Amid tensions fuelled by far-right riots seemingly dimming down, I finally got to sit down with Hey, Baby. Members of the notoriously racist English Defence League lurking on the streets and looking for trouble across the United Kingdom, including the capital city, meant rescheduling my interview with the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK alum for their safety. Coming out of a popular reality competition TV show and featuring in a succession of impressive projects in showbiz, including landing a role in a Sunday Film Festival nominated movie, does not change Hey, Baby’s vulnerability as a Black person.
Highlights
- Hey, Baby transitioned from the art of drag to a music career influenced by their diverse musical upbringing.
- Hey, Baby's debut single 'Theatre!' has over 122,000 streams on Spotify.
- Hey, Baby dismissed themselves from 'RuPaul's Drag Race UK'
- They made their film debut in 'Layla Layla' and performed in Sam Smith's 'Unholy' music video.
Nevertheless, being from a marginalized community has also translated into them becoming a force to be reckoned with. One that Hey, Baby, born Romone, has already referenced in their 2022 Theatre! single, as they put it in a Jenny from the Block-esque fashion: “Zone four b***h, but I′m still hood.”
With Theatre!, which has been streamed over 122,000 times on Spotify, Hey, Baby was signaling that while they may now live in one of London’s more expensive neighborhoods, they haven’t forgotten about their roots.
Born in North London to second-generation Jamaican parents, Hey, Baby was exposed to a variety of beats that prompted their post-Drag Race music career to turn out quite differently than many of their peers.
Hey, Baby exclusively opened up about their music career after participating in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
Image credits: bby.ldn
Drag Race fans would be familiar with Adore Delano, Alaska Thunderf*ck, Willam, Courtney Act, and Priyanka’s upbeat and campy tunes. However, with parents who not only listened to dancehall and reggae but also drum & bass/jungle and R&B, Hey, Baby had a cultural understanding of music that pushed them in an entirely different direction.
I described their music as “The Prodigy and Limp Bizkit, but make it c*nty,” to which Hey, Baby enthusiastically agreed. They further approved of my claim that their songs were perfect as workout beats I enjoy boxing to.
“I think that [the music] I make now is very reflective of different stages in my life,” Hey, Baby said.
Behind Hey, Baby’s leather boots, Mugler spiky choker, and a Lenny Kravitz-ish rockstar demeanor are years of professional training. In fact, Hey, Baby is an all-around trained performer who attended the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon, London, which is where Adele famously graduated from.
Image credits: bby.ldn
The artist credited their mother for encouraging them to pursue studies in arts, a parental approval that was carefully thought out since their childhood.
“I was born in North London, and all my dad's family is [from there], but [my mom and I] moved up to Essex when I was around six,” Hey, Baby revealed. “So, I kind of grew up in the suburbs.”
“There was so much gang crime in North London, and my mom was just like, ‘I'm raising a little black boy. We need to go move somewhere.’”
Instead of potentially falling into the hands of a dangerous crowd, one which has already had its grips on some of Hey, Baby’s relatives, their mom moved to a quieter neighborhood where she instantly noticed her son’s natural artistic capabilities.
Hey, Baby referenced in their 2022 Theatre! single their background prior to moving to London: “Zone four b***h, but I′m still hood”
Image credits: bby.ldn
At eight, Hey, Baby’s played Michael Darling in Peter Pan, their first theater play. At 10, they started training in dancing in various styles, including ballet. By the time they were 13, Hey, Baby was introduced to their singing teacher, Yolanda Thompson, a professional opera singer.
I never watched Hey, Baby’s Drag Race season, something they ironically appreciated. But I did witness their years of training come to life when I saw them perform at Queer Edge Live, an LGBTQ+ live entertainment night in London.
From carefully executed dance moves to strong vocals shouted at just the right frequency into a mic, it wasn’t hard to notice that Hey, Baby was born to do this. But more so, Hey, Baby is a creative who has been trailblazing the underrepresented Black alt-scene.
As a matter of fact, FKA twigs is one of the first celebrities Hey, Baby mentioned in our interview, a singer who, just like Hey, Baby, has broken many stereotypes as a British artist with Jamaican roots.
Image credits: bby.ldn
"Artists such as Megan Thee Stallion, Tierra Whack, Asian Doll, Bbymutha, and, of course, Rico Nasty have demanded attention in the typically male-dominated genre by bringing their own individual sounds to a category where there have been too many mediocre men with similar sounds taking up space," Black diasporic culture and influences researcher Cierra Black previously argued.
On that basis, one might argue that Hey, Baby elevates the industry in the UK as a non-binary Black artist.
“I really believe in myself,” Hey, Baby said. “If I had stayed [on Drag Race], maybe I would’ve gone further, but then I would’ve been attached to the Drag Race kind of franchise. It would have maybe been a bit difficult for me to kind of break out of that music.”
Back in 2022, a 26-year-old Hey, Baby voluntarily dismissed themselves from the fourth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK. In a 2023 interview with Gay Times, their exit was described as the result of battling with depression and anxiety.
