BLIZZY MCGUIRE IS INFLUENCING THE WORLD

BLIZZY McGUIRE IS INFLUENCING THE WORLD

Who is Blizzy McGuire? The self-proclaimed “Princess Diana of Bushwick” has taken the internet and New York’s downtown scene by storm in recent years. Perhaps best known for coining the “Christian Girl Autumn” meme, Blizzy has used her cumulative 300k+ followers across all social media platforms to turn herself into a bonafide internet it girl. She was recently featured in the viral Heaven by Marc Jacobs “couch” campaign alongside the likes of actor Michael Imperioli, supermodel Paloma Elsessor, internet personality Parker Kit Hill, and many, many more. We met up with Blizzy McGuire at Brooklyn’s Ace Hotel for coffee to discuss internet fame, that one episode of Glee, and how Cameron Diaz in Spiderman underwear inspired her to transition. 

BRYCE RAY: Let’s get into it: who is Blizzy McGuire?

BLIZZY McGUIRE: Who am I? I wonder who she is too sometimes. She just likes to have fun. I’m just here to vibe. 

BR: What’s fun for you?

BM: I like to laugh. [Laughs.] Is that a bad answer?

BR: Not at all!

BM: I love to laugh, like, that’s fun. If I can make a joke out of it, I’m having fun, you know? I try not to take anything too seriously, so when it’s not serious, I’m having fun. 

BR: I totally understand. I’m someone who laughs in awkward situations. My mom used to get so mad at me because I’d laugh when I got in trouble.

BM: Yes! Literally. What am I going to do besides laugh? Sit in awkwardness? No! Blizzy is just a fun-loving girl. She’s carefree.

BR: In terms of social media, how has it been becoming a known person?

BM: It’s been interesting. People will come up to me on the street and be like, I love your tik toks. And that’s crazy to me. People--in the wild--know me, or whatever. Sometimes people will come up to me and tell me they’re a big fan, but they’ll be this straight, white bro…it’s giving, like, student…like what is my target audience? [Laughs.]

BR: I was about to say: what is the demographic that tends to come up to you?

BM: It’s a lot of people with dyed hair. 

BR: That makes sense. [Laughs.]

BM: You know, bleached eyebrows. Shaved head. Eyebrow piercings. Just queer and punky. Gender rebels!

BR: Do you have a name for your followers?

BM: Blizzinators? I don’t know. 

BR: Did you just come up with that?

BM: Well, sometimes I’ll just be like, yasss blizzinators! Like “Arianators” or whatever. But I’m not sure what I’d really want it to be. I feel like I can’t get one until I have an album out or something. 

BR: Right. I feel like the fans have to come up with it themselves.

BM: Exactly! The fanbase isn’t widespread enough yet.

BR: But it’ll get there!

BM: Yeah, yeah. The Navy. The Marines!

BR: The Marines! They need to salute to you.

BM: Blizzy and the Marines.

BR: Perfect band name. So, in terms of Tik Tok and internet fame, there isn’t really a designated blueprint for it yet--how do you do it?

BM: Well, usually, I’m very, I don’t feel like posting, I don’t feel like posting. I only really want to post when I feel like it. I don’t make videos with the intention of them going viral. I’m not, like, Mr. Beast or whoever. I tend to do something and then save it to the drafts to see if I still think it’s funny. Or I’ll scroll the timeline until I find a sound that’s funny. 

BR: I’ve heard people call you a “vibe curator” in terms of knowing the meme of the moment. Like with the rise of “Christian Girl Autumn.” One thing that I always attribute you to is your amazing Jennifer Coolidge impression. That was the first time I’d ever seen one of your videos, and I have to say, I think you inspired the Jennifer Coolidge-aissance that we’re now living in. 

BM: I’m dead. Well, the thing is, I tend to latch onto things, and the more I latch on to them, the more they come about in pop culture. I’m not going to say I’m influencing the world. I’m not in the subway lines…

BR: You’re an oracle!

BM: [Laughs.] Well, I love Anna Farris--you know, The House Bunny, Scary Movie, all of those--

BR: I just rewatched The Hot Chick the other day!

BM: Oh. My. God! I love that movie! I love a ditsy blonde. I don’t really know how it all lines together. Maybe it’s just happenstance. 

BR: Switching gears a little bit, touching on Rocky Horror, what is your relationship to it?

BM: Yeah, yeah. I went to a few midnight showings in college. I’d go with my friends from Long Island. The first time they used the lipstick and put the virgin “V” on my forehead. Then we all had to go onstage for an orgasm screaming contest. You know, to see who could moan the hardest.

BR: Did you moan the hardest? 

BM: Well, I went a little experimental with it. I don’t know if it was for everyone. You know, if you get it, you get it. [Blizzy fakes an orgasm at the table.] Something like that. And then the winners from that round had to deepthroat a banana.

BR: Oh, wow. My kind of party.

BM: [Laughs.] I love the movie. I’ve seen it so many times. I love Tim Curry. I think he’s so sexy. And Meatloaf being in the movie? It’s so good. 

BR: It’s such a randomly stacked cast. And at the beginning of their careers, too. Susan Sarandon. Barry Bostwick. It’s crazy to think. 

