There are two types of people in this world: those who know Bailey Spinn and those who don’t know her yet. And it seems like every day there are fewer and fewer people in that second category. At last count, she had over 18 million followers across her social media platforms (TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter). To put that into perspective, if all of Bailey’s followers joined together, she would have the fifth largest state in the country — only New York, Florida, Texas, and California currently have a larger population than Bailey’s combined followers.

With so many fans who like and comment on her posts every day, it might be tough to present a fresh take on a celebrity who is already so close, open, and engaged with her fans. But after an extensive conversation about her return to music, we are going to try to give Bailey’s nation of followers something fresh to enjoy about their favorite influencer.

Spoiler alert: There are no “hot takes” in this interview. We just wanted to get to know Bailey a little better, and find out why music is resurfacing at this moment in her life.

How did Bailey Spinn come to be?

Her real name is Bailey Rose Spinnenweber, and she’s from Virginia. While comedic POVs are her claim to fame, if you dig a little deeper into her accounts and check out her Friday YouTube posts from 2022, you’ll quickly realize music is very important to her. Maybe even as important as her trademark off-screen voice-over voices.

“I had a huge background in music. I was always super-obsessed with it. The minute I could play an instrument, I played the viola. And then I moved on to the flute, and eventually the trombone,” Bailey informed. “I was actually quite good at trombone for no particular reason. But when I went to high school, I kind of pushed it to the side.”

Still, Bailey never stopped singing. It wasn’t something she shared, or even needed to share. It was just something she did that made her happy. She played ukulele and belted out Disney songs in her basement simply because she loved doing it.

When the pandemic hit, Bailey started exploring the possibility of being an influencer. She was just looking for something to do. It turned out she was really good at it.

“I was blowing up on social media,” she recalled. “I was a full-time college student while I was creating that content. I was going to school and trying to balance a social life. But there are only so many things you can do at once. I really wanted to pursue being an influencer, so I put every waking minute I had into creating a platform for myself.”

Intensely pursuing her goals didn’t start with her desire to be an influencer. From the age of five until 17, Bailey was a competitive swimmer. She excelled in the most difficult stroke: butterfly.

“I have no legs and I have a really big wingspan, so it really worked in my favor,” she laughed. “I was very strong and could pull myself through the water very quickly, but it definitely gave me some shoulder problems.”

When schools closed due to the pandemic, Bailey’s swimming career came to an abrupt end. Fortunately, the things she’d learned during her training gave her the tools she needed to become Bailey Spinn. The discipline required to swim lap after lap taught her to stay focused on her goals. She also understood the importance of being on time for her appointments. And conquering the stress she used to feel on the block before the start of a race gave her the courage to face her fears.

“I think I definitely matured at a young age,” she considered. “I dropped out of college and I had to learn how to be an adult really quickly by myself. My mindset today versus how I was a year ago is completely different. If I had a problem in a relationship before, I would be wondering, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Eventually, I just took a step back and I realized, ‘I don’t think I’m the problem.’ It was really like stepping out of my body and looking at myself and the world around me instead of just looking at what was going on in my own life.”

Bailey’s triumphant return to music

“One day, they wanted me to pursue acting. It was something I was interested in, but my heart wasn’t really there. I was just doing it to try and appease someone.”

Bailey told her manager that she could sing. She sent them a video, and they were impressed, so Bailey started vocal training to help build her confidence. She knew she could hold a tune, but she didn’t know if her voice was any good. At the same time, Bailey started playing electric guitar so she could get back into the instrumental side of music as well. Since she had played different musical instruments off and on her whole life, picking up the guitar felt natural and came rather easily to her.

Bailey’s socials heralded her return to music. She started posting covers along with her massively popular POVs. As is typical, Bailey had a few haters, but she didn’t let that stop her. Bailey dove into the music with everything she had. Performing covers may have made her happy, but to express what she was going through, Bailey needed to write and perform her own music.

Her first single, “Romance Is Dead,” is a rallying cry for an age group that is at once the most and least connected of all generations. While any person you want to reach is only a post away, there is no depth to that relationship, and it moves so fast. In her lyrics, Bailey asks such questions as “What happened to going out on dates? What happened to kissing me goodnight? What happened to love through the mistakes?” and her fans immediately felt seen.

