Belka

Belka (2022)

### Genre(s)

Dance-Pop, Rock, Alternative Rock, Pop-Rock, Country, Art-Pop, Synth-Pop, Electro-Pop, Bedroom Pop, Dream-Pop, Electronica, R&B

### Studio Albums

6

**Belka Connie Dixon-Houghton**, known as **Belka** (born June 19th, 1998 on Fremont, California) - American singer, songwriter, performer, model, producer, director and businesswoman. Born on June 19th, 1998 on Troy to mother Avery Dixon and father Skyler Houghton-Yüce. Her discography spans multiple genres.

Belka's debut album, New York Gurls, introduced her to music industry as a pop star. Album spawned 3 #1 hits and 4 worlwide hits, including Starbucks Lovers, that sold over 30 million copies and has over 5 billion streams worldwide. Artist's sophmore album Scooch A Mooch introduced singer to more urban sounds, especially R&B and rap. Scooch A Mooch spawned 4 #1 singles, including My Pretty Name, Spilled and Don't Give A Fuck. On her 3rd album Belka completely buried her pop sound and made 90's Trend an alternative rock album, which spawned 1 #1 hit and worlwide hits like Fetish, Teams and Headlines. On 4th album Six Feet Under Belka focused more on bedroom pop and downtempo, but keep her alternative rock influences. Album spawned hits like Mind Of Stone and Fuck It (I Feel Better). Slow Motion, Belka's 5th album, was a suprise realese. Belka discovered herself in country music on the record and spawned country radio hit, Insane. After the album Belka went on a break from realising new music and embarked over 200 shows long residency in New York, Belka: My Headlines. Her 6th album, Rainbow, was realesed after 4 years after its predecessor. It was a visual project and spawned 8 international singles, including Bad Poem, Touch Me and Rainbow.

## Early Life

Belka's grandfather, Murat Yucë was born in Turkey in 1947. In 1964, at the age of 17, he moved to Hamburg (Germany) with his family to work. They had a grocery store where Amir worked. One day in 1967, a 17 year-old girl named Alison Houghton, was on holiday with her family. She visited Murat's family grocery store and Murat fell in love with her from the first sight. She said to him that she lives in San Diego in US and left. Murat decided to flew to San Diego next year to work and meet her. He opened his grocery store that was pretty successful. It took them 4 years to meet again - In 1972 Alison was a 22 year-old and Murat was 25. In the first moment Alison didn't recognized him but he introduced himself to her and asked her out on a date. Houghton agreed and went on a date with him. They quickly became a couple and in 1975, when Alison was 25 and Murat was 28 they married. For the first 6 years of their marriage Alison couldn't get pregnant and they already talked about adoption, but in 1981, she got pregnant with Belka's dad, Skyler Yüce. Skyler was born and between 1982 and 1992 Alison and Murat had another 7 children. Murat managed his grocery store while Alison was a housewife a seamstress as a hobby.

Skyler and his siblings were bullied at school because of their turkish ethnicity, so their parents decided to change their surname from Yüce to Houghton-Yüce and move to Fremont in the state of California in 1997, when Skyler was 16. The same year Skyler met Avery Dixon, Belka's mother. He got her pregnant when she was 14 and Skyler was 16. Avery's parents threw her out of the house and Belka's still didn't met them to these day, while Skyler's parents were very supportive to them. Avery moved to Houghton-Yüce's house after parents threw her out and in 1998, when she was 15 and Skyler was 17 whe gave birth to Belka, on June 19th 1998.

Belka was creative as a child, she used to draw a lot. In 2000, when Belka was 2, Avery at the age of 17 started working in Skyler's dad's grocery store and Skyler got a job as a mechanic. In late 2002 at the age of 19 Avery was pregnant again. On August 18th, 2003 she gave birth to Belka's sister, Angela Maddy Dixon-Houghton. In 2004 Avery became general manager of Belka's grandfather grocery store and opened 3 other stores in Fremont. In 2006 when Belka was 8 and Angela was 3 their parents broke up. They moved from Fremont to Oakland where Avery started a children's boutique. Later in 2008, Avery married Kristian Hubberd, a businessman. In 2009 she gave birth to a twins, Louisa and Lexie. Meanwhile in 2010, Belka's dad married Kane Ziegler, restaurant owner from Oakland, so Belka's dad moved there. They later adopted two sons, Keon (born and adopted 2010) and Sean (born and adopted 2012). All this has brought the family much closer together again.

