F L A U N T

It’s crazy to think Brooklynne Webb a.k.a. XoBrooklynne is only 17 years old and she’s already accomplished what most teenagers can only dream of. Hailing from Victoria, BC, Canada, the social media influencer, model, and recording artist moved to LA almost nine months ago, excited and passionate as ever to take on the entertainment industry.

Describing herself as “really girly, fun, and creative,” Brooklynne explains, “I’m really, really new. I just got my work Visa, which is awesome. I’m so excited about it because that means I get to stay here, work, and do what I love for the next three years.”

Boasting 501K followers on Instagram alone, Brooklynne’s bubbly, down-to-earth, and undeniably creative personality is one that fans can’t get enough of. On top of that, she’s a role model who encourages young women all around the world to love themselves and love the bodies they’re in. As a strong advocate for body positivity and individuality, Brooklynne’s following has grown to over 10.6 million on TikTok and continues to reach new heights every day.

Most recently, XoBrooklynne unveiled her satirical album titled My Crown, which debuted at #7 on the Spotify charts. That’s hard to fathom given that she recorded the songs to poke back at the haters.

Flaunt caught up with XoBrooklynne via Instagram Live from her Los Angeles apartment. Read below as we discuss her roots abroad, how she ended up recording “My Crown,” trolling the internet, why she won’t sing on Live again, building her following, going viral on TikTok, the importance of self-love, her love for drag, turning 18, her goals, and more!

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What was a young Brooklynne like growing up in Victoria?

I was definitely loud with a lot of energy. Very energetic for the most part. I did a lot of dance, musical theater, gymnastics, and swimming. I tried a lot of different sports. There was nothing that really stuck except for dance, which I did through my high school years.

When did you realize you could do music?

I probably realized it in April, when I came up with the idea of doing “My Crown.” I thought, “Ah! This would be fun.” 

Up until then, you hadn’t wanted to release your own music?

I mean, not really too much. I’d always loved singing and I’d always loved musical theater, but “My Crown” was a unique passion project for me.

What inspired the “My Crown” concept?

The whole thing was made to be a bit of a trolling song, but fun at the same time. It stems from that idea of trolling, but making something catchy, fun, and well-written that you can still listen or bop to. It doesn’t have to be the most amazing, beautiful piece of art, but something that was fun and I think that we created just that. 

What was the creative process behind the album?

It was super fun to make the album. The creative process was crazy—the whole thing was crazy to do! It was so fun for me. The album was just an album of remixes of “My Crown” so that was put together in a much shorter timeframe than “My Crown.” The actual song took around 9 months to do, but then the album only took a few weeks. 

“My Crown” was co-written with a few writers, right?

Yeah, I wrote it with Jillian Rossi. That was the most fun I’ve ever ever had in those writing sessions. They’re truly so talented. It was so cool to get to see all the behind-the-scenes, because I’ve always heard songs on the radio—you know, everyone’s heard music—but you might not know the full behind-the-scenes process of creating a song. How much time it takes, how much work goes into it, that was really fun to get to see. It has definitely given me a brand new, greater appreciation for music. 

I saw you post that you had to break down barriers to record this. Can you elaborate?

I was really, really nervous about a lot of different things from recording in the studio to getting behind the mic. I was nervous about the music video and the dance rehearsals, doing all of that in such a professional setting. Turns out, finally doing that for the first time was amazing. It took a lot for me to say, “Calm down, you’re not going to die or anything. This is just the anxiety! You’re going to be fine, just put in the work and you’ll be good.” And that’s exactly how it turned out. 

People keep reciting the lyrics! 

They were asking me to sing before I got on with you. I think my days of singing on Live are done.

What happened? 

Leading up to the song as a bit of promotion and to get people talking, I thought it’d be funny if I did a few hours of poorly singing karaoke on live streams. I did that, then pretended it didn’t exist. It didn’t happen. 

How was it trolling the internet?

I never thought that it’d work out and be as crazy big as it got, or have as much attention or anything like that. It has been interesting to watch all the tides turn because this was pretty pre-planned and everything.

Your fans love you. How did you build your social media presence up to where it is now?

For the first few years, I was honestly making a lot of videos in school. It was for fun. Once the pandemic hit, I really started to take it more seriously. Obviously I wasn’t goofing around as much, so I started creating more POV-style videos. I was doing lots of princess videos, essentially acting-type of things. I was doing that for a few years, then I started to branch off more into other passions that I had like body positivity, makeup, and general lifestyle content. I spent a few years posting and posting and posting, and now I’m here. 

When did you discover this princess persona?

It really came into play when there were all of the POVs, when everyone’s being really creative like that on TikTok. I started thinking of my own way to be a bit creative and put a spin on those styles of videos. I thought, “What if I did a princess character?” Then it took off from there.

You have 10.6 million followers on TikTok!

I know, it’s crazy. 

Any tips on how to get to where you are now on TikTok?

Oh my gosh, yeah. Definitely posting. You can’t get anywhere if you’re not putting out consistent content, posting a couple times a day. For me, I didn’t get anywhere for the first few years. It took me a long time, then it happened really quickly! It was the most insane thing. It went from under 100K followers to over a million in a month. 

