Bretman Rock—singer, songwriter, athlete, activist, actor, (and actress)—has a couple other talents up his sleeve. At only 21 years of age, the YouTube sensation has amassed millions of views on his beauty tutorials and comedy videos. In 2017 Time recognized him as one of the “30 Most Influential Teens” and was included in the Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia – Media, Marketing, & Advertising” list in 2018. However, since the start of the lockdown, artists and other influencers like Rock have had to put a lot of their projects on hold—but not their creativity. The social media personality spoke with V about what he’s doing to pass time and how he’s using his platform to connect with his audience during this pandemic. 

V Magazine: Is Hawaii looking totally abandoned?

Bretman Rock: Yeah, but like everyone is jogging. I’m like, “What is going on?”

V: Are you going outside much?

BR: Only to get my mail or if I’m out jogging or something. But I rarely do that. I have a boyfriend that does that for me. I’m kind of one of those paranoid people—I really don’ like to out to be honest with you.

V: What are you doing to pass the time?

BR: Well, I found out a couple of new hobbies that I like doing. I’m a gardener now. I have so much fucking time. But I’ve always kind of stayed at home, so honestly nothing really changed. I used to think that my best content came from me being bored at home when it comes to work. But when it comes to the pressure of having to do stuff now, it’s like playing volleyball or making hand sanitizers. I’ve always loved doing things on my own.

V: You’re making hand sanitizer?

BR: Yeah girl! I’ve been making so many with my family. I’ve been making hand sanitizers for my cousins. I honestly should start selling it. I’ve been making it with my custom labels and doing the full nine yards. I make custom labels that say like, “Bad Bitch Sanitizer” on them. It’s like oh my gosh…I could really start a fucking business.

V: What were some of your 2020 plans that have been cancelled?

Oh my God. So I had my MTV show, which was supposed to be filming in Hawaii with my sister. I was supposed to have this reality show, which was supposed to film tow weeks ago. We were supposed to wrap up, but obviously with Corona, we had to cancel that and move it towards the summer, if it’s even done by then. I haven’t really seen many reality shows filmed in Hawaii. There’s also really no influencers here all all, too. Even though I haven’t filmed it yet, it’s going to be so fucking weird when we actually do the filming.

V: You mentioned that you don’t really like to plan out your content too much. Can you elaborate on that?

BR: I would be lying if I said all of them weren’t planned out. But I will say that my most successful videos, when it comes to going viral or getting the most likes or most traffic—are the ones that are out on a limb or just organically came to mind. To be honest with you, I do have those videos that are planned out. For example, I have “Bretman The Science Bitch” videos. But for the most part, my favorite videos that I’ve done are just the ones that aren’t planned out.

V: Do you still engage with your audience directly? Or is it too overwhelming at this point?

BR: Honestly, I don’t mean this the way that it’s going to sound; it’s not that I don’t care what people have to say, but I rarely check my DM’s or reply to comments from people because it’s just fucking depressing. I appreciate the ones that do DM me great things, but sometimes you read three great things and then it just takes one person to ruin your whole mood.

V: Do you feel pressure to use your platform “for good” during a crisis like this?

BR: Honestly, I don’t feel pressured. But I almost feel obligated to, because people do come to my page, kind of like an escape for them, and people look forward to my stories. Regardless of the pandemic and stuff like that, I’ve always felt obligated to because I just genuinely love what I do. I just love it.

V: Would you like to be more famous, and why?

BR: Wow, no one has ever asked me this before. Yes, I want to be more famous, but I want to be the best at what I do first. I want to be more famous, and by that I mean I want to be the most famous influencer in the whole world.

V: So you’re saying you want to be more famous but for the reasons you want.

BR: Yeah. There are people that I guess you could say are more famous than me, but they’re not famous for the right reason. You know what I mean?

V: I know exactly what you mean.

BR: Period.

V: Periodt.

V: When was the last time you sang to yourself, or to someone else?

BR: Sang?

V: Sang.

BR: Sing, as in, ‘Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do?’

V: Precisely that.

BR: The last time I sang to myself was probably this morning. I was dancing to Dua Lipa’s, ‘Physical,’ cause I found her workout video and I was like, living for the ’80s vibe.And honestly, the last time that I sang to somebody was probably yesterday night. My boyfriend was saying how bad of a singer I am, and I wanted to prove him wrong, so yeah I think I was singing, ‘You Will Always Be My Baby,’ by Mariah Carey.

V: Did you do a good job at it? Did you prove him wrong?

BR: I mean, I didn’t change his mind.

V: So, it’s unclear.

BR: Yeah.

V: If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

BR: Oh my god, why are these questions so good? Well, growing up, I’ve always been very obsessive for who I was. My parents always knew I was fucking gay. My dad would bring me to church with fucking blush on my face. No, I don’t think I would change the way I was raised. I mean, it’d be cool to have my dad more around growing up, just so I had a father figure. But yeah, if anything, I just wish I had my dad there more.

V: How important to you are love and affection?

BR: Well, before my boyfriend, I was living by myself in my house and everything was fine, but there were times where I was like, ‘Damn, I wish I had someone around right now.’ Not necessarily like a boyfriend figure or anything like that. But as much as I love being by myself and being alone, but I also crave human attraction and affection. That’s why I would have my friends over all the fucking time. So yeah, just me being a Leo, I love to love. It’s a very important aspect of my life. I feel like if I didn’t have anyone around me, and as much as I like to say I don’t need anybody, I really am a people person, and I think that’s why — so off-topic — I stayed in public school. Even though I was, quote-on-quote ‘famous,’ cause when people start getting famous, they start going to private school, you know? But I think if I had gone to private school or home school, I feel like I would’ve been more fucking depressed. So I think that’s why I stayed in my public school. But yes, I love human interaction, I love people. As much as I like to say, I hate people, I love people. And I love being around them.

V: Can you tell your whole life story in under a minute?

BR: I was born July 31st at exactly 5:31 p.m. Born and raised in the Philippines. My parents got motherfucking divorced cause my dad thought it would be cute to fuck the maid, and then the maid and my dad stayed together. Moved to America with my mom, my brother, and my sister, and then came here when I was eight. Was gay as fuck — always been gay. My parents forced me to do sports, that’s why I’m like a [masculine] gay. My hobbies include gardening, dancing, influencing, and I’m domesticated now. I’m a wife of four cats and one dog.