When studying music at Goldsmiths University of London began to feel redundant, Towa Bird, the guitar-shredding TikTok sensation, dropped out. “I was in writing sessions and I had just come off my first tour and I was also in a classroom learning about how to go on tour,” Bird tells Vanity Fair over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles. “I was like, Maybe I should focus on one of those things and put all of my eggs into that basket.” With just one year left to complete her degree, her parents weren’t thrilled by the idea, and the 25-year-old admittedly remarks that it sounded “pretty stupid on paper,” but a combination of drive and “sheer delusion” solidified her decision. “I come from an Asian family, so they were definitely like, You’re not going to become an engineer or a nurse?” says Bird. “I was like, Yeah, I know, sorry, I want to be a rock star.”

It’s a choice that has paid off so far—and made her parents proud. In 2021, after posting electric guitar covers on TikTok, where she now has over 1 million followers, she caught the attention of artists like Olivia Rodrigo, who featured Bird in her documentary, Olivia Rodrigo: driving home 2 u (a SOUR film). “That opportunity changed my life. It felt like the start of my career in the US. It was the first job I did when I landed,” says Bird. “I love her for using her platform to highlight other female musicians, and we’re both Filipino, so that’s my sister.”

Last year she embarked on a fall tour in North America and Europe as an opening act for her now girlfriend, Renee Rapp, and this Friday she will release her debut album, American Hero. While on the road, she was able to test the waters with live audiences, performing much of what made it into the album. The result is a high-energy, guitar-driven pop record that will be “Towa 101” as she describes it, serving as an introduction and exploration of her queer identity, her heritage, and her heart. Over 13 tracks, Bird transforms herself into the kind of rock star she always wishes she had, singing about queer love in all its forms, from the bittersweet heartbreak of falling in love with a friend on the track “Sorry Sorry” to the brazen sapphic anthem and fan favorite, “Drain Me!”

Born in Hong Kong to English and Filipino parents, Bird came of age between Thailand and London. At 12 years old, inspired by the classic rock records she and her father listened to while driving around in his Honda, Bird picked up a guitar. “I am a baby of the internet, so I went on YouTube university and learned how to form chord shapes, just learning and playing along,” she says. By 14, she had formed her first band. “I wanted to play live immediately. I wanted to be on a stage,” she says. But she had never seen anyone, on screen or on stage, that she could identify with.

She recalls discovering queer shows like The L Word and Orange Is the New Black in her adolescence but, “certainly didn’t see very many mixed kids or Filipino people on TV, especially women in Western media.” It only further ignited her desire to succeed, though she was skeptical that the industry would make space for her—a curly-haired, androgynous queer Asian woman playing rock music.

After moving from London to Los Angeles to pursue music full time, Bird began writing American Hero, the album’s title an ironic nod to her background. “I am not an American hero, as you would expect, but in a way, as an immigrant, I am,” says Bird. “I just hope that there is space for me, and I hope that people who look like me, and people who maybe have shared a similar story to me can find solace in the fact that finally, there’s some representation for them too,” she says. “Whether that be women of color or queer people or androgynous kids, whatever it is, or curly-haired motherfuckers.”

When I bring up the major mainstream success that queer women are currently experiencing in pop music, from record-breaking artists like Billie Eilish to supergroups like boygenius and MUNA to rising star Chappell Roan, Bird joyfully chimes in to deem it the lesbian renaissance. “Finally we’re getting queer songs and specifically lesbian songs,” says Bird. “I think, Damn, if I was 14, I would be having an absolute field day—and I am honestly having a field day at 25.” It’s been so inspiring that Bird emotionally recounts the time a fan came out to their parent during one of her live shows. “There’s a whole movement starting, and I feel very honored to have my story heard as part of that movement,” she says.

Someone who has helped Bird navigate this movement, in particular, is her girlfriend, Rapp. Though the couple made their red-carpet debut earlier this year at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, Bird gets noticeably more guarded when I bring up the relationship, careful to keep her personal life private while still wanting to celebrate what they have come to represent. “She’s just an incredibly hard worker and such a professional,” says Bird. “Just watching her move as someone in my life, that’s incredibly inspiring to me.”

Though she still has pre-album release jitters, Bird says she’s already back in the studio working on her next project. “I feel like I’m trying to get ahead of the curve a little bit by having a really solid foundation of more songs and more material,” says Bird. “I just love making music, so why not?” Looking even further ahead, she is hopeful that American Hero will do even more to pave the way for a new class of outsiders.

“I hope that the [next] generation of artists who are coming up don’t have the same worries that I do, which is, Is there going to be enough space for me? Do people care because I look a little different? Will people care about me in the same way as maybe my straight white counterparts? And will I ever be good enough?” says Bird. “I hope it’s just music,” she adds, smiling. “I hope it’s not music from a queer Asian woman. I hope it’s just like, Oh, yeah, that’s a good, fun pop song.”