BM: And there’s kind of a plot but not really. There’s the guy in front of the whiteboard? I don’t know. It’s just such a good movie. 

BR: Talk about a vibe. You don’t watch that movie for the plot because it’s insane. You watch it for the vibes. And the music. 

BM: And the outfits and everything! I love Columbia. I think my favorite song is “Touch Me.”

BR: Everytime I think of that song I think of Glee when Emma and Mr. Shue sing it on the desk, and she’s got him by his tie. 

BM: Yes, yes! The Rocky Horror episode!

BR: I remember watching in seventh grade scandalized but turned on. That was a sexual awakening. 

BM: No, literally! I wanna feel dirty!

BR: [Laughs.] So why do you think Rocky Horror has become the cultural mainstay that it is?

BM: I think Halloween has a lot to do with it. It’s inherently kitschy. It’s easy for people to not take it seriously. And I think the fact that it came out in the 70s when queer stuff was coming more to the front…I can see how it latched on for the queer community. For the straight community, though? I’m not really sure how they latched on. 

BR: My thinking is that it allows straight people to let their freak flags fly. In a similar way that seeing Frank-n-furter gave young queer people permission to be sexual and raunchy and all of these things that they may not have known they could be. 

BM: I love that it’s this couple, freshly married, just getting thrust into this queer environment. Queer people and straight people just coming together to laugh. 

BR: So much of this issue is about the ways in which queer people perform drag in their everyday life, how would you say you perform drag?

BM: I feel like my Tik Tok is my drag. I put on this little character of Blizzy McGuire, but at the end of the day I’m still Blizzy. Sometimes I get sad. [Sings.] Sometimes I run, sometimes I cry. People on the internet only really see me performing this character. I’m a real person, I just have this character that people identify with. 

BR: How do you marry everyday Blizzy with social media Blizzy? 

BM: For me, I try not to care. When I’m not feeling like the character of Blizzy McGuire, I tend to get down on myself. Why am I not 100%? Why am I not screaming in the street right now? Or if I get a bout of anxiousness, I’m like, remember when I used to shake my ass on the sidewalk? What happened to her? That gets difficult, but at the same time, I don’t really care about how many followers I have. I don’t want to sound like that person, but it’s true. I don’t want to take it too seriously. These people just follow me, and I didn’t ask them to. People just like me, I don’t know. [Laughs.] It’s just so hard to deal with!

BR: It’s hard being an it girl!

BM: Ugh! It’s so hard being liked!

BR: Now that you do have this following, where do you see it going? What do you hope to achieve? 

BM: I really want to do voice acting. I feel like voice acting would be so fun, and I’d be so good at it. I’ve never acted before, but I feel like my Tik Toks aren’t far off. 

BR: Like you just said, it’s a character! 

BM: Right! I’m a method actor. So there’s that. I’d like to do music and model. Just make my way through all the arts. 

BR: A true downtown girlie! Where are you from originally?

BM: I’m from Long Island. 

BR: What was it like growing up queer on Long Island? 

BM: It’s funny because most of my life I was just like, okay, this is it! I kind of just thought, I was born a boy, so I’m just going to be a boy. But then the older I got I realized that I’ve got only one life to live and that I should just go for it. I didn’t really find my queerness until after high school. I was obviously, you know, [snaps wrist.] gay before, but I had maybe three or four gay friends and didn’t know any trans people. Well, aside from my friends that transitioned after I met them. 

BR: What inspired your own transition?

BM: Definitely K-Pop. I love Girls’ Generation. I love Luna. I love watching girls slay. I’m like, if this girl can put on a cute oversized jersey and just turn it out, then I want to do that! Also just watching a lot of female centered stuff. The House Bunny, obviously, being one. Actually, wait, no. It was Cameron Diaz in Charlie’s Angels when she has the Spiderman underwear on and she’s dancing and goes, feel free to stick anything in my slot! That is my inspiration. As soon as I started transitioning, I bought Spiderman underwear. I was like, I’m going to be Cameron Diaz, and I’d just walk around in the Spiderman underwear and a tiny little shirt. 

BR: Have you ever seen The Sweetest Thing?

BM: Is that a Cameron Diaz movie?

BR: You need to watch it. It’s Cameron Diaz, Selma Blair, and Christina Applegate. It’s this super raunchy, girl’s girl movie from 2003. It’s my favorite fucking movie. There’s this scene when they’re in a Chinese restaurant and they’re mimicking how they would give a blowjob. Selma Blair starts singing, You’re too big to fit in here [covers mouth], you’re too big to fit in here [covers vagina], you’re too big to fit in here! [cover butt]. And then the whole restaurant erupts in this huge musical number. It’s ridiculous and amazing. 

BM: I love that! It’s that early 2000s thing of turning everything into a song.

BR: They don’t make stuff like that anymore!

*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and your viewing pleasure. 

You can find Blizzy on Instagram @iamblizzymcguire.

Lensed by Hudson Mona (@hud.mona)

Styled by Bryce Ray (@popstarbiitch)

MUA: Tommy Tafoya (@tommy_tafoya)

Photo Asst: Andy Roelofs (@andyxroo), Matt Stejbach (@mixed__greens)