The CHEEKY Issue: BLACKSTARKIDS
words and photos BY Lexi Spevacek
Opening for The 1975’s “At Their Very Best” tour brought BLACKSTARKIDS back to their Missouri hometown in December of 2022. They performed at the same arena the three members of the band graduated in years before, a full circle moment for Ty, Deiondre and Gabe, who met in high school in Kansas City.
Having made music together since they were teenagers, it’s clear the band knows exactly what it is.
I meet the three to photograph them in their green room at the Rave Eagles Club in Milwaukee hours before they go on stage, and they assume their poses like it’s second nature — they visually come together as one entity in the same way they do in their songs and while performing.
Ty puts on a more subdued and straight faced persona for the photos but reanimates and takes the lead with the most to say answering questions. Gabe’s same bubbly personality that’s immediately felt upon meeting her shines through in their music and performances. Deiondre is the quietest of the three but chimes in with comedic relief and always strikes the quirkiest pose.
Despite having similar backgrounds and collaborating for years together, the three distinct minds that make up BLACKSTARKIDS ensure that their music is always evolving. The trio’s earlier projects drew heavy inspiration from growing up confined to their hometown.
“That’s all we were experiencing at the time, we didn’t have any money,” Ty says. “We were documenting the style of life that we were all living.”
Now, the band is able to pull inspiration from a far broader repertoire of experiences. Being on tour with The 1975 in 2022 brought BLACKSTARKIDS thousands of miles beyond the borders of Missouri. Playing arenas across the country, the three saw things they had never imagined, like fans holding signs and yelling phrases such as “you slay!” or “spit on my face.”
“I declined the offer,” Ty says of the spit request. “I don’t think I’m gonna do it, but that was definitely interesting.”
BLACKSTARKIDS are happy to be embraced by The 1975 fan base and appreciate even the strangest interactions. They describe concerts as a collective experience between the artist and audience, so they’re down for however people choose to live in that moment.
In the running for wildest concert experience for BLACKSTARKIDS is watching The 1975 frontman Matty Healy eat raw meat on stage during a performance at Madison Square Garden. But in typical BLACKSTARKIDS fashion, they embrace the weirdness.
“That’s rockstar shit, I fuck with it,” Gabe says.
“Gets people talking, doesn’t it?” Deiondre adds.
The three commend Healy for actually eating the raw meat, unlike social media influencer Liver King who got called out for faking his raw meat consumption.
“Matty’s the new Liver King,” they declare.
While there’s no raw meat and no bodily fluid-related requests from the audience that I can see that night in Milwaukee, BLACKSTARKIDS’ performance captivates the crowd. They radiate an energy that electrifies the room, and it’s hard not to get up and dance with them.
You can feel the energy just by listening to their 2022 album CYBERKISS*. It’s their most diverse body of work yet; it’s colorful, loud, digital, energetic and bright. The fusion of alternative pop rock, R&B and hip-hop with Y2K influences their nostalgic, refreshing music. Each of the band members’ personalities pop in their songs, creating a unique and fluid sound that they’re not afraid to experiment with. They never hesitate to go all in.
In between BLACKSTARKIDS’ aesthetic and sonic playfulness, you’ll find sincerity and passion in their lyricism. They want you to dance, but also take in what they’re saying.
“I think a lot of people kind of come with this perception that everything is all just silly with us,” Ty says, “but I feel like if you really listen to the music, you get a deeper picture than what people try to paint sometimes.”
CYBERKISS* is also the most the band has ever put of themselves into their music, with some of their most personally important themes. The album dives into the angst of young people living in a politically charged world and expresses both pride and frustration of being Black in America, evidenced by songs like “JOY,” “BOYCOTT” and “PEACH COBBLER.”
Having released five albums between 2019 and 2022, BLACKSTARKIDS isn’t stopping anytime soon. They’re hoping to keep the momentum of CYBERKISS* going with a headline tour and more music in the future.
And of course, while tackling deeper and bigger themes in their music, they don’t lose sight of the silliness.
As a member of perhaps the cheekiest band of the Cheeky issue, we have to ask Ty what the word means to him.
“Something tangible that you can grasp onto and have a good grip on and um… bounce off of. You know, something like that.”