Did you know that Bella Poarch started manifesting because of TikTok? With more on the way, she is out to make it clear that her music is more than a moment.
Bella Poarch has this rule on social media: “I can read the comments for the first 10 minutes when I upload something,” she reveals in an interview for The H3 Podcast. “’Cause people are nice.”
Now, before you think of this as a fairytale way of approaching the carved out space on the internet, understand that with over 105,234,111 pair of eyes watching her every move on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, not everyone will be, well, nice. It can be unnerving when you think about it, whether it be something cute or cathartic, to have an entire population ready to pounce on whatever you release. The world, especially the world wide web can be a nasty, toxic place, so for people privileged to be on the good graces of the algorithm and followers, there has to be a certain level of awareness and control to be able to navigate among many things, the eventual cesspool that the comments section becomes. And now that she has claimed a full sense of control with the affairs of her life, Bella Poarch is making the rules.
At this point, she well deserves to have a say with what she does, whether it be in the many forms of media she has branched out to or in her passionate pursuit of music, especially with what she’s been through in life. From growing up with abuse and trauma, the eventual outlet that she found on TikTok would prove to be difficult to deal with at times for Bella Poarch, forcing her to almost quit on it very early on. “I downloaded TikTok because my friend told me to. There’s a lot of funny videos and cute videos, but I’ve never thought I’d be here. So, it’s crazy,” she shares in our conversation. While she still admits to getting used to it, she does reveal that the hate and bullying that is passed around a lot online really pushes her to the edge.
Of Manifestation And Music
“There’s just a lot of like internet trolls and people that just…they’re full of hate. So, that’s what made me want to quit. But my fans are also fighting back for me like they’re on the comments section. You know, they’re like, leave below and they always remind me that they’re always there for me. So, that’s what kept me going,” Bella Poarch details, adding that since she was new to creating content, she took it personally. Admittedly, it broke her heart, saying that people were ruthless, which is why now, she has learned to set boundaries for her peace of mind. “Whenever I get depressed and stuff, I just think about other people who support me and people that care about me and really, it makes me feel better just thinking about that.”
There are many things that fuel Bella Poarch, especially her fans (“I feel happy because I have a lot of like supporters all around the world. And yeah, they’re really what keeps me going”), and representing being Filipino (“I love that I could represent and have my Filipino fans just look up to someone…because I think representation is very important. I feel like there’s not enough Filipino representation in media. I just want people to know that I’m Filipino and that I’m proud”), but every time she falls prey to the draining effects of social media, she goes back to one of the very first videos that popped on her TikTok timeline immediately after signing up. “I only started manifesting last year. I didn’t know anything about manifestation,” she recalls in an interview with The H3 Podcast. “Beginning of last year, I downloaded TikTok and the first video was ‘manifestationtok.’ It was basically a video talking about oh, you should start manifesting in just simple ways.”
One of the things she manifested? “Well, being signed to the label, and then of course, my first music video and first song,” Bella Poarch says. To this day, she is in constant disbelief on how much it has worked in her favor. “Wow, my manifestation worked. I don’t know, I never even think about it. I just see it on a piece of paper and I just go on about my day,” she says matter-of-factly. “I have this rule when I’m manifesting something: You don’t tell other people your manifestations so that they don’t put negative energy to it.”
More Than A Moment
While she does seem to have an affinity for rules, perhaps an offshoot of her childhood and her time in the military, she has since taken to making them on her own terms today. From the things she puts out through manifestation or music, Bella Poarch is really careful, because being able to now life her dreams means that much to her as it does everyone else. “It’s basically just believing that what you want is going to happen,” she says, compounding it with a lot of patience and hard work.
And it’s not like her manifestations are too far-fetched either. For one, she just wanted her songs to do well when she started manifesting because of TikTok. “I wanted people to see that I can be a good artist,” she explains in the H3 Podcast, taking into account how people pass judgment at the video-sharing app as cringe. “People think…you can’t really start a musical career from the app. No, you can start a music career anywhere if you just do it right and put your passion into it, it’ll work out,” Bella Poarch asserts.
Now, with two hit songs to her name and with more on the way, the Build A B*tch and Inferno singer is proving her haters wrong, one stream and play at a time. Here, Bella Poarch is making it very clear: more than just a moment; she is meant to make music that matters. “That’s why I put out important messages through my music, so that they could realize that, you know, this ain’t build a b*tch.”
And this time, just like with manifestation and music, Bella Poarch gets to pick and choose.
Creative direction and cover story ANGELO RAMIREZ DE CARTAGENA
Photography RAEN BADUA
Assisted by JULIAN NIETO
Fashion and beauty direction, Illustrations LYN ALUMNO
Styling NIKKO PANTI
Assisted by ADRIANNE CHAN
Makeup FAITH NACHOR
Hair DONNY DOMINGO-PA
Videographer FRANCISGUM
Original music 7640
Florist PRIMOSÉ LOS ANGELES
Sr. Multimedia Artist KENNETH DIMAANO
Brand Associate ELYSE ILAGAN
Special thanks to WARNER MUSIC and WARNER MUSIC PHILIPPINES
CONTINUE READING: NOW THAT SHE HAS YOUR ATTENTION, BELLA POARCH WANTS YOU TO LISTEN TO WHAT SHE HAS TO SAY—AND SING
