Porcelain Black

Alaina Marie Beaton, known professionally as Porcelain Black, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper born on October 1, 1985. She is known for her raspy guttural vocals, two-toned hair, and a musical style that fuses industrial themes with dance-pop conventions, including electronic synthesizers and heavy hooks.

Raised in various parts of Metro Detroit, Michigan, Beaton is the daughter of an accountant mother of Polish descent and a hairstylist father of Scottish-Albanian descent. Her parents separated when she was six years old. She took lessons in jazz, hip-hop, tap, and ballet from a young age and trained to perform on Broadway. During her teenage years, she attended Bishop Foley Catholic High School and Rochester High School, but was expelled from both for fighting, later feigning homeschooling until dropping out at age sixteen. Her father passed away when she was sixteen.

At age sixteen, Beaton embarked on her music career under the pseudonym Porcelain and the Tramps after moving to Los Angeles and signing with Virgin Records. Disagreements with the label over her musical direction led her to share her tracks independently on MySpace under the account name "rockcitynosebleed," where her songs accumulated millions of views. In November 2009, she met record producer RedOne, who helped her exit her Virgin contract and signed her to his Universal Republic imprint, 2101 Records. She officially changed her stage name to Porcelain Black to avoid confusion regarding her former project.

Following her signing with 2101 Records, Porcelain Black toured as an opening act on the second half of Lil Wayne's I Am Music Tour. She released her debut single, "This Is What Rock n' Roll Looks Like," featuring Lil Wayne, which charted on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. Her follow-up single, "Naughty Naughty," reached number six on the same chart. She made her televised musical debut performing her first single on the Late Show with David Letterman in July 2011.

Beyond her solo releases, Porcelain Black has contributed to various film and television projects. She made a cameo appearance as the lead singer of a 1980s glam metal band in the film Rock of Ages and sang the track "Rock Angels." As a songwriter, she has received co-writing credits on songs performed by artists such as One Direction, Belinda, Orianthi, The Used, and Ashley Tisdale. Additionally, she appeared in music videos for Jack White, Travie McCoy, Swizz Beatz, and Jeffree Star.

In 2013, 2101 Records released a series of songs including "One Woman Army," which became a top-forty hit in France, Spain, and Wallonia, reaching number one on the French iTunes chart. Her proposed debut studio album, tentatively titled Mannequin Factory or Black Rainbow, faced multiple delays. In 2015, Porcelain Black announced the end of her partnership with RedOne, ending plans to release the album under 2101 Records.

In subsequent years, Porcelain Black continued to work on music independently. In December 2020, she released self-produced demos on her YouTube channel, including tracks such as "Thorns," "I Will Never Feel Like Home," and "C.U.N.T." In August 2021, she announced via Instagram that she was collaborating with producer Rich Skillz to finish production on "Thorns."