Steve 'Flash' JuonIf it weren’t for Trippie Redd this review wouldn’t exist. The only reason Baby Goth (real name Bria Bueno) is on my radar is because she featured on his “A Love Letter to You 3” album, and he in turn featured on her song “Swimming” from the self-titled “Baby Goth” album. Not to be rude but I find it indicative of how little people care about her when she has both Redd and Lil Xan on the track and the music video only does 70,000 views. That’s embarrassing.
In a video called “The Art of Selling Your Soul,” the creator Twisted World asks the question that was on my mind (and likely yours) this whole time — how did she come from straight out of nowhere to doing a rap song with two of the biggest SoundCloud artists in 2019? You might have thought a record industry executive just cut her out of whole cloth and pasted her into the scene, but to my surprise she actually did have an interesting back story before Trippie Redd. She bounced from state to state in her youth, taught herself to play piano, and started collaborating on tracks with a high school friend when she landed in Colorado. She may not have been on my radar before her collaborations with Redd but she did put in some work.
Here’s the thing though — you wouldn’t identify her as a “rapper” in any way from her early work. Bluegrass, indie rock, alternative maybe. This is where the whole thing becomes a little sus. She had struggled mightily to make a dent in the music scene while raising two children at the same time. She knew it wasn’t working out for her. In a moment of either desperation or inspiration she turned to Instagram looking for sponsorship deals, and thanks to her good looks brands were more than happy to partner with her. Long story short her following blew up to hundreds of thousands of people and she finally had the money to funnel into her music career — but after finding a producer and a label she was told “Bria Bueno” wasn’t a star. She took their advice and created the persona of Baby Goth complete with AutoTune vocals and tattoos everywhere.
While the video for “Swimming” never took off, she absolutely struck gold with “Sugar” featuring Wiz Khalifa. “Baby Goth” had arrived in the big time. Those producers and record executives got Bria in the door and gave her the chance to croon “They say I’m sweet like ice cream/but I’ll rip your heart out smiling” to millions. What happened to her since then? Sadly not much. Republic Records had her career as Bria Bueno largely erased off the internet. She had no past and then suddenly no future when people found out Baby Goth was a indie rocker after digging up that buried past. She had to go on No Jumper to try to defend herself and I’m not sure that helped.
It’s telling that she hasn’t had a new album since her self-titled debut, with only a sprinkling of new singles coming out in 2020. The recording industry failed her by trying to give her a makeover and look that she fully embraced, only for them to not have her back when people started talking about her as a fraud. I’m going to damn her with faint praise when I say “Baby Goth” isn’t a fraudulent album… it’s just not an important one. Clocking in under 22 minutes and featuring two songs with big name cameos, the rest of the tracks are slickly produced and highly generic emo rap. You won’t hear anything on “Haze” you haven’t heard before.
One last note before we go though — Bria proudly identifies as bisexual and I’m happy that she’s not keeping her true self in the closet for the expectations of the industry or her followers. I fear though that if she ever comes back with a sophomore album her label is going to exploit it as a marketing point, the same way big box retailers stock pride merchandise for one month of the year and forget about it for the other 11. Her orientation isn’t a fad or a tool to garner success, but given the complete makeover she had to become Baby Goth, people will question whether or not it’s real anyway. If you’re one of those people stop, touch grass, and chill the fuck out. If you’re one of those A&R people and you’re reading this review, try letting Bria just be herself for a change.