The Marketing Bestie Podcast with zoeunlimited - when hot girl privilege expires

Episode Date: April 27, 2026

💡claim your exclusive FREE stan store ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://taap.it/freestanstore⁠* A case study on digital marketing, branding, and business growth from a Gen Z perspectiveno one cares if you're hot. How did Ice Spice lose 39 million listeners?Subscribe to learn how to build a brand.Learn & Grow with me.💖 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoeunlimited/💜 TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@zoeunlimited🖤 Listen on audio: http://apple.co/zoeunlimited🪭 All my outfits https://www.shopltk.com/explore/zoeunlimited👩🏻‍💻 LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/zoeunlimited🛒 Essentials https://www.amazon.com/shop/zoeunlimited📧 Business inquiries: [e-mail]//🕙Timestamps: 0:00 Intro3:35 Spice era8:00 Flop era14:45 Branding SOS

The 2026 Chevrolet Tracks is the stylish SUV for those on the move. And with the standard Chevy safety assist package, you have the backup to handle every turn with confidence. The 26 tracks, start your build at Chevrolet.ca. How far can Bean Hot take you? 23-year-old rap princess. Ice spice. Ice spice. Ice spice. Solidified her status. Winning best new artist.

Co-sides from Taylor Swift and Nickymanage. Leaked DM from Drake. Everybody was trying to be like, oh, see a one hit one day, da-da-da-da, but it's like, now what? I even know fuck. Um, gross. If there was one person destined to be famous, it must be Ice Spice. Having Taylor Swift to be your best date, Drake to praise one of your first songs before it was even released. And Nikki Minaj to collaborate with you when you first start.

There really is no better way to start a career. But somehow, there is still a way to mess everything up. Ice spice. No. I spice. What? What? So how exactly did Rapp's new princess screw up multi-millions of hot girl privilege and lose

39 million listeners? That's exactly the mystery we will uncover today. But not only that, as you're a marketing bestie, who graduated top 1% UCLA business economics with a background in marketing, we're going to explore how being hot can still fail you if you have a terrible brand. and how you, yes you, no matter if you have hot girl privilege or not, can build a successful brand to help you down your career. And by brand, I don't just mean slapping your name on a vinyl figure. Branding is about how your future college, future boss, future boyfriend sees you.

And I'm creating the series to analyze pop culture girl icons from a marketing perspective because many of whom do not recognize the power of influence they have over a generation of young girls. Oh you cheating? Then I'm cheating back. Exactly. And I think it's so important to be aware of and reflective of the people who are shaping our culture. I'm taking her man. He's calling me poopie. It's because I'm the sh-h-and-I just genuinely don't respect women.

And despite how the whole internet is counting down on Ice Spice's downfall, we will also talk about a few potential ways to save her brand. Other than desperate publicity stunts or lyrics about far. lyrics about farts. Ice spice dropped the new song. I just did a fart and a poop at the same time. I call that a fooop. First, we need to understand how IcePice had every single chance to build a billion dollar music empire.

IcePice or Isis Nija Gaston, yeah, that's her real name, was truly born in the right era, the era of TikTok. More than a musician, she first gained fame in 2021 after going viral in the Busset TikTok challenge, which was essentially a trend showing off your assets. Nothing wrong with that. Embrace what you were worn with and be proud of your hotness. But her real fame began with her song Munch in 2022, which allegedly received praise from Drake before the release. With a DM from Drake himself that somehow got leaked. Not surprisingly, the song gained massive attention before it was even released. He was actually like, yo, Munch is hard and you're on the radar freestyle is hard.

I was like damn that's crazy. And this has become the first ingredient to Ice Spice's secret recipe to rapid fame. Also known in marketing terms as Borrowed credibility, which is using endorsement, such as using social proof to elevate the brand through the power of association, which is very common. For example, Nike and its whole slew of notable athletes, which works the other way around too. Like how Emma Chamberlain began her high fashion identity through first partnering up with Louis Vuitton. And for Ice Spice, the Rice Store Association did not stop from Drake. In February 2020, the remix of singer Pink Panther song, Boys the Liar Part 2, gave both artists

a huge boost as it became the trending song on TikTok. Then two months after, the remix of Princess Diana with Nikki Minaj brought the huge fan base of Nicki Minaj over to Ice Spice. To be associated with the rap queen herself gave a lot of social proof to Ice Spice in the rap space, which only snowball further. Just one month after, she scored a collaboration with Taylor Swift, a collaboration nobody saw coming, which now undoubtedly... Visit BetMgmgm casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. Nineteen plus to wager. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling

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she did another collab with Nikkim Najee, Barbie World, which took over Pulp Culture for the whole Barbie summer last year. At this point, even though as an artist who has not yet released one single album yet, it is almost impossible to not know Ice Spice, because within the span of one year, her brand was associated with Drake, Nikki Minaj, and Taylor Swift while taking over multiple TikTok trends, which will actually be the very same reasons to her downfall that I'll go over in a moment.

