Like so many people during the pandemic, BaebiBetti was unsure what to do with herself, so to keep busy she decided to try her hand at music. She’d been building a name for herself as an influencer, which gave her a ready audience, and she tested the idea out with a standard, “OK guys, I’m going to make and drop some music.” After a few sessions at a friend’s studio, she dropped “Bomb” (which isn’t online anymore). “It hit like 100k, which really surprised me,” she says. “So, I’m like OK damn, let’s do this.” Since then, she’s been releasing a steady stream of music and regularly performing.
When making music, Betti (which is her English nickname) finds it hard to stick to just one style. She switches through a mix of beat styles, from trap or drill, to alternative rock and dance music. Her track “Remedy” was one of the first Jersey club tracks in Thailand, second only to Eskiimo’s “Toxic.” “If I stick to just one style, it gets too boring for me, I can’t make music if I’m too strict about it,” the 23 year old explains. But whatever beat she chooses and lyrical content she settles on, her vocals tend to be delivered in a cute, sing-song autotune. While she shies away from identifying as a rapper, it really depends on what you consider the definition of rap to be (which is too much to unpack in this profile).
Betti, is one of the few women in the overwhelmingly male-dominated Thai underground scene. In the mainstream, women artists with more poppy leanings can find an easier route. But there are only a couple of girls in the underground. “The crowds don’t support females, but we support each other,” she explains. Being an influencer gave her a needed edge, allowing her to be herself and forgoing the backing of a label. “It’s hard to get exposure when building your audience from scratch, and even harder for us. Some girls have a very cute style, which helps them. But I talk about drugs and stuff, it might be a bit too dark for girl fans.” Her fans tend to be mostly guys, although about a quarter are women and a couple have even reached out asking how to be artists themselves. “Thai girls are shy maybe? It’s hard to start making music, so I tell them to start right away. I reposted one of their songs on my SoundCloud but she deleted it!” When Betti performs, she’s often one of the only women on stage other than maybe BADBITCHBKK, who’s her close friend.
While performing her more popular songs, Betti says that the crowds sing along to her English lyrics even if they only speak Thai. “But it’s not too hard to learn what they mean,” she laughs. Most of her songs are bilingual but she finds it a bit easier to write lyrics in English because of all the Western music she bumps. While her Thai lyrics tend to be more emo, she just chooses whichever language fits her mood in the moment. Regardless of the language, the vast majority of her online fans are from Thailand.
There aren’t many Thai venues for underground artists to perform at, other than Red Corner in Rangsit—which unfortunately just closed down a couple of days ago. The crowds Betti has performed for there have tended to be mainly guys. “I liked it there because the crowd really got into it, moshing and everything,” she says. Bangkok Island recently invited her, BADBITCHBKK, and Sparo. “That was really nice but much different; the crowd was more there to watch rather than be a part of it.” She was also got invited to her first festival at Urban Fest last month. “It was great to be invited, but since I’m still underground they gave me an early set and there weren’t many people in the crowd yet.” Thai festivals are still widely overlooking the underground scene though, so it’s a good sign and hopefully just a start.
