“We Altered Music Industry Culture”: bbno$ On TikTok Virality & Longevity
There’s something inherently likeable about bbno$. Born Alex Gumuchian, the Canadian hitmaker exudes energy that makes you feel at home. We meet outside Breadfern, one of Redfern’s famous food establishments, and from the get-go the rapper is chatting away. We discuss my constant bad luck with the weather when organising a photoshoot, but he assures me he always has the sun on his side.
This optimism is a key theme that continues throughout our time together; Gumuchian seems to be taking every twist and turn in his career in his stride. “Everyone’s like, Oh, man, you fell off. I’m not as popular as I was when ‘Lalala’ was happening, sure,” he says. “But I’m not really trying to stay on to try to make ‘Lalala’ 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.”
“Lalala”, a collaboration with producer Y2K, put the bbno$ name on the map back in 2019, primarily due to its success on TikTok. Gumuchian emphasises how much of an impact the song had on the music industry. “Record labels have changed deal names, and if a song blows up nowadays, because of TikTok, it’s super interesting. If there’s no deal in place when the song blows up, they call it the “Lalala deal”, because there was no real deal in place for that track,” he explains as a fountain bubbles near us in Redfern Park. “The labels were like, who owns this song?“, he recalls.
It’s a situation that more and more artists are finding themselves in with the advent of the short-form video app, and Gumuchian considers “Lalala” the blueprint for its intersection with music. “Essentially, we both own it, we have rightful ownership of it. It was kind of a messy situation, but I literally have changed and altered culture with Y2K. We altered music industry culture, we altered marketing practices, and our story is out there to read completely what we did.”
At its heart, “Lalala” was a great song, and coupled with the online marketing efforts of the pair, the song was destined for success. Gumuchian isn’t the biggest fan of the track these days, but he can definitely understand why it was so successful. “When I listen back to that song, as much as I fucking hate it now, it’s so catchy. One time you hear the hook, and you’re like, okay, I know exactly how this shit goes.”
Gumuchian’s success over the years can be attributed, at least in part, to a dedicated fan base. Having personally caught three of his sets while he’s in Australia for the touring festival Listen Out, I’ve witnessed first-hand how he goes above and beyond to make a bbno$ show one for the fans to remember. “It’s not about the music, when you go to shows. It’s about the aura. It’s about the vibe. As cliche as it might sound, music isn’t really about the music, it’s all about the vibe that it has,” he reflects. “When I put my shows together, I always think about how I can best interact with my fans. I want to leave a mark on them and I want them to leave being like, That was the best show I’ve ever been to.”
When it comes to creating his community outside of shows, he insists he hasn’t done anything consciously, aside from being himself. “If I had the ability to intentionally come up with that, I would be a genius, because that’s some cold shit,” he laughs. “The personality of what I display online speaks very loudly to people, and people can relate because, truthfully, we’re all the same.” It’s clear that he sees himself as one of the lucky ones that has managed to break through. “It’s unfortunate, because a lot of the time musicians are put on a weird pedestal. I still suck at making music,” he says. “I’ve gotten lucky. I know so many musicians that are a jillion times more talented than I am. But I’m just better at marketing than they are.”
I make a comparison between his social media marketing and the marketing of Lil Nas X, another artist who famously came up through shitposting on social media. Gumuchian is quick to draw a line between the two. “Lil Nas X is the Grade A, AAA standard. I’m Lil Nas X divided by 17,” he says. He’s had the opportunity to let Lil Nas X know how much of an inspiration he is. “I’ve told him, I was like, Man, I’m a huge fan, it’s incredible what you do is super inspirational and keep going. He was like, Hey man, thank you. I love your music, too.” Despite making the distinction between the pair, Gumuchian is keen to collaborate with the pop star if the opportunity arises. “I would love to make a song with him, but I don’t think it’ll ever happen… If I do make a good enough song, I think anyone would get on it. When you make good music, people want to jump on.”
For now, though, he’s focused on his latest release, album ‘bag or die’. Made up of fourteen songs, the album is sharp and snappy. “I have no approach,” says Gumuchian. “I just make music and put it together.” He explains that he used to have a few good songs, which became singles, and then created filler to make an album, but ‘bag or die’ is made up of entirely good tracks. “This next album is really good,” he says. “Some of the songs on the album are better than the singles, way better. That’s my personal take.” “robert patekson”, “vasectomy” and “chipotle” stand out as non-single tracks, and as an album ‘bag or die’ is one of the most cohesive releases from Gumuchian yet – despite his “no approach” mentality.
‘bag or die’ is Gumuchian’s seventh studio album release, underscoring his release schedule as nothing short of prolific. As many other artists have experienced, success shifted his mentality towards releases. “One thing that changed with my business is, when I became more successful, I stopped just being an independent artist and just making a new song and dropping it,” he says. Instead of releasing a track with minimal promotion or thought, a much more meticulous process came into place.
But Gumuchian laments this transition. “That shit doesn’t fucking matter. If the song is good, it’ll do well. I can do every single interview in the whole world and have it all lined up for a song and that shit could do absolutely nothing.” He acknowledges the value of TikTok, despite the quick turnaround. “I could have every single person on TikTok make a video for it. Now, that would probably make a ginormous difference.”
The goal is not to lean into the algorithm too much, but take advantage when it goes his way. Ideally, Gumchian’s work would outlast the two-month window of TikTok popularity, but he knows to also make the most of the boost a viral video can bring a track. “Why not just post all about it? Everyone’s always saying oversaturation, oversaturation,” he says. “And I’m thinking, not really. Because if one song goes, you’re undersaturating yourself. For instance, when “Betty” by Yung Gravy blew up, I remember his manager called me and was like, Should we drop more music? And I was like, Yes! Your name is in the algorithm so heavily right now, and you’re gonna miss this algorithm, because things are going way faster. If you stop posting you’re literally losing a match that’s lit.”
That being said, Gumuchian never really wanted to learn another social media. “But the benefit of TikTok is outrageous, it really is. I’ve gained about 1.3 million followers on TikTok this year without having a song.” This online presence has also led to a greater recognition in the real world. Going out in North America now sees Gumuchian recognised by fans constantly. “It’s because of the facial recognition via TikTok”, he says. “I’m an internet guy, so not many people know me, but now when I go out for food in southern Vancouver with my parents, I get noticed every time I go.”
Success online allows Gumuchian to keep dreaming big. Throughout our conversation, it’s obvious he is thinking three steps ahead of where he is now. From his live show (“I really want to turn my show into a musical slash circus”) to future releases (“my next goal is to make a rave album, and then the next goal is to make a ballad project”), his ideas are overflowing. I ask what the rave album will sound like. “Bad Boy Chiller Crew, Bru-C from the UK, they’re all some of my favourite acts right now.
“I’ve loved drum and bass for a while, but seeing it live and seeing it performed with vocalists, shit’s insane,” he enthuses. “If there’s an ability to popularise it in North America, I want to be a forefront leader of that, because it’s so fucking sick. I know that there is a scene, but it’s not very popular, and it’s more in the dubstep world of things, more or less exclusively electronic. It’s got to happen.” That’s the unspoken mantra of bbno$: making it happen.
