Bella Poarch (born February 9, 1997) is a Filipina-American social media personality and singer. On August 17, 2020, she created the most liked video on TikTok, in which she lip syncs to the song "Soph Aspin Send" by British rapper Millie B. In May 2021, she released her debut single "Build a Bitch".
As of August 30, 2021, she has over 80.1 million followers on TikTok, ranking as the third most-followed individual on the platform behind Charli D'Amelio and Khaby Lame. She holds the record for the most-liked TikTok video, with over 50 million likes. She also signed a music record deal with Warner Records in 2021.
Early life
Bella Poarch was born on February 9, 1997, in the Philippines to Filipino biological parents. She was raised by her grandmother in the slums until the age of three and was then adopted by her adoptive family. Her adoptive father is a white American who had served in the US military and her adoptive mother is Filipino; both adoptive parents had met in Saudi Arabia where her adoptive father was stationed, before settling in the Philippines. In an interview, she recounts that she and her adopted brother were heavily abused all throughout her childhood, up until her enrollment in the military. She lived on a farm with her family: two older (adopted) sisters, her adoptive parents, and her brother. She had many of the responsibilities for the farm, even as young as seven years old. She recounts that her adoptive sisters did not receive the same treatment as her. Poarch says that her father was verbally and physically abusive, while her mother did not get involved. Her family (except her two older sisters who still reside in the Philippines) moved to San Francisco to live with her aunt for a couple of months, before the family moved to Texas when she was 13 due to her father's need for bypass surgery. She says that the abuse decreased, but she still faced some mental abuse from her father at home.
Musical career
In January 2020, Poarch created her TikTok account. She started actively posting on TikTok based on gaming and cosplay content in April 2020. She gained notability in August 2020, when her lip sync videos went viral, most notably her video where she is lip-syncing to "Sophie Aspin Send" by Millie B. The zoomed-in video of her lip-syncing to that tune and rhythmically bouncing went viral and became one of TikTok's most liked videos of all time. Following her TikTok success, she launched a YouTube channel and Twitter page in the months after she joined TikTok.
Poarch is also associated with her alpaca stuffed toy. In 2020, she released a limited clothing line RIPNDIP x Paca Collaboration.
In December 2020, Poarch's rising popularity peaked when she reportedly grabbed the interest of two large professional Esports organizations – 100 Thieves and FaZe Clan, which apparently showed interest in her, a live streamer and gamer at the time, as a content creator under their respective banners. In May 2021, Poarch signed a record deal with Warner Records.
On May 14, 2021, Poarch released her debut single "Build a Bitch". The associated music video, which appeared on YouTube, was described by Billboard as "an audacious, darkly comic slice of new-school pop", created with Daniel Virgil Maisonneuve, the producer-songwriter better known as Sub Urban." The video features other notable internet personalities including Valkyrae, Mia Khalifa, Bretman Rock and ZHC.
On an episode of the 100 Thieves podcast "The CouRage and Nadeshot Show", Poarch said that the song traces back to her own history of being bullied as a child. Poarch said on the podcast that she had wanted to become a singer since she was a child.
Military career
Poarch is a U.S. Navy veteran. She enlisted in the Navy in 2015 and served for four years, having been stationed in Japan and Hawaii.
Personal life
Poarch has publicly expressed her support in the fight against anti-Asian racism because of the rise in hate crimes towards the Asian-American community. On March 19, 2021, she uploaded a video to TikTok to speak on the topic and spread the message. She also shared her experiences with Vogue, saying that she can relate to this situation because she has been "treated differently" and "randomly attacked and assaulted" as an Asian teen after moving to the U.S. from the Philippines.
Poarch was criticized for having a tattoo similar to the Rising Sun Flag in her videos. The specific tattoo resembled a symbol of Japanese imperialism which may be considered offensive to some Southeast and East Asians. In September 2020, she apologized and immediately had it covered.