What video went viral?

I had a few that went viral, but the one that went crazy viral was this princess POV video to Ariana Grande’s “7 Rings.” I remember a bunch of creators that I loved and had been watching for a long time ended up dueting the video…I guess because I made a fun video to duet. Watching all that come in,I was like “Oh my gosh! I have loved to watch these people for years, and now they’re dueting my video?!” That was the reaction that set it off. 

How often are you spending on making content and making TikToks?
Now that I’m in LA, I’m doing it a little bit less because I’ve been focusing on other things. There’s a lot more that goes into it now but especially when I was first starting, I was doing content from basically the moment I woke up until the end of the day. I’d wake up, get on my phone, scroll through TikTok, look for ideas, figure out what I was going to do, do my makeup, then I’d film from 10am until 7, 8, or 9pm. I’d film TikToks, look for more ideas, edit them, post them, and interact. I was on my phone all day.

That’s a full-time job!

Yeah. For 6 to 9 months, I was going 7 days a week, all-day, everyday. No break.

What are your favorite videos to make? The POV ones?

Not as much anymore. Now that I’m in LA, I work with my amazing roommate Cooper, who does more videography. We’ll come up with some concepts and plan them out. We do more, not so much professional, but high-quality storyboarding type videos. Those are always fun to do.

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A post shared by Brooklynne ♡ (@brooklynnexo)

You mention body positivity. How important is self-love?

It’s super important to me because I’ve never been genuinely happy until I started to love myself. Just being happy and confident, living life however I wanted to. I really want to spread that to other people, I want other people to also be more loving toward others. It’s something really important, something literally anyone young or old could use.

My Crown debuted at #7 on the Spotify charts. How does it feel to have a satirical album debut at that level?
That was crazy, I did not expect that at all. I saw it because they mentioned me in their story and I gasped. I was like “Why is it #7? But okay! I guess you guys are streaming it.” 

Do you plan on doing non-satirical music moving forward?

I don’t think so. There’s a lot that I want to do in the future. The music was fun, but I think it’s done for now. 

You don’t think the positive reception means you should do more?

I think it was funny. It was a fun moment, everyone got fooled once. I don’t think doing it again would create the same reaction. Even if I made it more serious, I just think that this song was really fun and important to me. I don’t know if there’s anything else that I’d want to create since this was my little baby. 

What do you want to do instead?

I’m really focusing on building my portfolio, learning more skills for modeling. I’ve been focusing on that for the past year, it’s a huge passion of mine. I’m definitely thinking of starting a podcast, and maybe writing a book in the next year about social media and everything. There’s a lot. I’m thinking about doing short films, I have a bunch of ideas. This next year I’ll be taking everything step-by-step and doing things as they fall into place since there’s so much.

Speaking of modeling, talk about your love for beauty and fashion.

I’ve always loved beauty and fashion growing up. I was always a big YouTube person, so I’d watch a lot of the beauty and fashion gurus that were on YouTube between 2010 and 2015. A big inspiration for me is drag: the form of drag and the art of drag. I love the makeup, the fashion, and the performance that goes into it, so that’s definitely a big inspiration for everything that I do. 

Were you able to go to drag shows before COVID?

Not really. I’m excited to turn 18 because then I’ll be able to actually go.

You’re only 17?!

Yeah, everyone always forgets. I feel young, but old. I feel I’m so young like “wow, I’m not even 18!” A lot of the time, there is stuff I can’t do because I’m not 18 yet. At the same time, I’m like, “Ugh! I’m so old, I feel like I’m running out of time!” Slow down, you’re 17. You have tons of time.

Are you still in school or are you done?

I’m currently doing online, self-paced right now. 

Do you have goals for your time in LA?

I want to keep working in the industry, I love social media and doing that. I’m not really sure what I want to do, but I just love LA and I love the industry. I want to keep working and see where it takes me. 

What do you like to do for fun?

When I’m not working, I like to take days off to go to Six Flags occasionally. That’s really fun. But if I’m hanging out in my apartment, I’ll take a long bath and chill out with a few of my friends.

Favorite ride at Six Flags?
I really like the X2, which is the one at Magic Mountain. There’s another one I also really like, but that’s the big one.

Best encounter you’ve had with a fan?

I remember it was my first time in LA, it might’ve been my first time going to Saddleranch too, which was funny. I walked in and within the first five seconds, I had a girl turn around and go, “You’re Brooklynne! It’s my birthday today, and this is my first time eating out in so long. This is so exciting.” That was a crazy encounter. She started talking about how I helped her through her eating disorder. That was a crazy moment, I’ll literally never forget that. 

What’re you most excited for next? New Years’ Resolutions?
I’m excited for 2022! I’m excited for COVID to hopefully get better so that things will maybe open up again. I’m excited to keep creating and doing what I love in whatever way it takes me.

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Photographer: Dylan Lujano
Hair: Mika Fowler
Makeup: Anton Khachaturian
Wardrobe Stylist: Haili Pue