## Career

### Begginings & Rise To Fame

Belka get her first experience with music industry in 2013, at the age of 15, when she published cover of Katy Perry's "The One That Got Away" on SoundCloud, under nickname TurkishPotato. Sadly, cover didn't blew up and had only over 8 streams in its first month. Belka stopped publishing her covers and focused more on writing stories, but she kept practising playing on piano and guitar, and singing. In June 2017, she covered Lorde's "Liability" and upload it on her YouTube channel. Cover went viral and reached Lorde, who contacted with Belka and invited Belka to be on her supporting vocals team on Melodrama Tour. Belka agreed and started touring with Lorde only at the age of 19. Tour ended in November 2018, after 14 months of touring, when Belka was 20. She then started studying on Pace University in New York. In the beggining of 2020, she started working on music with Travis Scott due her connections to Kardashian-Jenner family. Belka gave uncredited vocals on his 2020 song, "The Plan". She dropped from the Pace University in December 2020 to focus totally on music. She also started performing in a clubs, where she performed some of her songs. In February 2021, she signed to Interscope. In June 2021 she gave background vocals on Doja Cat's song "Naked".

### Debut, Electro Trauma & New York Gurls

On September 25th, 2021 Belka's debut single "Fucker Face" dropped. Song became viral hit on TikTok and later it blew up to radio. Song was extremely successful and peaked at #1 on US Billboard Hot 100, becoming Belka's first #1 single ever. She annoucened that her EP titled "Computer Chaos" is coming and Fucker Face is the lead single of the record. But later Belka said that she completely scrapped the project for her debut album, "New York Gurls". Lead single from the record, "Starbucks Lovers" was out on September 27th and became international smash single, peaking at #1 in US, selling over 30 million copies worldwide and having 5.5 billion streams across all streaming platforms. Album was realesed on October 1st, 2021 and debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 1.3 million copies sold, 77.1 million streams and 123.3 airplay. Album sold near 31 million copies worldwide, becoming Belka's highest-selling album and becoming 3rd best-selling album of all-time, behind *U* by Robyn and *Happiness* by Hema. Album spawned 4 singles and all of them became international hits, with 3 peaking at #1 on Billboard Hot 100. On October 3rd, Belka embarked her 1st tour, Gurls On Tour, that had 105 shows and grossed 296 million box office.

### Scooch A Mooch

Belka teased her next record during the whole Gurls On Tour. She said that it's less pop than New York Gurls but still fun. On October 5th she signed with Republic Records, and it became her 2nd label, after Interscope. Album's lead single "My Pretty Name" dropped on October 8th and was pretty successful. Scooch A Mooch was realesed year after New York Gurls, on October 15th, 2021. Album debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 1 million copies sold, 55 million streams and 92 million airplay. It stayed at #1 for 5 non-consecutive weeks, becoming Belka's 2nd longes-running #1 album. It spawned 6 singles, and all of them performed very well. Album has over 9 billion streams on Spotify and 11 billion streams on YouTube. With this album, Belka moved more into R&B and rap direction with help of Travis Scott's and Pharrell William's help, album's main producers. On October 18th Belka embarked her 2nd tour, Scooch Stadium Tour, that had 108 shows all around the world, and grossed over 201 million box office.

### 90's Trend & End With Pop

On interview with Variety on October 22nd, Belka said that her newest album will be much slower, will explore much more genres and will be her departure from pop. On October 23rd on Scooch Stadium Tour she sang "Cities", track from the album, and said that it's how her next album sounds like. On October 25th Scooch Stadium Tour ended. On October 27th Belka started the era, dropping "Fetish" featuring A$AP Rocky. It was the lead single from the album and it peaked at #1 in the US. Album dropped on October 29th, 2021 and spawned 5 singles, and 3 of them - "Fetish", "Teams" and "Headlines" became international smash singles. Album has sold over 22.5 million copies worldwide (10th best-selling album of all time) and has 8.4 billion streams on Spotify. On November 1st Belka dropped her first EP Bedroom, which includes 7 live versions of some songs from the album. On November 2nd Belka embarked her 3rd worldwide tour, 90's Trend Tour, which contained in 53 shows. Tour ended up on November 7th grossing 221 million box office.

