Love Island USA‘s Belle-A Reveals the Truth About Her Accent: ‘There’s a Little Twang’
Jason Pham
She’s been a mystery since Day 1, but Love Island USA fans have even more of a reason to be confused of Belle-A after she went viral for what seemed to be an accent in Season 7, Episode 3.
Isabelle-Anne “Belle-A” Walker, a 22-year-old from Honolulu, Hawaii, was one of 10 original islanders on Love Island USA Season 7. She coupled up with Nicolas “Nic” Vansteenberghe, a 24-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, in Episode 1, however, they split in Episode 2 after Nic left Belle-A to couple up with new bombshell Cierra Ortega, a 25-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona.
Related: All the Love Island USA couples who are still together
Does Belle-A have an accent from Love Island USA?
Belle-A, who is half-Filipino, revealed the origin of her accent in an interview with Vulture after her elimination on Love Island USA. “It’s so funny; I get this question here and there. I genuinely think that my accent is a product of the environments I’ve been in. I am first-generation American, my mom was born in the Philippines, and English is her third language,” she said. “Some stems from that, and then some stems from being around Pacific Islanders all day and other Samoans and Hawaiians and different dialects and different slang. Then having my Oregon roots and Oregon slang. I think it’s just a mixture of everything altogether. To me, I don’t hear an accent, but I do know that sometimes there’s a little twang that comes out around certain people, specifically other Pacific Islanders.”
Fans first wondered about the origin of Belle-A’s accent after a scene between her and Nic in Season 7, Episode 3. “she sounds like she’s from toronto 😭,” wrote a user on TikTok, while another user commented, “She’s Canadian today?” One more user wrote, “she’s a student of degrassi all of a sudden,” referencing the popular teen series filmed in Canada. “I was getting Toronto,” one more user wrote, while another commented, “TORONTO GYALL.”
Others, however, accused Belle-A of speaking in a blaccent and using AAVE or African American Vernacular English, with some comparing her to Ariana Grande. “is no one else clocking Belle-A’s blaccent lol,” a user wrote on TikTok. “It’s giving Blackiana core.” Another user commented, “Girl no for real!! The whole episode I was like why she got a blaccenf😭😭😭.”
While some questioned Belle-A’s accent, others claimed that her way of speaking is due to living in Hawaii. “I used to live in Hawaii and the girls there have a standard accent apart from like native Hawaiian Pidgin and stuff. Idk how describe it but when she not faking a blaccent she has the Hawaiian girl accent which most ppl haven’t heard before,” a user commented on TikTok.
Another user wrote, “She literally just sounds Hawaiian to me.” One more user commented, “ik a lot of people from hawaii that like shift into that accent.”
Other users, however, argued that, while Belle-A lives in Honolulu, she wasn’t raised in Hawaii and is from Oregon. “Not a blaccent. It’s just the way she’s talking. She’s from Hawaii. The kids I went to school with when I lived there sounded the same minus the slang lol,” a user wrote, to which another user responded, “but I thought she’s not from Hawaii she moved there?”
A user on Reddit also claimed that Belle-A’s mom has clarified her ethnicity on Instagram and confirmed that she’s not native Hawaiian. “I found her moms page because she’s responding to all her hate comments on the love island instagram. her dad is yt and her mom is asian. she is not Hawaiian and it’s nuts how people are saying ‘shes from Hawaii. Shes a Pacific Islander! Thats why she talks like that’ She was born and raised in Oregon,” the user wrote. “She transplanted to Hawaii. I don’t know what that accent is but it’s not pidgin (look up Hawaiians speaking pidgin on TikTok it’s way different), maybe they talk like that in Oregon?”
Love Island USA streams on Peacock.
