Ice Spice; more than just another Pete Davidson rumour as the couple are supposedly 'dating'

It’s a name that is currently doing the rounds on Twitter, alongside another name that is trending; Pete Davidson. Rumours have started circulating that Pete is now going out with Bronx drill artist Ice Spice (real name Isis Gaston) after a meme started circulating on Instagram by Finisher - who quickly posted that the meme was a joke and they made the entire thing up.

That wasn’t enough though for fans to pile on Pete Davidson’s latest rumoured love interest, even though Ice Spice has stated she is single and Davidson is currently seeing Chase Sui Wonders. Though given Davidson’s speed runs with the opposite sex, it’s easy to see how people got carried away by the hoax.

Twitter became flooded with opinions, leading Pete Davidson to become the 13th most trending name in the United States overnight. Most of those tweets linked him with Ice Spice, and the general feeling is a frosty one regarding the “news” - with one Twitter user simply writing “The streets are saying Pete Davidson is dating Ice Spice [crying emoji, crying emoji] It’s not fair,”

Not fair indeed, but for Peopleworld that fairness is more to do with how illustrious of a creative entity Ice Spice is, through not only her viral works but also her dalliances in the world of high fashion. While a generation of TikTok fans may give you a rundown regarding Ice Spice, some of us older music fans mistook her for a new Spice Girls member…

So who is Ice Spice, and why does she deserve to be trending on social media for reasons that go beyond “apparently dating Pete Davidson.” Which, thanks to Finisher’s social media account, we know isn’t true.

She counts Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill as earlier influences

In an interview with Billboard in October 2020, Ice Spice made references to her early life as a burgeoning, fresh-faced musician Bronx drawing influence from two of music’s most important female musicians - Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill.

“I’m definitely inspired by Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu. When it comes to Lauryn and Erykah, they give a graceful angelic vibe of timeless beauty. All of them are icons.” However, she calls upon another musician when it comes to having a New York swagger to her approach.

“I definitely want to like have my own lane. Where like, it’s just it’s mine. And not like really copying somebody. With Nicki, Cardi and Kim, it’s them being from New York of course. That New York swag and aggression and bad bitchiness.“

Another influence seems to be her father, who himself was part of the New York underground rap scene in his youth. He was supportive of Ice Spice in her endeavours to become a musician, though the singer admitted to only just starting to listen to her dad’s music recently.

Drake helped platform her from the outset

Though she was already making a name for herself through TikTok, undertaking duets on the platform which led to her going viral after undertaking the “Buss It” challenge, it was getting signal boosted by Drake that led to a larger interest in her musical output. “Munch (Feelin’ U)” was played on the Canadian rapper’s radio show, Sound 42 on Sirius XM - and shortly charted on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Bubbling Under Hot 100 in 2022.

Her prolific appearances on TikTok only managed to garner the song a lot more attention, with the track becoming a viral sensation on the platform - a year after she helped with the virality of Erica Bank’s track, “Buss It.”

She has her own page on Know Your Meme

Such social media infamy has led to the renowned online meme-cyclopaedia Know Your Meme, owing to how much of a sensation she has become through TikTok. Predominantly, her virality stems from two particular lines from the aforementioned “Munch (Feelin’ U) that managed to gain traction firstly on the platform, then developed a ubiquity across the rest of the internet.

“You Thought I Was Feeling You” quickly became adopted in image macros, originally to deride Ice Spice (one such post compared her to a Cabbage Patch Doll) and then ultimately turning into a rallying cry for fans of Ice Spice in light of the perceived attacks she was getting for her unique look and fashion sense.

She also helped popularise the use of the term “munch” to describe members of the opposite sex; for a definition regarding what a “munch” is, we turn now to the Urban Dictionary, which reads:

“Akin to the word “simp,” as in, it means a man who is only good for giving oral sex on a woman due to his blind obsession with said woman.”

In an interview regarding the use of the word with RapCaviar on September 12th, 2022, she explained it more: “A munch is basically just an eater, like it could be an eater both ways. Like they’re really just on your body, like just a hater, or it could just be like somebody that’s really obsessed with you that’s just fiending to eat it.”

She’s been spotted at runway shows during fashion weeks

While some on the internet ridiculed her look initially, she’s been embraced by the fashion world, who despite having the reputation of being all about “beautiful women” instead do tend to focus on striking and unique. Two words that aptly describe Ice Spice and her approach to fashion and accessorising.

She was spotted everywhere during New York Fashion Week in February 2023, with front-row sightings at runways shows by Dion Lee and Coach FW23, followed by attending an exclusive Tommy Hilfiger dinner and then performances at the afterparties for LaQuan Smith and Tia Adeola.

Even before NYFW23, Ice Spice already had a Nike campaign and modelled Ivy Park’s Park Trail collection. The fashion world and ardent social media users get her appeal if some antiquated male fans do not.

Her last single was certified gold

Her most recent success though doesn’t stem from being a viral sensation or being a favourite of fashionistas. Instead, it all goes back to the reason she started gaining a reputation in the first place - her music.

She recently released the single “Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” which featured another musician who has been simmering away over the past two years - British performer PinkPantheress. That single has seen her garner her first Billboard top five since becoming a professional musician/artist, validating why the chart gave her the Rookie of the Month award in December 2022. The single has also already been certified as gold by Recorded Music New Zala