But while we're talking about TikTok, writing the algorithm of trends is the second key ingredient to Ice Spice's explosive success. From the way her songs are very ticotable to how she has the look to dominate trends herself. She easily gained free exposure to millions of new eyeballs, and with a visual identity that is super memorable, her bright orange hair and pale complexion that stands out in the traditional hip-hop and rap space, it was very smart branding that made her recognizable. Where on an app people usually scroll and forget, her visual brand stuck.

But with this consistent visual brand also came her consistent music style, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, her repeated lyrics, beats, melody are catchy and easy to create TikTok trends too. Hence creating a free marketing engine on its own. Girls liked her because she was a hip-hop sweetheart with an air of confidence. And men liked her because, while as a girl herself sang, they could eat her for lunch. But on the other hand, people began suspecting that Ice Spice only knows how to sing one song, where every one of her songs sound the same.

The paradox of branding is that while sticking to sticking to the golden rule of consistency, there also needs to be innovation, especially in the current digital age, where everyone's TikTok brain is constantly craving dopamine from new stimulus. The appeal to Ice Spice is about to fade just as quickly as it came. And so let us uncover how in the world did Ice Spice the new rap princess, liked by women and men, vetted by legends like Taylor Swift, Nikki Minaj, Drake, end up in a huge branding crisis that lost her 39 million listeners, where she fell from the top of Billboard to trashy wordplay. Well, nothing is a coincidence.

The Domino Fall always starts with just one block, and in this case, her music. You see, because of everything else that was worth getting the attention, the publicity, notoriety, the visuals, the TikTok, trends, we have yet to actually talk about the music of iSpice, which is kind of important given that she is identified as an American rapper per Google. And while her looks, publicity stunts, and TikTok trends can generate attention, what ultimately builds a lasting brand for a musician is the music. Although IcePice has dropped different singles and remixed other artists' music, the true test came with her very first album, Y2K.

Which can be summarized in one line. Thank you're the shi-bracket, fart. And sold an underwhelming 28,000 copies. Now, I'm not an expert in music, even though selling over a million copies in one week might be too high of a goal, as achieved by artists like Taylor Swift, Adele Gaga, but 28,000 copies sold is still relatively low

compared to the remaining 23 million monthly listeners that IcePice has, with lukewarm reactions like, quote, Ice Spice has listeners plugging their ears after dropping Giat and disappointing fan reactions like. Quote, I spent so much time defending IceBites last year when hip-hop heads came after her. I can't believe she embarrassed me like this with Y2K, I am so upset.

Quote, thought I just listened to the Y2K album by Ice Spice. Well, never mind, instant regret. Quote, I thought she was going to sing. Before we analyze the actual music, let us dissect everything else that catapulted the downfall. Quick reminder, how did Ice Spice become famous so quickly in the first place? First, as someone known because of her associations with other people who are famous, credibility borrowed eventually needs to be returned. The songs that hit the charts and made headlines are highly correlated with the brands of

Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift that took decades to build. Once the associations with these established brands began to fade, the hype also fades. Actually, not only did the added brand value fade, it also backfired through personal drama. Ice Spice's ex-best friend exposed alleged text from her talking trash of Nikki Minaj. Quote, Barbie asked me to do it alone, but since that's her brand, I invited her on and she doesn't even see that as me bringing her something. She's kind of like my mom. ungrateful and delusional. I cut her off, by the way, not speaking to her until January,

which definitely did not sit well with Nikki fans that made up a considerable portion of Ice Spice's listeners thanks to their prior collaboration and damaged her previously unproblematic brand that girls find likable. And because Nikki Minaj has established herself deep in the rap and hip-hop industry for almost 20 years, the cut of association and now even the negative association

with Ice Spice in the same genre of music only limits the potential audience size of Ice Spice. On top of which, the perceived entitled attitude of Ice Spice and not being a girl's girl was furthered in two additional dramas. First, releasing an underwhelming diss track against Lotto with distasteful toilet lyrics like, quote, Thank You Are the S word bracket fart that didn't hit with fans. Ice Spice dropped the new song. I just did a fart and a poop at the same time. I called that a fooop. I'm gross.

