Here is an interesting question for all of you: have you wondered what the common denominator behind OneDirection, Detroit and Lil Wayne is? In case you (always/never) asked yourself that – and are now curious – let me give you the easy answer: it is Porcelain Black, the artist we at CelebMix would like to introduce to you today.
Porcelain Black was born as Alaina Marie Beaton in Detroit and from early on had a passion for music. While at first that passion was concentrated on dance, she later became interested in singing too.
Since she was 18 years old, Porcelain continuously made music and did her own thing, not caring about other people’s opinions as long as she personally was happy with it, writing about personal experiences (“My Leftovers “ was, for instance, written after her boyfriend cheated on her) and giving them her personal unique touch. Her first project, Porcelain And The Tramps (PATT), was also the one that garnered her the most praise and attention. Back in the days when MySpace was the platform to get connections in the music business (remember Colbie Caillat, anyone?), Porcelain decided to upload her own demos. Those songs were heavily influenced by industrial rock sounds, often mixed with small portions of dance pop, a mix so different from everything on the radio that it was no wonder that the tracks ended up with 10 million views in a short amount of time.
From there on, it went upward for Porcelain Black. In 2009, one of her own songs (“How Do You Love Someone”) ended up on Disney starlet Ashley Tisdale’s second album (she also provided backing vocals for Tisdale’s track “Masquerade”). In 2011, she co-composed the closing song of the debut album of OneDirection (“Save You Tonight”). But next to her writing for other artists, she also started on a new project for herself, the project of Porcelain Black, which was more dance pop-centered but still true to her straight-forward character. She performed on the Late Show, toured and recorded with Lil Wayne, starred in a movie next to Tom Cruise, released 2 songs that charted on the US Club charts, and – in 2014- had the final breakthrough with “One Woman Army”, an empowering club song about being who you are and staying true to yourself, even if that means that you have to fight for yourself alone at the end of the day. “One Woman Army” charted on top of the French iTunes charts and on #3 of the Spanish iTunes charts, leading to more televised performances and even a performance on the holy stages of the SuperMarXte in Ibiza.
Since then, Porcelain has continued to make more music, teasing her fans (which she lovingly calls Trainwrecks) almost every month with snippets of new tracks such as “Too Much Of Not Enough”, “ Reload” and “Hurt”, all songs that are going to be taken from her highly anticipated debut album. These new tracks are going to be more grown-up, less dance-pop but with a more urban and very sexy sound, according to Porcelain Black’s own words. They have a very smooth sound, think maybe what happened if The Weeknd was a woman with a raspy voice.
We included the snippets down below so you can check them out yourselves.
So, who is Porcelain Black and why should you know her, you might wonder now. Well, Porcelain Black is one of the most honest artists in the music industry at this point. She always keeps it real not only with her fans but also with those against her/who doubt her, says her opinion, turns them into songs, and basically is someone you can still look up to. Even though she had a tough childhood (her father died when she was still a teenager), even though she was expelled from school, even though her plans did not always turn out the way she wanted them to turn out, she always made the best out of it. She continued to live her dream up to this point. So get ready everyone! 2016 might be the year Porcelain Black will finally get the place in the spotlight she deserves after releasing her debut album.
If you want to know more about a Porcelain Black, you can follow her on Twitter (@PorcelainBlack), on Instagram or listen to her songs on Spotify. Check her out, she’s really good. Maybe you become a ‘Trainwreck’ too at the end of the day.
Porcelain Black is currently up for nomination for our CelebMix Awards in the category “Unsigned Artist of the Year”. You can vote for her (and, in general, for any award) up until December 20th, every day.