Beckii Cruel

Flint was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, the daughter of a police inspector and a former dance instructor.^[2] She also has an older brother named Ryan.^[2] She moved with her family at the age of 2 to Ramsey on the Isle of Man, where she attended Ramsey Grammar School.^[1] She became interested in anime and manga at the age of 11, when she first started reading Fruits Basket.^[2]

On 22 July 2007, Flint began a YouTube channel under the name "xBextahx", from a nickname she had when she was younger.^[4] On 15 April 2009, she posted a cover dance video of herself dancing to "Danjo", a song by Taro that was turned into an Internet meme in Japan. Her video was uploaded to Nico Nico Douga,^[2] where it went viral, and she started receiving offers to perform in Japan.^[5][6] In August 2009, she signed onto the talent agency Life Is So Cruel.^[1] A Japanese producer suggested the stage name "Beckii Cruel" for her,^[7] through a combination of one of her nicknames and Life Is So Cruel.^[8] After flying to Japan, she first performed as a dancer in the finale of Animelo Summer Live 2009.^[9] Later, she performed with Taro at the Akihabara Entertainment Festival.^[1][10]

For her Japanese activities, Flint would travel to Japan during school holidays.^[9] Initially, she was asked to dance, but she was later asked to sing in her performances as well.^[5] Although Flint had experience in dancing, having taken ballet since she was 4 years old,^[7] she underwent vocal training and sought advice from David Holland, an agent who also worked with Samantha Barks.^[1] In October 2009, a girl group called Cruel Angels was put together, recruiting 18-year-old French college student, known by her stage name Sarah Cruel, from Lyons, and a student from Portsmouth known by her stage name as Gemma Cruel.^[11][2] Cruel Angels were signed onto Tokuma Japan Communications, where they released their first single, "Tsubasa o Kudasai" (翼をください), on 10 February 2010.^[12]

Flint appeared in an online campaign for Lotte Fit's in November 2009.^[13][14] On 4 November 2009, Flint herself released two songs on two different albums, titled "No, Upper Matsuri" (の、アッパー祭, No, Appā Matsuri) and "No, Ballad Matsuri" (の、バラード祭, No, Barādo Matsuri) as part of the "No, Matsuri" (の、祭り) CD series which features other singers popular from the Japanese Nico Nico Douga community.^[4] On 9 December, she released her first idol DVD, titled This is Beckii Cruel!.^[15] It debuted at number 8 on Japan's DVD charts.^[2]

By 2010, Flint became the 17th most subscribed user on YouTube in Japan.^[5] On 6 January 2010, she made her first appearance on Japanese television on the variety show Jinrui Akiramekaketeita Yume.^[16] Manga artist Hideo Nishimoto [ja] also included a cameo appearance of Flint in his manga series Mou, Shimasen Kara [ja] .^[17][18] On 31 January 2010, Flint released a digital single titled "Just Wanna Have Some Fun", with "Tokyo Love" as its b-side.^[19] In March 2010, Flint made her runway modeling debut when she made a guest appearance at the 10th Tokyo Girls Collection.^[20] On 29 April 2010, Flint released her first photo book, All About Beckii.^[10] Flint also danced and modeled for promotional events and campaigns for the Japanese theatrical releases of Pretty Cure All Stars DX2: Light of Hope - Protect the Rainbow Jewel!^[21] and Wild Child.^[22]

On 12 August 2010, BBC Three premiered a documentary about Flint, titled Beckii: Schoolgirl Superstar at 14.^[23] In September 2010, Flint stated that, while still signed with Life Is So Cruel, she was no longer affiliated with the Cruel Angels or with the Cruel Angels Project, citing a disagreement with her management on building a girl group based on her image.^[24] In November 2010, Flint collaborated with Eigo-mimi to produce English conversation learning materials published by ASCII Media Works.^[25] Two books, English Listening with Beckii Cruel: Conversations with Friends and English Listening with Beckii Cruel: Conversations at Work, were both released with accompanying DVDs on 24 December 2010.^[26]

On 24 October 2011, Flint released "You Can't Kiss Me", her first single in the United Kingdom,^[27] on digital platforms, which she also performed at MCM Expo on 29–30 October of the same year.^[28] In 2012, she performed at Hyper Japan^[29] and Brighton Japan Festival and Matsuri.

On 28 April 2013, Flint was featured on Area 11's single "Shi No Barado."^[30] On 15 August 2013, Flint released "Future Fantasy", her first Japanese song in 3 years.^[31] In addition, she filmed and posted a self-made documentary titled Beckii Cruel: Independent Idol on her YouTube channel detailing her experience working on the song.^[31]

Since 2014, Flint also made appearances at Summer in the City.^[32] Flint's later video content transitioned into fashion and beauty,^[33] as well as vlogging.^[5] She stated that she had been inspired to focus on both Japanese and Western fashion trends based on her experience being styled for photo shoots during her idol career in Japan, particularly being in a Liz Lisa shop.^[5] Flint launched a clothing line called "Bcky Couture" in 2014. On 28 September 2014, she made a guest appearance at Moshi Moshi Nippon Festival 2014 as a model.^[34]

On 17 May 2015, she collaborated with artist Jeremy Boydell to release a clothing line called "Bcky × SlimGiltSoul."^[35] She appeared as a guest at Bandai Namco's panel at the 2015 Tokyo Game Show.^[36]

In May 2016, Flint became a kawaii reporter for the television program NHK World Kawaii International on NHK World.^[37] Through an interview with BuzzFeed Japan, she also stated that she was no longer active in Japan, nor is she producing content in Japanese due to her lack of fluency in the language.^[37] Some of the reasons that she cited for her retirement from the idol industry included unfair contracts and because she had no interest in relocating to Japan.^[5][9] In addition, she stated that she was no longer performing as a singer due to anxiety.^[33]

After moving to London, in December 2016, Flint became the creator community manager for the marketing company Social Circle and also appeared at Summer in the City as a representative.^[38][39] In December 2017, she gave evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on Communications for their inquiry into the advertising industry.^[40]

She has acted as a judge for the Social Media Marketing Awards in 2018 and 2019,^[41] as well as for the Influencer Marketing Awards in 2021.^[42]

In March 2019, Flint co-founded Pepper Studio, an influencer marketing agency in London.^[9] Representing Pepper Studio, Flint has spoken to the media and at events about influencer marketing, including The Drum,^[43] Moneybox Live,^[44] The Today Programme, and The World Tonight^[45] on BBC Radio 4, and Sky News.^[46] She has spoken at events including Social Day^[47] and Digital Woman,^[48]

In 2021, Flint was a recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe: Media & Marketing^[49] and appeared on the "How to earn a living on social media" episode of The Media Show on BBC News and BBC Radio 4.^[50]

In Japan, Flint was given the media nickname "impossibly cute" (かわいいにもほどがある).^[25] Flint cites one of her dance inspirations as Kozue Aikawa [ja].^[7] From a young age, she was also inspired by Japanese fashion trends from magazines such as Popteen and Seventeen.^[7] While she took lessons in Japanese,^[7] she is not fluent in the language.^[5][9][37]

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