[Baby Storme](https://www.instagram.com/babystorme/?hl=en) is exactly what her name embodies: a baby storm. With her hair a signature, sleek silver up until December of last year, people would always compare the New York native to the superhero Storm from Marvel. The recording artist embodies the definition of crazy in the best way possible—but not as much, hence the baby.
The 20-year-old sees music as her end-all-be-all, and she’s doing whatever it takes to get there. Having been immersed in music since the young age of 3, Baby Storme is a self-taught pianist who’s here to shake up the music industry with her own unique sound, a blend of pop and alternative you can’t overlook.
When it comes to her work ethic and manifestation, she did everything she could to go viral… until it happened. Thanks to the help of TikTok, she quickly established herself on social media and released “Mixed Feelings” in March of 2020. Now, she’s celebrating her newest release titled “Jackson,” an upbeat feel-good record about a fictional love interest.
_Flaunt_ caught up with Storme via FaceTime to discuss her upbringing on the East Coast, going viral on TikTok, her new single and visual “Jackson,” mental health, self-care, fashion, and more!
**You’re from New York, how does that play into your life and career?**
I grew up in the suburbs in Yonkers, I didn't live in the city. I went to a Catholic school from the age of 3 up until I turned 16. In my junior year, I transferred to public school and I graduated that year. I was a little sheltered growing up because I was very much in the suburbs. I didn't really know a lot of people who looked like me. As I got older, I became a lot more exposed to all forms of life and a lot more self aware.
**At what point did you realize this music thing was forreal?**
A month ago. The moment I’m like “okay, I'm going to do this for real” was in 2019. That’s the moment I started to believe it could be real, but I didn't have any reason to believe it. I had no proof. That’s when I didn't have music out, I didn't have any industry connections, I didn’t have a social media following. At that time, I believed it because I had to to keep going, but I didn't really see numbers or progress until 2020. A month ago is when I really started getting industry attention that I never got before.
**What exactly happened?**
I released “Jackson” a month ago, I went hard on promoting it and people noticed instantly. Even when I met Erica (publicist), I met her through a Clubhouse call, literally. I was constantly on Clubhouse trying to find people because I didn’t know anyone. A lot has changed in a matter of a month.
**Talk about your viral moment on TikTok, did you anticipate it would happen?**
I had to, yeah. The moment I made my last single I knew it was a bop. It’s crazy because artists are normally biased to their own music. Like whatever you make is going to sound way better to you than someone else, even if it’s trash. I genuinely felt like “alright, this is a song that people are going to receive so well.” I had to go viral. The minute I’m in that mindset, I’m going to do as much as I can. Come up with as much content and ideas as I can, keep going and going and going until I go viral. If it didn’t happen, I would’ve made it happen.
**So you put work behind that...**
I planned that. I was posting videos: trial and error, trial and error, trial and error. I posted 15 videos in a row, just promoting the song. I already had a platform on TikTok and I scroll through the app religiously, so I know what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes you think you’re going to post a video that's going to go viral and it doesn’t. Then sometimes you’ll post a video with the most minimal effort and it'll get so much traction. It’s crazy but you have to keep trying and keep going. I'm going to get the song out there and I don't care what I have to do, end of story.
**What works for you, in terms of TikTok content?**
For me, for people to know that I’m involved. You see a lot of artists and they’re not the ones doing the talking. You’ll hear somebody from their team who talks, it takes a whole team to put that together. People can see that because a lot of times, they’re not really speaking for themselves. For me, it works because I'm making it clear that hey guys, I wrote this song by myself. I recorded it in my room, I directed the video myself, I paid for it myself. I made the cover art myself, I edited it myself, I did all my shoots myself. It’s me reiterating and letting people know “hey, this is my song. I'm a solo artist, this is me. I'm putting in the work, notice me.” I think people appreciated the effort.
**New single “Jackson” out now! How are you feeling?**
I’m feeling very good. I’m feeling really good knowing this is the beginning. It’s so fun. Things were at a point for so long where I was questioning is this music thing really gonna happen? When’s it going to happen? When you start to actually see it happen, you’re like “alright, so now this shit’s happening.” It's crazy when you stop questioning it and instead, you start to watch that process unfold. Now, I'm at a point where I’m not thinking “oh, is the music going to work out?” It’s already working out, so now I'm watching the process of that happening and it's really great.
**What were you trying to convey in the video?**
From the moment I even envisioned the video, I instantly thought of NYC’s street life. In the video, I honestly wanted to convey “hey, I'm this person. I'm stalking this guy who I’m in love with, but he doesn’t know that I’m watching him.” Throughout the video, it's us doing normal things. He’s on a jog or he’s on a train, or he’s walking through the streets and I'm always there. I'm somewhere watching in the perimeter, but he doesn’t really know.
**Where was the video shot?**
I shot it in NYC. We started on Madison Ave then we worked our way downtown. We shot some of it around Columbus Circle, then we shot some of it in Central Park. We also shot in Grand Central Station and on the train. It was a 10-hour shoot, so we were honestly everywhere. As many locations as we could, but all Manhattan based.
**What is it you want fans to get from your story?**
That anything is within your reach. I want people to understand that for me, it felt like I’d never be able to pursue music. Even though I'm still in the beginning of it, I remember wanting what I have now and me feeling like it’d never happen. I want people to understand, especially for young black girls to understand that anything’s within your reach. You don’t have to live within a box, you don't have to stay in a lane. You could literally do whatever you want. Even if you don't have the resources, even if you feel like it's impossible, even if everybody’s telling you you can't, you actually can. If you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way to do it.
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**Talk about the importance of mental health, I saw how honest you were in your post.**
I chose to be so open about mental health on social media because I want people who support me to feel like they genuinely know me and have that connection. 2020 was a really really really hard year for me. Ultimately, I talk about it because I know that everyone’s going through something. It’s not embarrassing for me to say “honestly guys, I felt this way,” because so many people, the majority of people have thought or felt the same way at some point. Although it was bad, feeling that way is what made me as aggressive as I am to pursue music as much as I am. When you hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere else you can go from there but up. I literally got to a point where I said, “this is it”. It was sad, but it was a good thing because I was able to start rebuilding and start over as a different person with the lessons I learned from it.
**What do you do for self-care?**
Making music honestly, and getting enough sleep. For me, I put all of my emotions into my songs. Everything I say 100% comes from me. My thing of self-care is expression, 100%. Waking up everyday, getting myself together, working on music, working on achieving my goals, that's the #1 form of self-care for me.
**What’s your love for fashion?**
I love fashion. I’ve always loved fashion. Before I started pursuing music, realistically I thought I was going to do fashion first. I do plan on eventually coming out with a whole clothing line because I love fashion so much. There’s nothing that can express the way someone is or how they feel more than fashion.
**How many piercings do you have?**
A lot, I have probably 11 to be honest. My favorite is my tongue piercing. That or the one between my eyes. After you get piercings, they all become a part of you. You can't even see yourself without any of them.
**What can we expect next?**
My next single “Everybody Knows” will be dropping on Valentine’s Day, a lo-fi track. Guitar-based, very very appropriate for the holiday. In the future, you can expect a lot of variety because I don't want to keep my music in a box. It’s going to be a lot of rock, a lot of alternative, pop, classical, you name it. It’s going to be a whole lot.
