Peach PRC is in her element with lesbian pop anthem 'Like A Girl Does'

2023 is been an unforgettable year for Peach PRC.

Known for her signature pink aesthetic and bubblegum pop sound, the 26-year-old rose to prominence on TikTok.

There she cultivated a dedicated following of millions through her music and her candid videos that included everything from life advice, and story times about her previous job as a stripper to opening up about her mental health struggles.

From her new “pink and clean” apartment, Peach spoke to indy100 via Zoom and was dressed in casual clothes - a different look to her ethereal, glittery fairy stage style.

For Peach, she always loved music since she was little and knew she wanted to pursue a singing career and “never really had a plan B.”

“I was very blessed to be one of those people that just kind of walked out of the womb like 'This is what I'm destined for',” she told indy100.

Peach PRC's EP 'Manic Dream, Pixie' debuted at number one on Australian ARIA Albums Chart earlier this yearJess Gleeson

Determined to “make this work,” she did not expect that her opportunity would come from TikTok where she created an account in 2019 and initially posted “for fun.”

“Tik Tok was something that I just did for fun, and never thought of as like an avenue for music because it was so new of an app at the time,” Peach explained.

“And then while I had people's attention, I was like, ‘Oh, great. Well, I also made music if you want to listen and it took a while for people to get on board with the music side of things.”

She added: “But it all worked out and it's been crazy ever since.”

Now, Peach is one of Australia’s most exciting emerging talents after topping the country’s charts in May with her EP Manic Dream Pixie – and is just one of only three Australian artists in 2023 to achieve this feat.

But thanks to her global fanbase, the Aussie is also making her mark worldwide after she performed headline shows in Los Angeles, New York and London – not to mention, Peach was also the support act for K-pop girl group Blackpink at BST Hyde Park in July.

The Adelaide native has since rounded out the year as the winner of the inaugural Australian TikTok 'Music Act Of The Year' Award, in a category where she was up against the likes of Kim Dracula and Kylie Minogue.

Last month, Peach released her latest single, Like A Girl Does which has a noughties production to provide a nostalgic club banger and is a confident lesbian pop anthem from the singer who publicly came out last year.

“It's nice to have a lesbian pop anthem,” Peach said.

“I feel like there’s a lot of gay men and the drag queen scene [doing] pop music but I feel like I don't hear a lot of queer women pop music.

Although she noted: “There is a lot of it but it's that sort of like Clairo or like Girl in Red and it's very pretty like ‘we're on a picnic’ and it's sweet.”

And so Peach shared how it “feels cool,” to produce an electronic club dance track “like the drag queens,” for her fans who are part of the community.

There is no doubt as to what the song’s hook is, with Peach singing the line in the chorus – “They could never love like a girl does.”

As for the musical inspiration, Peach knew exactly the type of vibe she wanted for the track – “a 2010s Europop sound.”

“I just wanted to do one song that was just like crazy dance, I remember in the 2000s Cascada’s ‘Everytime We Touch,’ and I just love that song,” and she was also inspired, by Kim Petras too.

But the singer who is also a songwriter, revealed that this particular track didn’t come easy.

“That one was surprisingly - for how nonsensical and just not serious the lyrics are - one of the hardest songs [to write] for me,” Peach recalled.

“That kind of pop music where it’s just kind of like no thoughts, not that deep and just fun dancey pop is actually very difficult, at least for me.”

The musician described how it “took [her] so long to write,” and began with the chorus as a “fun little melody,” which she recorded with friends but she didn’t have any verses for the song.

“Some fans saw the leak that I put on my Instagram story and were asking for ages and the label liked it,” so Peach decided to finish it, but it was not without its challenges.

“I was like, ‘Oh my god I'm struggling to come up with anything to say,’ because there isn't really much to say about it is what they can never love like a girl does. And that's all I was that was my whole point.

In the end, Peach made it into a “camp, fun and silly track,” and then “landed on just [her] speaking the verses.”

Given the demand for the track’s release, fans have been loving the song.

“Life changing… brain is rewired… organs r twisted,” one person wrote, while another added: “Mother. I am GAGGED. I am unwell.”

“OH EM GEEEEE I have had it on loop for the longest,” a third commented.

“I think they're enjoying it. The spoken word pre-chorus was a surprise for them,” and Peach admitted recording this part was “painful” for her because the speaking part of the song “gave [her] the ick for a bit and [she] didn’t want to post it.”

Though, she believed “it was worth it in the end,” as her fans were excited about it.

As for the music video, the visuals certainly match the campness and silliness of the song with the signature Peach PRC pink aesthetic (of course), a vibrator spaceship, greenscreen and a stripper pole where the singer displays her moves (she previously worked as a stripper as her music career was beginning).

Peach teamed up with director and producer Josh Harris who previously directed her music video for her 2022 single Josh (the matching name is just a coincidence).

“I worked with Josh Harris before on the Josh music video and I loved that video so much like it was exactly how I wanted it to be,” the singer said. “And I knew he would pull off this really camp sort of video.”

“I guess I kind of wanted it to be a bit tacky and a bit bad with the obvious green screen and stuff like that. He came up with the idea of having the vibrator spaceship, which I thought was genius.”

She also gave Harris a brief for the music video to be “space themed and futuristic,” and named Ariana Grande’s outer space theme for her Break Free music video and fellow Aussie Nikki Webster’s futuristic music video for Strawberry Kisses as references.

