Bella Poarch

Bella Poarch sings delicately coated pop songs with a sharp bite of self-empowerment. The Filipina American musician and social media star has made an effortless leap from being a viral lip-syncing sensation to an eerie dark pop artist with biting lyrics. Born in the Philippines in 1997, Poarch fled a difficult home life to join the U.S. Navy at 17, writing music alone as a way of coping. While she reached online fame without speaking or singing a word, music—and its emotional power—was always top of her mind. Her 2021 debut single and breakout hit, “Build a Bitch”, was a tirade against beauty standards but sounded like a horror soundtrack, wrapped up in a soft, creepy chorus and banging machinery drums. On later single “Inferno” and the title track from her 2022 EP, Dolls, Poarch expanded her feminist metaphor with the frenzied touch of a doll come to life, whispering over slick, molten beats while smashing the conveyor belt that created her.