Babymorocco: “No one should feel guilty for being sexy”
The cult musician talks queerbaiting, coming out and being “the original gay boy on Tumblr”. WORDS MIKELLE STREET PHOTOGRAPHY AND STYLIST IRIS LUZ LIGHTING ALEX RADOTA Babymorocco is sexy.
For him, that’s a forgone conclusion. He wields that attribute, actually. He’s got a big mass in general – “big thighs and a big butt” as he explains to me over Zoom.
Later, he gives me a few flexing poses to illustrate a point he’s making. Becoming conscious of – and manipulating – that appeal started when he launched a Tumblr account under the Babymorocco moniker and was first exposed to how people reacted to images of his body.
But it continues through to today. “There’s a certain kind of power that I became obsessed with,” he says of those early online days. “You know, the validation you get from looking sexy.” The sort of reaction he was receiving, and the beefcake-like frame that came later, planted the seed for his career as a pop act, the essence of which is best encapsulated in his music video “Everyone” where he walks through the streets of New York City as people turn and stare. “Everyone wants to look like me, everyone wants to talk like me,” he says in the hook.