### Going on a Break & Six Feet Under

After tour ended, Belka annouced that she is going on a break. She bought a farm in Colorado where she spent most of the time caring for animals on the farm. On November 15th Belka suprisingly dropped collaboration with Selena Gomez, titled "I Can't Sleep". Song peaked at #6 in US, but singer said that she's not coming back. On November 19th, Belka dropped another suprise realese. "All Inside" is album's lead single, altough it wasn't confirmed that the song is going to be on a record. Song peaked at #3 in US and has over 14 million copies sold worldwide. Album's 2nd single, "Mind Of Stone", was realesed on November 22nd, altough the album was confirmed 2 days later, on November 24th. Tracklist was reveald on November 25th, and album was realesed on November 26th. It had 5 singles, and 1 #1 single in US. On November 29th Belka embarked Six Feet Under: Live, her 4th tour, that promoted the album. It had only 22 shows, but grossed over 102 million box office.

### Slow Motion, Belka: My Headlines, Part Of Me & Kiss

On December 3rd, Belka realesed her 5th studio album, *Slow Motion*. It was a suprise realese. It's a sister album for Six Feet Under, altough Slow Motion is country and Six Feet Under is bedroom pop/alt rock - lyrics are connecting them both. Album had 3 singles - "Insane", "Not Bad" and "This Love". Insane is album's highest-peaking, best-selling and most-streamed song. Album sold 4 million copies and was streamed over 4.5 billion times, becoming Belka's both least-selling and least-streamed project.

On December 13th Belka annouced both *Belka: My Headlines,* her first residency, that was located in New York. It embarked for over 206 shows. The same day singer also annouced Part Of Me, her first compliation album, where she compliated the biggest hits of her career. Album dropped on December 17th. Residency started on December 17th and ran for 1 year, ending on December 31st. It grossed 376 million box office. Residency got universal acclaim for critics, which praised Belka's vocal performance, stage presence, choreography and concert production.

"Time Of Our Lives", the only original song from Part Of Me, was realesed as a single on December 17th and it got a video on December 22nd. "Eyes On Me" was realesed as a standalone single on December 21st, peaked at #3 in US and was added to residency's setlist. Belka dropped 2 christmas songs, "The Best Gift.. Is You" and "*Fairytale Christmas With You*". They respectevely peaked at #5 and #11 on Billboard Hot 100. On December 26th, she dropped extended version of "Promise", titled "Promise (Extended)". Extended version is 8 minute long and is a fan favourite from her 5th studio album, Slow Motion. Promise (Extended) peaked at #8 on Billboard Hot 100. On December 31st, to celebrate the end of Belka: My Headlines residency, American singer dropped "Castle". Single peaked at #5 on Billboard Hot 100 and it's MV includes footage from residency concerts. On January 7th she dropped a collab with Manu titled "Keep Calling (Your Name)", that peaked at #2 on US Billboard Hot 100 and was a song from the original soundtrack of Netflix's series Ozark.

On January 12th Belka performed on Country Music Awards, where she was nominated for Song Of The Year (for extended version of Promise). Song she performed was "Ask Yourself Twice", song that was out on the streamings few hours later and song that is a lead (and only) single from her 2nd EP, Kiss. Kiss is a country and country-rock EP that contained 7 songs. Kiss debuted at #1 on US Billboard 200.

