonna to Doja Cat.

While Poarch is already building an impressive list of collaborators, there are plenty more on he wish list, including a plethora of K-Pop heavyweights. “I have a lot. I want to collaborate with BLACKPINK,” she shares. “There’s this new group, too, they’re called NewJeans. Then Aespa, TXT and SB19.”

Recently, Poarch has been busy collaborating with HUGO on a capsule collection, having already starred in the brand’s spring-summer 2023 campaign. “It’s my first collection with a brand, so I was really, really excited,” she says. “The HUGO team are so talented and creative, and they helped me with the whole process when we were designing. It was very special and I’m so honoured to be teaming up and working with them.”

Poarch says her favourite pieces from the collection are “the bodysuit and the denim jeans with
the denim crop top. It’s just so sick. The eyewear, the sunglasses, are really cute. I usually wear edgy, cool and comfy clothes… Like right now.” She gestures to her black oversized slogan sweatshirt, which she has dressed up with flawless hair and makeup. “When HUGO asked if I wanted to do a collection with them I was so honoured.”

Friend and “Build a Bitch” video star Rock is top of her list for gifting the collection. “I think he’ll totally kill it; I just know he is going to look good,” says Poarch. “I mean, he looks good in everything, but I’m definitely going to send it to him.”

She also cites Rock as one of her biggest fashion inspirations, alongside her friend Giuliano Calza, the founder and creative director of GCDS. However, her style – particularly when she is on-duty – is also influenced by her viewing habits. “Usually in my music videos a lot of the things that I
wear are very anime-ish, because I’m obsessed with anime,” explains Poarch. “I watch One-Punch Man and I love Chainsaw Man. It’s funny they both have ‘man’. Those are my main anime right now, but I do watch a ton. I also love sci-fi films.”

With her star steadily rising, Poarch has been travelling more and more, and hopes to do some live performances for fans in the near future – but what can’t she hit the road without? “I travel with a lot of things, but my essentials would be my perfume that I’ve been wearing for like, three years straight,” she laughs. “Aquaphor, because I get super dry, chapped lips. I can’t go anywhere without my AirPods. Clorox wipes, you know those travel Clorox wipes? I’ve always got to have those. I always wipe down the seats on planes; I don’t trust them. I tend to break out when I travel too, so pimple patches are a must.”

Poarch has accomplished so much already, overcoming adversity along the way, but she keeps it simple when thinking of her greatest win thus far. “My biggest achievement would be my music and to be able to represent the Philippines,” she says. As for her biggest inspiration? “I would say my fans. They’re definitely the reason why I make my music and make content. I’m just so happy that they love my music and that they’re continuing to support me.”