CupcakKe, whose birth name is Elizabeth Harris, performed at Florida State University’s Club Down Under (CDU) this past Thursday. Cupcakke is an American rapper from Chicago, Illinois who gained fame from first creating music online in 2012. As time progressed, many people began to appreciate her comedic personality and musical creations. The release of this information earlier last February left many students wondering just who she is and how FSU was able to get a private performance for its students.
Most of her music is extremely hypersexualized and some may find it much different than the average female rapper. This different approach to music is what draws extra attention to her work. One of her most liked songs on both Spotify and Apple Music is “CPR,” which made its debut on the viral platform TikTok in 2021 after its remix with Maroon 5’s “Misery.” This remix was number one in the United Kingdom throughout the end of 2021 with more than 257,000 videos produced using the sound. This was one of the turning points in CupcakKe’s career as she had gained a following and traction from millions of people on the TikTok platform.
Although she became more widely known after “CPR,” Cupcakke has been making music similar to it for several years prior. Following the release of “Dangled” in 2018 and “Squidward Nose” in 2019, the artist began to attract her primary audience, this audience being those who enjoy her authenticity. An interviewer in 2018 asked Cupcakke if the media has an influence on the type of content she puts out, and her response was a genuine reflection of how she feels about the modern music industry. “I could do the most serious song and it’d probably only get 500,000 views— but as soon as I do something sexual, it’s going to get millions of views. It’s just like, what the fuck, you know? I’m more than my sexual songs, and I’ve proven that plenty of times, but the media only picks up on what they want to pick up.”
Now that you have a brief explanation of who CupcakKe is, let’s address the question many people have been asking since early February. How did Florida State University get her to perform in the CDU? Club Downunder is a campus venue organized by around fifty undergraduate students that are responsible for planning and producing events, coordinating audio, booking performers and much more. It has been said that one of these students on the CDU team was able to reach out and get a response from CupcakKe agreeing to perform in Club Downunder. This might be due to FSU’s highly respected status as a Florida university or it might just be dumb luck.
CDU’s Instagram post on Feb. 17 had around 2,500 likes and 300 comments among the continuous sharing between Tallahassee students across platforms, with the majority of the comments under this post being students in disbelief. The performance was free for all FSU students with the presentation of a valid FSUID. Therefore, many individuals made their way to the CDU event to enjoy this show. If you happened to miss this show, just know CDU has a strong group of undergraduate students that have dedicated their time to organizing the next big production for Florida State University students to enjoy. Keep up to date on Club Downunder’s Instagram and Twitter for upcoming events!
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