Denarie Bautista Taylor[5]
(born Belinda Marie Macadengdeng Batumbakal;[1] February 8, 1997[6]), known professionally as Bella Poarch (/pɔːrtʃ/PORCH),[7] is an American social media personality and singer. On August 17, 2020,[b] she created the most liked video on TikTok, in which she lip syncs to the song "M to the B" by British rapper Millie B. She is the most followed TikTok contributor from the Philippines.[8][9][10][11]
Poarch was born Belinda Marie Macadengdeng Batumbakal[1] on February 8, 1997,[15] in the Philippines.[13] She was raised by her grandmother in slums until the age of three and was then adopted.[16] Her adoptive father is an American who had served in the United States military, and her adoptive mother is Filipina. Both parents met in Saudi Arabia where her adoptive father was stationed, before settling in the Philippines. In an interview, Poarch recounted that she and her adopted brother were heavily physically and emotionally abused throughout her entire childhood, up until her enlistment in the military. She lived on a farm with her adoptive parents and three (adopted) siblings, which include two older sisters and a brother. She had many responsibilities on the farm from as young as seven years old. Poarch has stated that her adoptive sisters did not receive the same treatment as her and her brother. Her father was verbally and physically abusive, while her mother did not get involved, but remained complicit. At age thirteen, Poarch and her family (with exception of her sisters who still reside in the Philippines) moved to San Francisco to reside with her aunt for several months, before moving to Texas[13] for her father's bypass surgery.[17]
Musical career
Poarch shows her TikTok makeup routine for Vogue Taiwan in 2021.
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 "M to the B" by Millie B. The zoomed-in video of her lip-syncing and rhythmically bouncing went viral and became TikTok's most liked video of all time. Following her TikTok success, she launched a YouTube channel and Twitter page.
Poarch is also associated with her alpaca stuffed toy.[18][19] In 2020, she released a limited clothing line RIPNDIP x Paca Collaboration.[20]
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.[21]
In May 2021, Poarch signed a record deal with Warner Records. On May 14, Poarch released her debut single "Build a Bitch."[22] She stated that the song was inspired by her experiences with being bullied as a child,[23] disclosing "Growing up, I used to get bullied and stuff... I wanted my first song to have a good meaning to it and to help a lot of people just to be like, more confident about themselves." The associated music video 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."[14] The video features other notable internet personalities including Valkyrae, Mia Khalifa, Bretman Rock and ZHC.[24]
On an episode of the 100 Thieves podcast The CouRage and Nadeshot Show,[25] Poarch stated that she wanted to become a singer since she was a child.[26]
Poarch released her first EP, Dolls, on August 12, 2022. It includes her previous singles, "Build a Bitch", "Inferno", and "Dolls", as well as new tracks "Villain", "No Man's Land", and "Living Hell". A music video for "Living Hell" debuted alongside the EP. In addition to co-starring in the music video for "Dolls", Grimes features on "No Man's Land".[27]Rolling Stone praised the dark pop tone of the EP.[28] In addition, "Villain" would be used for WWE's Extreme Rules premium live event in 2022. She released a song and music video with Lauv on September 15, 2023, titled "Crush".[29]
She has expressed her support on social media for the Asian-American community due to the rise in reports of anti-Asian hate crimes.[36] She also shared her experiences with Vogue, saying that she has been "treated differently" and "randomly attacked and assaulted" as an Asian teen after moving to the United States from the Philippines.[37]
^Poarch, Bella (June 17, 2021). "Bella Poarch – H3 Podcast # 247". H3 Podcast. Retrieved September 21, 2021. When I was three, before I was adopted, I was living with my grandma and it was in the slums. We were very poor.