Hey, Baby performed at Queer Edge Live, an LGBTQ+ live entertainment night in London
Image credits: bby.ldn
Although Hey, Baby has deliberately distanced themselves from Drag Race, explicitly asking me not to feature any photographs depicting their time on the show, the now-28-year-old musician briefly clarified that their seemingly abrupt departure from TV had been fuelled by negative experiences at the time of filming.
Hey, Baby particularly pointed out, with some humor in hindsight, the moment their tearful confessional on the show about mental health was weirdly edited with dramatic music, one of the many moments that seemingly reflected some of the series’ arguable toxicity.
Nevertheless, Hey, Baby also acknowledged the positives that came from the art of drag, which all started when they were a university graduate living in Brighton, UK.
“I was broke because I had a music degree,” they quipped. “So, I'm just in Brighton, working my bar job, and then there was a lip sync competition at the local bar.”
As a professionally trained artist, Hey, Baby said they didn't rely on Drag Race to land gigs, such as appearing in Sam Smith's Unholy music video
Image credits: bby.ldn
The professionally trained artist showed up and won, ultimately landing them an opening act gig for Alyssa Edwards, one of RuPaul Drag Race’s most famous drag queens.
“I didn't really want to be a drag queen in the first place,” Hey, Baby admitted. “I think I was more excited to perform.” Paid gigs to perform in drag came as an unexpected saving grace that enabled the performer to enjoy the liberty of picking songs and dancing to them.
“I think because drag has done so much for me, I don't want to go and turn my back on the community,” Hey, Baby clarified. “After the show, [my experience] changed my relationship [with] drag to something that wasn't me.”
Nonetheless, Hey, Baby said they never had to rely exclusively on their Drag Race fame to land some career-making gigs, including one as a backup dancer for Sam Smith in their 2023 Unholy music video featuring Kim Petras.
“We filmed [the music video] a couple of weeks before the Drag Race cast was announced,” Hey, Baby recalled. “I just had to earn [being cast on the music video without using Drag Race’s credential], and that's one of the things that I'm most proud of.”
Hey, Baby also made their debut in films, cast as Cornucopia in the 2024 British romance Layla. The movie centers on Layla, a non-binary British-Palestinian drag queen living in London, who falls in love with Max (Louis Greatorex), an advertising executive.
Layla was selected by the BFI and British Council for the GREAT8 showcase at the 2023 Cannes Marché. Additionally, the film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
“It wasn't like groundbreaking acting, probably, but it was important,” Hey, Baby said humbly of their relatively smaller role in the movie.
Born in North London to second-generation Jamaican parents, Hey, Baby was exposed to a variety of beats, which influenced their music style
Image credits: bby.ldn
Hey, Baby has also modeled for Mugler at the 2023 Paris Fashion Week, been featured in two Ann Summers campaigns, and has released four singles, including Theatre!.
Nevertheless, breaking into a different career path while remaining in the entertainment industry after appearing on Drag Race was hard, even for an artist as multifaceted as Hey, Baby, partially due to Drag Race becoming a globally popular show.
“I think for people, especially those who were on that TV show, to break out and become like an artist [who] has nothing to do with that TV show is [difficult],” Hey, Baby admitted.
Despite their awe-inspiring achievements, Hey, Baby is still working to move away from Drag Race and the show’s fans, who are notorious for their unforgiving scrutiny.
“I think that it's become so mainstream. A lot of people [who] aren't part of the [LGBTQ+] community want to impose their idea of what drag should be,” Hey, Baby noted.
All Drag Race scrutiny aside, Hey, Baby teased their upcoming projects, some of which they preferred to keep a secret for now.
However, they did express their wish to act in more movies and continue to model, as they said: ”I would love to go back, but I'm very much all or nothing.”
When I asked if people could expect an album soon, Hey, Baby clarified that they were currently working on an EP, projecting a potential release in 2025.
Hey, Baby made their debut in films, cast as Cornucopia in the 2024 British romance Layla
“I'm up on that right now,” Hey, Baby exclaimed. “I have the concept and everything. And again, I think that's what kind of led me to not really want to be doing drag as much. I think I started conceptualizing very visually.”
Although coy about their upcoming endeavors, Hey, Baby did share a theme they were interested in exploring for their anticipated new music: “I think I want to have a curly mustache, [showcasing the stereotype] of masculinity.”
Hey, Baby confessed to having gone to the gym and “bulking” in preparation for their forecasted project, which will touch on gender stereotypes. In fact, visual art is the only place Hey, Baby makes room for stereotypes, as their lyricism is much more complex.
“With an EP, I've really been challenging myself because I think the English language can be very simple; you end up falling into a lot of cliches and stuff,” Hey, Baby explained.
While we can occasionally watch Hey, Baby perform some of their released songs in London, the creative remains busy “writing” and “rewriting” new songs, which we might or might not -- as Hey, Baby put it -- witness in a festival next year.
(Correction August 27, 2024, 20:30 pm CET: the story was amended to reflect that Hey, Baby did not explicitly say that Drag Race was "toxic" but rather an observation made personally by the writer)
Hey, Baby has ignited an avalanche of praise since releasing their music