You know what they said? She has a scat fetish. And rumor publicity stunned were rapper Central C. Who was exposed by Madeline R.G. To cheat on her with Ice Spice. Imagine you break up with your boyfriend one night and the next day he is posted up with Ice Spice in Chromeheart. I didn't even actually get to break up with him and he's already with the next girl.

To which Ice Spice may have addressed through a TikTok titled, quote, mood after digging Hamanz. I don't care to see the first, I don't care to see the first, which of course promotes her music. Right, I get it, Mads is not that big of an artist like you. She's not a pop star, she's not shake bum on the net yet. And you think you're bad, bro, you lost everyone's respect, I espires the UK don't like you, B.

Although the purpose of the amplified drama and publicity stunts were to promote the music, Think you to shth-p-pits. You're not even the fuck. In the end, the only eyeballs they attracted did not bring favorable attention to the music or any attention to the music at all. On top of which, the music itself fell flat. The downfall of Ice Spice all boils down to the confusion of mistaking the packaging as the product.

The product being her music, just as self-explanatory as all product marketing, whether physical or digital, no matter how shiny, dazzling, beautiful the exterior packaging is, if you wrap a pretty bowl on a piece of crap, which is quite literally what Ice Spice's new album is about, people won't buy the crap just for the packaging, which in this case is all the marketing effort into getting more media attention, including the messy dramas and shade throwing.

That in itself is not the best packaging. So if you have a crappy product wrapped around in crappy packaging, It makes no logical sense for people to waste their time or attention on things that have no inherent value. Even though with so much initial potential, Ice Spice's brand has been way overcrowded by drama and short-lived TikTok trends, where she is now known for basically everything other than her music. Her looks, her dramas, her TikToks, her underwhelming lyrics about poop and butt. Thus, without the boost of credible associations like before,

without much innovation from the previous releases, and written more so for the appeal of short-lived TikTok than to be listened to as an actual album, just like a TikTok trend, it is short-lived. Easy come, easy gone. So what are some things that could save Ice Spice from this flop era? First, while her hacked to virality through making the right brand associations and reliance on TikTok has been ultra-success

attention does not equal retention. A sustainable brand cannot be built through a few viral moments. It takes years of value-giving to build a reputation, so there won't be a need to rely on other people's reputation. Thus, Ice Spice needs to make a crucial decision of whether she wants to be an influencer, continuing the celebrity dramas and publicity stunts to chase relevancy, to be only known for drama with other famous people known for their talent, or stop chasing but attract fame as the byproduct of making high-quality music as a musician instead of an influencer.

Speaking of which, second, as much as TikTok is a powerful marketing engine for her music, the TikTokification of her music make her songs almost impossible to listen to on their own. And this is not just the case for Ice Spice. In optimizing for that quick beat and virality, a lot of music releases are now all about repeating a few few quick, substance-less lines that could become a trend to momentarily satiate the fast-consumption habit created by TikTok. But inevitably will be forgotten and replaced by the next fast and cheap trend. And in the case of Ice Spice, it's been more apparent than ever that to remain TikTokable, to generate a conversation for the sake of attention, her music is lacking soul and identity,

with extremely mediocre lyrics about pooping and the same repetitive subjects. Sure, it can be funny and cheeky if you do it once or twice, but as this ex-user said, quote, all she raps about is thorns and feces. It is hard to think about who the songs appeal to as it is neither aspirational nor relatable. And third, although it is important to build conversations around the new album, the actual release was all hype and minimal substance. I'm sure a lot of efforts still went into producing the new album, but don't build up an out of proportion expectation if it can't be delivered.

Because now, the IcePice brand in people's minds is diminished, which is really hard to come back to regardless of how many publicity stunts are done and does not help clear any previous rumors that Ice Spice is an industry implant. This is why artists like Hardy B hasn't released an album since 2018. A bad release does so much harm to the brand that takes years to recover. So it might not be a bad idea to not prematurely drop another album, but rather take the same amount of time, if not more, to work on a banger single. To prove that the IcePice brand is not just a one-hit wonder or a pretty face and body.

Let me know your thoughts on if you think the Ice Spice brand is on its way to failure or not. And comment which pop culture girl icon you'd like me to analyze next through a marketing perspective. This is your marketing bestie, Zoe Unlimited. Share this video for Impact, and I will see you next week. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different.

Locked in, loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it, like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify Advertising.

You're among fans.