The People’s Princess: Ice Spice
A little over a year ago, I wrote an article about PinkPantheress— a UK-based artist who first came into prominence after she released snippets of her unreleased songs on TikTok. While many artists have gone viral on TikTok, PinkPantheress was one of the select few who was able to take her success outside the app and onto the charts. For a while it seemed like she was the only artist who made out of TikTok. However, a year later, TikTok was introduced to her polar opposite, Ice Spice.
Ice Spice, whose real name is Isis Gaston, is a Bronx-native drill rapper who first went viral after she participated in TikTok’s “Buss It Challenge”. After gaining some following, Gaston wanted to use her new platform to enter the entertainment industry. According to Hot New Hip Hop, Ice Spice originally wanted to get into acting but was unsuccessful, so she switched to music. She teamed up with NYC producer RIOTUSA, better known as RIOT, to release 3 tracks, “Bully (Freestyle)”, “No Clarity”, and “Name of Love” in 2021 and 2022. Like PinkPantheress, who sampled UK garage tracks in her early songs, Ice Spice sampled US electronic / dance music in hers. However, Ice Spice started gaining hype for her blunt delivery (look to “No Clarity”’s opening line “You did me dirt, ‘cause what did I do? Like?”) rather than the overall production of her music.
Eventually she released her hit track, “Munch (Feelin’ You)” in 2022. The song immediately blew up, with many again enjoying Ice Spice’s delivery and confident “New York” attitude. While the song was able to go viral— catching the attention of artists like Drake— many people were quick to criticize Ice Spice for the same reasons she was praised. Some felt that Ice Spice’s straightforwardness and sensual lyrics were too much but, at the same time, not enough to make her more than a one-hit wonder. Yet Ice Spice stuck to her craft, and a few months after dropping “Munch” she teased her next single on TikTok. Immediately the song went viral, this time again for Ice Spice’s delivery but also for RIOT's production. People were quick to lip sync the opening line “How could I lose if I’m already chose? Like?”, specifically praising Ice Spice’s to-the-point narration and adlibs. Others focused on the song’s beat, which resembled background music from cartoons like Spongebob Squarepants and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! Many used this similarity to make comedy skits and other silly jokes on the platform.
However, Ice Spice proved that she not only pays attention to what the internet is saying about her, but more importantly, is able to take a joke and capitalize on this knowledge. She subsequently named the track “Bikini Bottom” and dropped it the weekend before Halloween as an homage to the two cartoons the song resembled. Her lightheartedness struck a chord with the public and seemed to turn their opinions of her around. Ice Spice continued this streak by dropping her next single, “In Ha Mood” as well as fan featured music videos for both “In Ha Mood” and “Bikini Bottom”.
As she gained traction with her singles, Ice Spice also began doing interviews with Genius and Cosmopolitan. Her interviews provided a deeper insight into who she was as a person and unsurprisingly, more meme material. In one of her Genius interviews specifically, people noticed that Ice Spice had alluded to a specific and slightly risque dance move that she had done in many of her past videos. The clip, of course, went viral with many people duetting it with their own versions of the dance. Her other interviews, however, had surprised people due to how sweet and soft spoken the “Munch” singer was. People had expected her personality to be as bold and brash as her lyrics, but she is quite the opposite. The contrast between her music and her actual self had made the public like her even more. Eventually, she went viral on Twitter, with many calling her the “People’s Princess” and comparing her with the late Princess Diana. Others went as far as finding her old social media accounts and sharing her old posts and yearbook pictures. It seemed like the more people found, the more they liked her. Unlike PinkPantheress whose ambiguity and private life garnered intrigue, Ice Spice was open and accessible. She has always been unapologetically herself both online and offline.
Ice Spice again took advantage of what the internet had been saying about her and dropped her EP Like..? on January 20, 2023. With this EP, she has proven further that she pays attention to what her fans want and like about her. She named the EP Like..? after the adlib that people loved on “Name of Love” and “Bikini Bottom”. The cover features a cartoon of Ice Spice doing the dance move that went viral months prior. The tracklist featured her three singles that skyrocketed her to fame, with three new additions, including her most recent single, titled “Princess Diana.” In this track, Ice Spice acknowledges the ongoing joke that compares her to the late princess and runs with it claiming, “In the hood I’m like Princess Diana”.
A true Gen-Z star, Ice Spice and her team let fans do their marketing for them. All they did and continued to do was pay attention to what was popular and what fans wanted. Enter the most recent of Ice Spice collaborations, with Pink Pantheress and Nicki Minaj. Ice Spice’s team was able to see easily which artists were going viral on TikTok— and who better than PinkPantheress? A seemingly unlikely duo, the two online sweethearts came together for the newest version of “Boy’s a Liar.” The music video was shot in New York City and released the same day the single dropped, allowing the visuals from the video and outtakes to serve as promotion. Fans took care of the rest, immediately posting pictures of the pair spotted throughout the city during the shoot, creating video edits using clips from the music video. The collaboration alone between the two TikTok stars, despite the difference in their respective genres, was enough to send fans in a frenzy. Nicki Minaj’s collaboration was less surprising, but heavily anticipated nonetheless. Dubbed the “Queen of Rap”, fans of Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj alike wanted the two to work together as soon as Ice Spice began to blow up, and even more so when “Princess Diana” was released— alluding to the possibility of Ice Spice not only being the People’s Princess but perhaps even in the running as the “Princess of Rap”.
Despite facing some criticism, Ice Spice has made it clear that she’s not going anywhere anytime soon. So far she’s been able to continuously stay on our feeds and climb through the charts with her fun beats, bold lyrics, and overall charismatic and girly personality. More importantly, she and her team have utilized the platform she gained, from something as seemingly small as a dance challenge, to propel her into a full launched career. Considering how competitive the music industry is, Ice Spice deserves her flowers for not just being a young female rapper in a male-dominated field, but being incredibly media savvy and using it to her benefit.
Like..? is available on all streaming platforms.
