Ve’ondre Mitchell is Them’s 2024 Now Award honoree in Internet Influence. The Now Awards honor 10 LGBTQ+ vanguards at the forefront of culture and change today. Read more here.
Buzzing with nerves and covered in animal print, Ve’ondre Mitchell arrives at the historic Los Angeles Black gay bar Catch One for her sold-out early March performance. The sweaty, neon-lit venue is a familiar setting for the TikTok darling, who has DJed and partied here before, but tonight is different. It’s the live debut of her new single, “IT GIRL (Fan Remix),” which she collaborated on with fellow TikTok phenomenon, Aliyah’s Interlude. While millions of eyes regularly watch Mitchell online, the idea of facing her fans IRL for a musical performance is still new. But when she finally steps onto the stage, heart beating and blood pumping, adorned in a furry cheetah hood and a bikini by designer Niohuru X that reads “BIG DICK GIRL,” her musical alter ego Vivalicious takes control. During her 15-second cameo on the viral track, fans scream the lyrics back at her:
Wouldn’t have it any other way, I’m one of the girls
We hardly get a rеp, bitch, spell it and hurl
T-R-A-N-N-Y (Daddy, chill, I’m one of the guys)
(Oh my God) Bеtween my thighs
Say it louder, Optimus Prime
The performance for Subculture Party, a queer pop-up rave, is extremely Ve’ondre. The creator is known for her comedic videos skewering and reclaiming perceptions of trans people in a culture where a fear of saying the “wrong” thing often forecloses deeper inquiry into the issues facing our community. She describes her work to me as a mix of “dark humor and activism,” from skits in which her friends pretend to give each other bottom surgery to videos where she pokes fun at people who think you can “pray the trans away.” What’s refreshing about Mitchell is her unburdened relationship with her identity: she deals with the daily obstacles trans people face with levity, poise, and boldness. Her transness isn’t a barrier; it’s a gift to the world.
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Mitchell’s recent performance marked a major shift in the rising star’s career, cementing her evolution from a teenager making TikToks in her bedroom and singing in high-school choir to a vibrant name in music, modeling, and social media, all by the age of 20. Her feature on “IT GIRL” was the result of a fan-voted social media contest to find the song’s best remix, and it has already amassed more than 3.5 million streams on Spotify. Mitchell promises this is only the beginning.
“It was crazy to see that me just existing and talking about my story through music has made people feel this excited that I’m representing them,” Mitchell says. “The only reason this happened was because of [the fans] and because we’re here to represent. It just felt like a chapter turning in my life.”
Mitchell came into herself as trans in 2011 at age seven, a time when the tide was beginning to shift for trans youth in America seeking access to gender-affirming care. Raised by her single mother, Sarah, in what she describes as a “bigoted” suburb of Seattle, Mitchell had her mother’s support from the beginning. Sarah made it her life’s mission to support her daughter, advocating for her with teachers and commuting long hours every day to ensure her daughter attended an accepting school. “I’m so glad that we've grown up together and been best friends as we’ve grown up,” says Mitchell.
But even with the support of her ride-or-die, the world can be a scary place for trans kids. As Mitchell started experimenting with her presentation, dressing up in colorful tutus and dresses, she was acutely aware of how the world responded. Her mother felt protective. “She was a little afraid for me,” Mitchell says. “When we would go to the local Walgreens, there were already men talking to her about how ‘you shouldn’t be letting your child do that.’ It scared her.”
At the same time, she was also just a normal girl. She grew up on the internet, experimenting as early as sixth grade with lip-sync videos on the Musical.ly app, which would eventually merge with TikTok and become the popular social media platform we know today. By the time she was in middle school, Mitchell started filming YouTube videos with her friends, participating in popular trends of the 2010s like the blindfold or the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, just for fun.
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