By Danielle Yampuler

Dorian Delafuente is a person you’re most likely to meet late at night. You would spot them dressed glamorously, elevated within a club’s DJ booth. I, however, met them very early on a Wednesday morning. The sun had not yet risen. The birds were not awake enough to chirp. I sat in the at-home glam studio of their close friend, who did Dorian’s makeup and hair as we spoke. Dorian walked into the room with a small, comfortable smile on their face. They wore no makeup and an oversized hoodie, yet still looked alluring. For the next two hours, I would watch them transform into BabiDoll: the DJ and rapper who creates queer, vivacious, Texan club music for bad bitches.

“My personality definitely doesn't change. I think the biggest difference is just the level of glamour,” said Babi. “When I have my makeup and a cute outfit on, people call me Babi. But when I'm more casual day-to-day, people call me Dorian.”

Babi has been creating music for over half a decade. In that period, they performed alongside artists such as Charli XCX and played a set for Boiler Room. They released their first album CONTROL FREAK in Nov. 2024. The music on the album is made to be blasted in a club, bass turned up. The lyrics are raunchy and sexual, fitting snugly beside the works of artists such as Nicki Minaj and Brooke Candy. BabiDoll raps about their sickening looks, their provocative personality, and more. This blends perfectly with the album’s hypnotic, thrumming beats. Babi’s art shows a clear refusal to bow down to the status quo. It reflects their loud, extroverted, raunchy nature.

“It's very in-your-face sexual, doesn't really hold back. When you hear my music, you know the type of person that I am. In everything I do, I try to put as much of my identity in it,” said Babi. “I say a lot of really crazy shit. I think if you pulled up the lyrics to my songs you'd be like, ‘Oh this is definitely a very, very gay bitch.’”

Babi went on a journey to put CONTROL FREAK together. The album acts as a capsule for all the work they’d created in the past 6 years. Hailing from San Antonio, Babi began rapping for an audience after joining a group of party organizers and club performers called the PLASTIK Collective in 2018. At the time, Babi rapped under the name Street Queer. The name referenced both their love for street fashion and queer art. Eventually, they would relocate to Austin to attend the University of Texas. They dropped CONTROL FREAK’s first single, SWEAT, in 2019 as a student at the school.  They would transition to the stage name BabiBoi around this time as well. They wanted a moniker that was more commercially friendly, while still feminine enough to make a straight man squirm a little.

In 2020, Babi co-founded the House of Lepore with fellow PLASTIK Collective alumni Natalie Lepore. The house is dedicated to keeping ballroom culture alive in the central Texas area. Ballroom culture is a subculture built by queer Black and Latine individuals in the 19th century. Within it, houses throw “balls” that encourage participants (who are usually in drag) to compete against one another under multiple aesthetic and performance categories. Houses are made up of friends who find family in each other, often due to exclusion from their birth families. They ordinarily have a “house mother” and “house father” who look after the house’s other members, or “children.”  Natalie Lepore acts as the House of Lepore’s mother. Babi would learn a lot from her and their house siblings, such as a love for the house’s namesake, transgender woman and icon Amanda Lepore.

“Amanda Lepore is just such a bad bitch. Like the baddest bitch ever. Imagine having the world's most expensive body, like what?” said Babi. “I also love that she's just famous for being famous. She was a part of the party monster scene, the New York club kids. I love that she's a club girl, and club culture is always the throughline for me.”

With the support of the House of Lepore, Babi dropped even more singles and created music videos for their songs MISS BITCH and MOLLASSES. The music videos are subversive and visually delightful showcases of queer culture and community. MISS BITCH presents members of the House of Lepore voguing to the cheers of their peers. Voguing is a form of dance that grew out of ballroom culture. Meanwhile, MOLASSES’s music video displays tantalizing visuals that unveil the opposing sides of Babi’s personality.

“I wanted to play off day and night. There are parts of me where I'm at a tea party and we're all wearing pastels. Then, it goes to a dark, rainy BDSM moment,” said Babi.

Babi sometimes feels odd looking back at their music videos now, as they feel they have changed as a person and artist since their creation. The videos were filmed at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a time when Babi was experiencing a lot of anxiety surrounding their music. As a club artist, they feared that their community and audience would no longer care about BabiDoll by the end of the pandemic. Luckily, that did not happen. When quarantine ended, Babi continued to get steady bookings at clubs and parties. Additionally, they gained back their confidence and continued with their artistic endeavors.

“Be confident with what you're giving,” Babi said. “Figure out your own style, figure out what makes you happy, and just give that to the world.”

After quarantine, Babi left the House of Lepore to experience new opportunities to learn from. They would go on to join the House of Juicy Couture. The House of Juicy Couture is a large ballroom house with chapters across America. Austin’s chapter is home to house father Akasha, a skilled DJ with legendary status in the Central Texas ballroom scene. Thanks to the mentorship of DJ Akasha, Babi learned how to hone their DJ skills.

DJing has always been an essential influence on BabiDoll’s music, and their time under Akasha only strengthened that. As a DJ, Babi is able to see how people react to certain songs and adjust accordingly. This allows them to write their music around what they know will get a reaction from the club crowd.

“I always say give people what they want and then give people what they need,” said Babi. “I'll give them what they want to listen to in my own way, whether it's an edit or a remix that I really like. Then I'll give them what I think they need to listen to right now so that they're hearing new music and I feel like I'm putting my own little flavor and twist on it.”

Babi would eventually part ways with the House of Juicy Couture after sharpening their artistry. However, Babi still regularly collaborates with them and the House of Lepore.

Community is and always has been an essential driver of Babi’s music and career, and they recognize that wholeheartedly. They deeply appreciate all they have learned from the different collectives and houses they have been a part of. Each group allowed Babi to learn new skills while simultaneously teaching others. Additionally, they often collaborate with other Southern artists, utilize community resources, and encourage others to do the same. CONTROL FREAK has many verses from collaborators, and Babi recently featured on their close friend Quentin Arispe’s song KUNT. Babi used Austin’s DAWA, a studio specifically for BIPOC artists to shoot and edit for free, to record the first season of their podcast BabiTalk. Each episode of the podcast invites a Southern queer guest to discuss not only their lives, but also the diversity and beauty of Texas’s LGBTQ+ community.

“I think as a queer artist you have to have the community. I feel like it's hard to get ahead by yourself sometimes and you kind of need people to be on your ass and push you to be the best version of yourself and create new content,” said Babi. “It was good to have people in my corner who cared about me as much as they care about the art.”

As of April 2025, Babi changed their stage name to BabiDoll to more accurately reflect their gender identity. They have been undergoing hormone-replacement therapy for the past year and a half,  and they look stunning. Looking to the future, Babi plans to use Summer 2025 to create even more video projects for their music. They also plan to release a deluxe version of CONTROL FREAK. This will be filled with remixes and re-edits of every song on the album, all done by Babi’s friends and collaborators. This will act as a new introduction to the album while maintaining its heavy club sound. Babi is not quite sure how their music will evolve beyond CONTROL FREAK, but they know for sure that they will continue to consistently write and drop bangers for club baddies.
“I think the biggest challenge for artists these days is just breaking through all the noise. There's so much shit being released all the time by everyone,” said Babi. “The key is just consistency. You never really know what's gonna get through, so you just have to keep putting work out until people catch onto it. I think that uncertainty of being an artist is always pretty scary, but we'll work it out on the remix.” ■