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The DIY Pop Star


She fashioned a music career by skipping the typical TikToker-to-singer pipeline.

Crafted from an Azealia Banks–type beat she found on YouTube by producer LxnleyBeat, Aliyah’s breakout 2023 single grabs your attention immediately: “Bitch — you know I’m sexy / (Ugh) Don’t call, just text me.” Though her initial post teasing the song faced shady comments telling her to stay in her lane as a style content creator, the girls who got what she was going for soon drowned them out. In addition to her “FaceTime Call Get Ready With Me” videos, Aliyah’s most popular TikToks were the ones where she was just speaking her mind, going off about her outfit, or hyping up the viewer — all while enraging lurkers every time she showed up in a new locale (“Tokyo next week”) wearing the purest form of Aliyahcore: moon boots with a bikini. Aliyahnever felt like she was “meant to be completely seen or heard by the masses” until she started dressing for herself.“ Love Me,” her latest song, is inspired by overcoming theharassment and self-hate she faced growing up in Atlanta as a dark-skinned pansexual girl.

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