### Comeback with Rainbow

First rumors about Belka creating new album appeard in late December, along with rumors of extending Belka: My Headlines for next year. Rumor have strengthened in early January, when talks for extending the residency supposedly failed. She was seen multiple times on music video sets all around the world. On January 28th, Belka posted weird video on her instagram. On January 29th and 30th she also posted weird videos, probably frome some music video. On January 31st, Belka annouced that her new single, "Bad Poem" is coming the next day, On February 1st. Song debuted at #1 and spent 5 consecutive weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Song sold over 37 million copies worlwide, becoming Belka's highest-selling song of all-time. The next day, February 2nd, singer confirmed that her comeback, 6th studio album is coming on Friday, February 4th. On February 3rd pre-order appeared on Belka's website and if you bought pre-order, you could listen to album's first promotional single, "Baise-Moi". Rainbow dropped on February 4th and debuted at #1 on Billboard 200 with 977K copies sold, 118.9M streams and 119.6M airplay. Album stayed at #1 for 11 non-consecutive weeks, making it longest-running #1 album of all-time. It spawned 6 singles, including 2 another #1 singles - "Touch Me" and "Rainbow" featuring Hema.

Re-issue of the album, Rainbow: Treasure Edition, was out on February 26th, 1 and half year after album's original realese. It spawned another 2 singles, "Alright" featuring Ven and "Yummy", expanding the era to total 8 singles. Belka later embarked 2 tours, The Rainbow Ball Tour and The Aura Ball Tour. First had 71 shows and second had 31 shows.

Whole era sold over 179 million copies worldwide, making it Belka's biggest era so far. Album has 8.9 billion streams on Spotify, making it Belka's 3rd most-streamed album.

## Personal Life

Belka is openly bisexual, confirming it via interviews and many of her songs. She dated American rapper Jaden Smith in September 2021. In October 2021, during Gurls On Tour, Belka dated Canadian rapper Drake. They both collaborated on Belka's 2nd studio album Scooch A Mooch and Drake produced few tracks from the album. Later in October 2021 she dated American actor Algee Smith, and their breakup supposedly inspired Belka's 4th studio album, Six Feet Under. In December 2021 she started dating American rapper Lil Baby, but they broke up because of scheduling conflicts. In early January 2022 she dated American singer Janelle Monáe. In March 2022 she started dating British singer-songwriter Yungblud.

Belka's grandmother, Alison Houghton, is cousin of Kris Jenner (née Houghton), and it makes Belka Kardashian-Jenner clan's 2nd cousin. Belka grew up with Kardashian-Jenners very close, especially with Kendall and Kylie, due to their similar age. Belka and her family attended Khloe's wedding in 2009, Kim's second wedding in 2011 and Kim's third wedding in 2014. Belka knew about Kylie Jenner's pregnancy in 2018, altough only few knew about it. Kylie's boyfriend Travis Scott was main producer of Belka's 2nd studio album Scooch A Mooch and also helped in producing of 90's Trend.

Belka's net worth is 285 million dollars, making her 2nd highest grossing artist. She is most followed artist on Instagram, 5th most followed artist on Twitter, 3rd on Spotify, and 4th on YouTube.

She has 3 mansions in United States, 1 mansion in Spain, 1 mansion in Australia, and condo in Japan and United Kingdom. She also owns bungalow in Turkey, Greece, Philipines and New Zealand. In late October she bought farm in Colorado for 6.7 million dollars. She has multiple animals on the farm - horses, cows, sheeps, rabbits, chickens, dogs and local feral cats. Farm is located next to the lake, and in the mansion next to farm there is a studio where Belka can record songs. Belka said:

"My farm in Colorado is the best place ever. I love it so much. I have my dogs here, my horses, sheeps, cows, rabbits, chickens... I love taking care of them. We have garden on the farm and like... I love spending time here. The farm gives me inspiration and I recorded tons of songs there."

## Discography

### Studio Albums

* *New York Gurls* (October 2021)
* *Scooch A Mooch* (October 2021)
* *90's Trend* (October 2021)
* *Six Feet Under* (November 2021)
* *Slow Motion* (December 2021)
* *Rainbow* (February 2022)
* *Queen* (TBA, 2022)

### EPs

* *Bedroom* (November 2021)
* *Kiss* (January 2022)
* *The Vault* (February 2022)
* *The Vault ll* (February 2022)

## Tours

* *Gurls On Tour* (October 2021)
* *Scooch Stadium Tour* (October 2021)
* *90's Trend Tour* (November 2021)
* *Six Feet Under: Live* (November 2021)
* *The Rainbow Ball Tour* (February 2022)
* *The Aura Ball Tour* (February 2022)