CupcakKe Says She's 'Happy to Be Alive' as She Teases 'Legendary' New Music: 'I Really Overcame'
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The above video features explicit language and imagery.
CupcakKe became the queen of TikTok overnight last month... and she had no clue.
Lacing her ever-so-explicit lyrics (and moans) from songs like "Deepthroat" and "Vagina" with fan-favorite tracks from the likes of Cher and Taylor Swift, TikTokers were posting silly remixes of her music on the app and reaching thousands of likes. But when PEOPLE caught up with the Chicago-born rapper after her show at 340 Nightclub last month, she had no idea.
"I didn't know it was a big deal," she told PEOPLE at the time. Now, CupcakKe (born Elizabeth Harris) has finally tapped in as she boasts nearly 600,000 followers on the app and has joked that she has her lawyers on speed dial to claim royalties from the hilarious remixes.
"My lawyers have been calculating each and every one of you. We have screenshots of each of y'all's names that play with those remixes," she said in her first TikTok video Friday. "If you play with the [moaning sound], you're getting sued. Or the 'smack my ass like a drum,' you're getting sued."
With a completely new audience at her disposal thanks to the app and a "melodic sound" that she's finally exploring with song "Marge Simpson," CupcaKke, 24, says she's ready for what's to come as she opens up to PEOPLE about her improving mental health and her upcoming album, which she says will be "greatness at 10."
Cupcakke/Instagram CupcakKe
"I will be releasing my biggest album," she says. "It's been two or three years. I took time and just looked in the mirror and focused on myself."
It's been pure reflection for the rapper after she made headlines in January 2019 when she was hospitalized after sharing a set of suicidal tweets that blew up Twitter. Today, CupcaKKe is in the best place possible.
"I'm happy to be alive. And it takes a lot for someone who was suicidal to say they're f—ing happy to be alive," she says candidly. "I'm blessed. Every day I wake up, happy to be here."
"I really overcame it," she adds. "And I'm just proud to come on stage and see people still supporting me."
CupcakKe shares that even before the pandemic forced everyone to isolate, she was staying private and reflecting on her life and future.
"I was always to myself, like a loner," she says. "So it took a lot of that to look myself in the mirror and take time for myself and just be like, 'You know what? Right now it's time to get your mental health together.' And I'm so proud of myself. I'm really here."
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Cupcakke/Instagram
And the pandemic further helped her "really wake up and enjoy life" after she recovered from COVID, which she caught early on in the pandemic. ("My heart squeezed every time I went to bed, it was very hard to get up and it was very hard to lay down," she reveals.)
Already with six albums under her belt — including fan-favorite Ephorize — the musician says she's on the way to releasing her best project yet.
"It's going to be legendary. I'm not putting it on the album if it's just an okay song. We need greatness. We need 10 out of 10," she says.
The first real taste of what's to come? Her song "Marge Simpson," a nod to the beloved cartoon character.
"It's not the same Cupcakke. It's not the same sexual s—," she says. "It's not the same freestyle, rap, rap, rap. The song has a cadence and is very polished. And it's a song that I don't think they've ever heard from me. It's melodic. I tried something different and I think it's going to be very big."
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And though CupcakKe, whose hyper-sexual lyrical prowess has made her an icon among the LGBTQ community, agrees that she's often "underrated" in the mainstream because of her NSFW videos and music, she prefers not to complain and stays humble instead.
"More than an artist, I am human. We wake up and we s— like humans. We fart. We do all this human s—," she says. "I think artists should come down off their high horse and start treating fans better. If a pandemic didn't wake a motherf—er up, I don't know what will."
"I have a solid fan base. Every day, it grows," she adds. "That's one thing I did learn over the pandemic: to stay positive. Negativity comes all the time to me. The devil is very busy in my life. He has always been busy, but I'll always come out on top."
"Marge Simpson" is out now.