“I am not targeting anyone in ‘Romance Is Dead.’ The song is about romance and how it’s been corrupted throughout the years. I wasn’t trying to point a finger at anyone. I know everyone does things differently. But what’s wrong with the general idea of dating? I can’t be the only one who is feeling this way. I was trying to look out, not within because I spent a lot of time alone. I lived by myself and I looked within a lot. I think I found every flaw I could possibly have. But now we’re gonna look at all the rest of you together, collectively.”

“It was really important to me to keep it general. So I decided to keep out pronouns entirely,” she continued. “I didn’t want to say ‘he’ or ‘she’ because I wanted everyone to be able to listen to this and understand what I was saying. I wanted people to go, ‘Hey, I’ve been through this before, too.’ It’s just me wanting everyone to feel included.”

And Bailey nailed it. She has the attitude, the vocal chops, and the presence to transition to pop star, if that’s what she wants. There’s an infectious energy driving the song that Bailey and her team managed to capture beautifully in her video.

“For the video, I said that I wanted it to kinda look like I just killed my husband,” Bailey confessed. “I wanted it to be a little bit soap opera and kind of vintage with the robe and the rose.”

Speaking of roses, Bailey’s video begins with a striking image of the artist holding a flaming rose in her hand while she spits out the chorus. The moment is remarkably punk in its emotion yet glamorous in its style, which brings to mind artists from the first half of the 2000s, such as Avril Lavigne and Hayley Williams from Paramore.

“While Rose is my middle name,” she began, “that scene was our way of saying romance is dead. A rose is the flower you give someone when you love them. So we decided… we’re gonna burn it.”

“I was very scared. I was shaking the whole time.”

With any great story, there is a moment when the hero faces a formidable personal challenge. It’s when they must prove to themselves that they truly have what it takes. For Bailey, this moment came when she found out she would be making her live music debut, not in a small club so she could hone her stage presence, but on the Emmy-winning daytime talk show series “The Tamron Hall Show.”

Bailey only had a week’s notice before she was scheduled to perform. She had never used an earpiece, never sung on stage with a microphone, and only had time for three rehearsals. It was like the stress she used to feel before climbing onto the starting block before a race. And Bailey took the same approach. She fearlessly stepped up to the challenge, opting to perform live with no auto-tune.

“It was horrifying,” she admitted. “I was very scared. I was shaking the whole time. I thought I wouldn’t be nervous, but I definitely was. But I am glad I did it. I wasn’t perfect, but now I have that experience to draw from in the future.”

The beauty of that debut was seeing a regular girl step onto a national stage, despite her jangled nerves, to prove herself in front of a live audience of over a million people. It’s the perfect example of who Bailey Spinn is. Even though a situation might be unfamiliar and a little scary, she doesn’t hesitate. She steps up and owns the moment while always remaining that endearingly real everygirl.

“I’m just a random person who got a social media presence out of nowhere,” she pointed out. “I look at everything very light-heartedly and try not to take anything too seriously. I think that’s how I’ve made it this far on social media. Instead of letting people get to me, I just go with them. It can hurt me for a minute, but then I just move on and try to stay true to who I am.”

When asked what advice she would give her followers, Bailey said, “You really, truly have to stay authentic to yourself. I spent a lot of my time trying to fit in with other people and trying to be what other people wanted. I promise, you will be better off on your own following your dream than trying to force yourself to be with people who don’t support that dream or don’t believe in what you can do. And if there is negativity around you, all you have to do is find that one thing that makes you happy, the thing that makes you feel positive, and do it. Whether it’s singing or playing the guitar or going for a run, just keep doing that one thing you love every single day, and you’ll be alright.”

Bailey Spinn’s current single is “Romance Is Dead.” Her next single, coming out on June 16, is “Runner Up.” Her debut EP will be available later this year, but as of this interview, Bailey hasn’t settled on a title or a release date yet.

To keep up with her career, you can follow Bailey on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter.

Click here to pre-save Bailey’s “Runner Up.”