Poarch: “I was a hard-headed kid.”

Poarch: “It will work if I put my passion into it. I told myself that if this doesn’t work out, I can do something else. [Or] if it doesn’t work out this year, then maybe next year.”

Poarch: "If you guys don't like my look, just be honest, you know? Usually, I always ask you guys like 'rate my outfit one-to-ten' and so far you guys are saying one thousand, like, are you guys actually being honest?"

Poarch: "It was very hard. I had to wake up at 4 am every morning and finish all my chores."

Poarch: “At that time I didn’t know how to record. I didn’t know that lighting was important, that sound needs to be crispy. But I uploaded it, got 100 views and decided to take it down. I was embarrassed, I got anxious. I thought people must not like this because it didn’t go viral.”

Poarch: “I take a lot of inspiration from Tim Burton films and anime. The darkness really comes from that.”

Poarch: “Villains in movies are just misunderstood. All they want is revenge because they’ve been through something. But I feel like you can step in and out of it. I think you can choose when to be the villain. As an Asian woman, it’s crazy because people, especially men, expect you to be quiet, shy and submissive. It just pisses me off. I’m like, ‘No I have a voice, I’m vocal – and I can be unapologetic’.”

Poarch: “I love empowering other women. Being in the military, there were only a few women and you just had to support each other because you only have your sisters. I think women protecting each other is a beautiful thing.”

Poarch: “People used to bully me for how I did my make-up. Going out in public with ponytails, I’d get told: ​‘You’re a grown-ass woman, what the f*ck?’”

Poarch: “I said to myself: ​‘I can’t do this. I might have to go to college or do something with my life.’”

Poarch: “Every time I meet new people and I tell them I was in the military before TikTok, they’re always shocked. I learned so much from it. The military taught me to be mentally strong, like I can pick up an 80lbs machine gun, it’s all in my head that I can’t. It taught me not to give up. But really, it was a way for me to just run away from my abusive parents.”

Poarch: “I cleaned up a lot of shit. That’s actually when I fell in love with music.”

Poarch: “Before, people used to say they loved my TikToks and now they’re saying they love my new song. I’m so happy they tell me they love my songs instead of just making faces”

Poarch: "Yeah, I always grew up getting bullied. Like in school, I was always made fun of for the way I looked."

Poarch: “I thought, this is probably an opportunity for me. If I start letting my fans know that I love music and that I want to be an artist, maybe it will work out.”

Poarch: “It was so hard because when I started teasing music on TikTok, everybody just came after me. They were like, ‘No, not another TikTokker making music. I remember [asking] my managers if we’re sure we want to do this? Now I get comments that say, ‘I used to hate you, but I love you now because of your music.'”