Bella Kay Went Viral, But She Was Just Getting Started

For Bella Kay, success did not arrive with a warning label. One minute, she was writing songs in her room, turning difficult emotions into melodies. Next, millions of listeners were connecting with those same feelings online.

The indie-pop singer-songwriter thought her biggest moment might be “The Sick,” her emotional breakup ballad that helped introduce her to fans. But as she recently shared with PEOPLE, that was only the beginning.

“I had a lot of anxiety about it because I was like, ‘Oh God, I don’t know if this is going to be the last thing people ever care about me for,” she admitted to PEOPLE over the phone. “A lot of people can make one song fire, but it’s like, how many times can you do it?”

Luckily for Kay, she quickly found the answer.

Her guitar-driven track “iloveitiloveitiloveit” became her first Billboard Hot 100 entry, reaching No. 17 and proving she was more than a one-song success story. The momentum eventually helped lead to her signing with Atlantic Records in July 2025.

Now, Kay is celebrating that journey with her debut album, My Reckless Abandon, a deeply personal project about self-sabotage, growth and trying to understand the choices that shape who she becomes.

Kay’s connection to songwriting started when she was a teenager during the COVID-19 pandemic. At 13 or 14 years old, she discovered that writing songs gave her a way to process emotions and express things she could not always say out loud.

“I didn’t know that songwriting could be such a powerful tool that can make you feel so many emotions,” she shared with PEOPLE.

After picking up a guitar, Kay started creating songs and never stopped. She says songwriting became the one hobby she never abandoned, even though she was known as a kid for losing interest in different activities.

Her father was initially unsure when she asked for a guitar.

“When I was like, ‘Hey Dad, can I get a guitar?’ He’s like, ‘Are you going to quit guitar?’ And I was like, ‘No.’”

That guitar became much more than a hobby. It became her outlet.

“I would feel sad and I would go write in my room. I would have a bad day at school, I would go write in my room. I would have a fight with my brothers, I’d go write in my room,” Kay says. “It’s my way of letting myself bleed and feel without any judgment.”

She describes her songs as a replacement for the diary she never kept.

“I never had a diary as a kid because I couldn’t keep one because I was too lazy. I would say my diary is probably all the songs I wrote growing up.”

Before “The Sick” took off, Kay experienced her first major online breakthrough with another song.

“I posted ‘Lonely,’ and it got 200,000. And I was like, ‘Whoa.’ That was life-changing for me,” she said.

That moment gave her confidence, but it also brought pressure. Kay wanted people to recognize her as an artist, not just someone who happened to make one popular song.

When “The Sick” exploded, everything changed.

“It kind of changed everything. I got a record deal that led me to an amazing team, and I got to just keep making music that I really love.”

That same desire to show the full picture of herself helped shape My Reckless Abandon. Kay told the outlet she noticed a connection between her biggest songs and the emotional patterns running through the album.

“I think what people like about me is my reckless abandon,” she said.

The album follows someone who makes choices without thinking about the consequences, then looks back and questions those decisions.

“There’s self-reflective moments where it’s like, ‘I don’t feel good about myself. Is that why I’m doing this?’”

One of the songs Kay feels most nervous about sharing is “Sleep for Dinner,” a track where she openly discusses struggles with eating and body image.

“It’s very honest and sad, and I think some people are going to be like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know you could say that.’ Me neither, but I did,” she said.

Although the song made her nervous, Kay believes those conversations matter.

“As a child and even just as a woman, I would’ve loved to have an artist who would talk about things like that and be honest because I think a lot of people struggle and feel that way.”

That honesty has helped her connect with fans, including some major artists. Kay said she was surprised when SZA followed her and sent her a message about “iloveitiloveitiloveit.”

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, SZA likes one of my songs.’ That felt really cool to me.”

For Kay, the goal has always been simple: make music that feels real. Whether she is singing about heartbreak, insecurity or growing up, she wants listeners to feel seen.

With My Reckless Abandon, Bella Kay is proving her first big songs were not a lucky accident. They were just the first pages of a much bigger story.