As well as collaborating on styling, Peach did all her hair and makeup for the video and described the entire experience as a “total blast.”

Peach’s hands-on and creative approach can also be seen in her six-track EP Manic Dream Pixie, where she released a short film with the same title and this included songs from the release.

The film shows Peach’s love for all things pink from an early age, with her present self reaching out to her younger self as her track Dear Inner Child plays which is all about having to grow up quickly when you're young.

In each chapter, we see how Peach claims her identity by dying her hair pink and adopting the colour into the style that fans are familiar with today as well as her time working as a stripper where her stage name was Peach Porcelain – inspired by Princess Peach from SuperMario Brothers.

(She later shortened her name to Peach PRC when she joined TikTok and has used the name for her music ever since).

“It was interesting. I felt like for most of it I kind of was disconnected from it I was just like ‘I'm just filming something like this is separate from reliving it’,” Peach said on acting for the short film.

“But the only time I did feel like I was back in it was the strip club scene where I had to seduce the owner and I was touching this man but he was so sweet,” referring to Chapter 10 where she sings her song F U Goodbye, which felt a “little too real.”

“He was actually totally lovely but I was like, ‘Oh, I've not had to be all flirty and touchy with a man in years and I felt like I was back in the strip club like pretending to be like ooh, all into it.”

Peach continued: “I felt like I was it was performing for a lot of it like didn't feel like I was relieving it too much, which is a good thing.”

While Peach doesn’t shy away from being vulnerable in her storytelling, the singer has also been open about her mental health struggles online but says she now thinks twice before sharing this aspect of her life.

“I think I don't do it as much anymore. Mostly just because sometimes I'm in my feelings and they're so strong and so all-consuming and then I post it and it really feels like I will stay in this feeling forever,” she explained.

“But then I watched it back the next day. No, we didn't need to do all that. But it is helpful for people so I leave it up because I see people in the comments being like ‘This helped me feel seen’ and ‘you're not alone’ and I'm not alone. That's nice to see stuff like that and I see that it helps."

Peach continued: “So I leave it up but I think now I try to keep my s*** together a bit more rather than just having an explosive meltdown online because I think it’s maybe with age even, it's something where I'm like ‘Okay, I don’t need to be doing all that.’”

Following on from the success of Manic Dream Pixie released in April, the summer involved Peach travelling to the UK where she was a support act for BlackPink at BST Hyde Park, and she also had her headline London show in July which sold out in minutes and the venue was upgraded to the legendary Heaven nightclub.

“It was amazing. It was such a nice welcoming experience, it was overwhelming and felt like being home with the fanbase that I had over there,” Peach said of her time in the UK.

“I'd stepped out of my Uber from the airport like when I just arrived and somebody was like ‘Peach!” on the street and I was like, ‘Oh my god,’ and they said ‘I'm coming to your show’ and I was like, I just felt like ‘No way’ just on the street randomly when I was getting to my hotel.”

On her headline London show, Peach described how it was “the most amazing crowd.”

“Getting to do Heaven was so cool - I feel like the gay clubs in London go off.”

Back in her home country Down Under, Peach performed her songs Perfect for You and Loved You Before at the ARIA Music Awards last month.

She received three nominations - Best Pop Release for Perfect for You, Best Video and Best Cover Art for Manic Dream Pixie.

Peach admitted she found it “nerve-wracking” taking to the awards show stage and spoke critically of her performance (We are each our own worst critic as the saying goes).

“I thought I'd be chill with it. I was like’ I’ve got this I've done stuff like this before I had all this rehearsal time’ and then when I got up there I don't know what happened. I just freaked out,” she said.

“I just felt like I sang off key and it threw me for the whole performance but I think it's probably worse than in my head than it actually was.

The pressure was particularly on for Peach who wanted to impress a fellow Aussie artist in the audience.

“I think it was because Troye Sivan was in the crowd and I like wanted to impress him. I was like, I don't want him to think I'm bad,” she confessed.

However, her fans have had their say and they unanimously disagree as they have left positive and supportive comments under her performance video on YouTube.

One person said: “I just came from her TikTok where she said this performance was so bad... but she literally ate idk what she’s talking about.

“She did amazing, she should be so proud of herself,” another person wrote, while someone else added: “Great job!!! I can't imagine how scary it must be on that stage and you killed it.”

With the new year just around the corner, Peach is looking ahead and has hinted she has “some big ideas” for future music.

“I'm working towards an album. I've got I don't think it'll be quite in the realm of Like A Girl,”the musician said.

But she doesn’t want to reveal any plans “just in case [she] change[s] her mind” but teased that it will be a “surprise” from the last release.

“It’s going to be a step in a different direction I kind of wanted one last big like super pop everything like maximalist let's go and then for the next project, it'll be something different.”

In 2024, Peach wants to finish her album, and release “one more single before I go into like the album phase of things,” but also wants to travel and return to the UK to do more shows.

“Next year I really want to travel again I want to come back to the UK and perform. I'd love to go to Heaven again that was so much fun."

“I'd love to travel to more places and perform in even bigger venues and just keep going. I'm excited for what's next,” Peach concluded, and no doubt her growing fanbase is eager to see what’s in store for the Aussie artist.

Peach PRC's latest single 'Like A Girl Does' is out now.

How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.