CupcakKe’s Dauntless Manifesto: More Than a Meme

G.URL takes a bite out of cupcakKe’s latest album; Dauntless Manifesto

It is always difficult to pinpoint a tone that feels appropriate when conducting these musical deep dives, but cupcakKe makes that job even more challenging – in all the best ways.

Known for her outlandishly vulgar and raunchy lyricism, CupcakKe and the internet tend to share a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship: she feeds the culture, and the ever-evolving online atmosphere feeds/influences her music. With viral sensations like 2015’s Deepthroat, 2016’s LGBT, and 2017’s Cpr there’s almost no way that anyone who’s been on the internet for an extended period of time has yet to cross paths with her in some way. From nearly the start, cupcakKe and her music quickly became relevant online.

This virality undoubtedly launched her career, but her subsequent memeification by internet users essentially boxed and typecast her persona as a “joke” artist. cupcakKe became someone to listen to ironically— to play in the car with your friends for shock value, and although it’s understandable how this trend began due to the sexually explicit nature of some of her songs, this perception of cupcakKe is extremely one dimensional. She’s seemingly very self-aware of the humor to be found in her racy lyrics, often emphasizing them with matching sound effects; it seems that cupcakKe not only cultivated the jokes, but has kept them alive throughout her career by leaning into it.

Upsettingly though, it seems as though the inescapable label of “meme” has prevented her from breaking through into the mainstream despite the fact that artists like Doja Cat got their start in very similar ways, yet were thereafter able to find success beyond the confines of online spaces. In many ways, cupcakKe is a trailblazer when it comes to the rap game and discussions of feminine sexuality! She’s always been one of the most incredibly open and shameless female rappers about discussing sex and female anatomy, and, while it absolutely does make for some wildly funny bars at times, it cannot be overstated just how genuinely important it is and she continues this on Dauntless Manifesto. Let’s take a look.

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Water Balloon can surely be referred to as a pretty racy song, but truly, in comparison, it is not much more explicit than songs by male rappers in the same vein! It begs the question then; is it the content that’s taboo to people, or is it more so the fact that for once it’s a woman describing these encounters and her body in the same way that her male counterparts would. I feel that her use of vulgarities is heightened throughout this song, and her work, as an active reclamation of the language used to describe femme bodies in the genre.

Aura, a personal standout on the album for me, is a hyperpop banger all about body empowerment. These themes permeate her work, but this song specifically devotes itself to the notion of self-worth and confidence regardless of size.

There are, of course, songs that are straight up just a good time like DUI, Queef, Backstage Passes, and Little Red Riding Good, but all the while those same important themes shine through in clever ways. She does not get enough credit for how insanely skillful you have to be to come up with the bars that she does (I’ve attached some favorites).

Ultimately, cupcakKe does for Dauntless Manifesto what she has always done effortlessly; balances the wholesome with the explicit, the fun with the important, the online with the offline, and all with originality and relevance. Outspoken ally to the queer community from the start of her career she has rallied awareness around a variety of important causes and also recently donated over 15k to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. To consider cupcakKe “just a meme” does a great disservice to the impact of her witty lyricism, activism, and talent. Hopefully, then, Dauntless Manifesto will be the album that finally forces people to take her seriously.