Elio Kennedy-Yoon Is Flattered to Be Your ‘Copacabana’ Crush
Forget all the artists battling it out with Taylor Swift on the top-ten charts — on some corners of TikTok, the song of the summer is a cover of Barry Manilow’s 1978 single “Copacabana (At the Copa),” by the Harvard a cappella group Din & Tonics — namely for a charming solo by 21-year-old member Elio Kennedy-Yoon. His face and voice attract adoring fan edits, marriage proposals in the comments, and millions of likes. Some fans got so Elio-pilled that they started seeing his eyes in car trunks. “It’s obviously very flattering,” the biology major admits on a video call from the Dins’ final stop in Sydney, Australia, during their two-month world tour that started in June. “But also, I think that part of the appeal is that I am wearing a tux, and that I’m a singer. If you take that away, then I’m just sort of a nerdy biologist guy, and people are like … oh.” (Before you ask, yes, he has a girlfriend whom he loves very much — “I reached, she settled” — and has been dating for a little over a year and a half.)
Kennedy-Yoon’s Instagram and TikTok bios both declare that he’s “just some guy.” “This has all happened so quickly. ‘Copacabana’ was posted on May 31; we joked that it was just in time for Pride Month,” recalls Kennedy-Yoon, who is trans. “When I started getting fan art, I was like, Holy shit.” Fans recognized the Dins on the street during the tour, and some are waiting for the viral “Copacabana” arrangement to hit streaming services, which Kennedy-Yoon says will be on the group’s next album, likely out around the end of August.
“It’s weird, it’s taken a lot of getting used to, that people know me and the Dins,” he reflects. “But it’s very meaningful, especially being who I am. I really like that people are seeing a trans person in a cappella.”
“Copacabana” sounds so jaunty, but the lyrics are pretty tragic. What’s on your mind when you’re singing it? Are you thinking of a character or tone to convey?
I came into singing kind of late, so the majority of what’s on my mind while I sing is, Holy shit, I hope I don’t mess up. Especially during really wordy songs, I’ll be thinking of what the next lyrics are. But for that solo, you’re telling a story, so you need to remember to distinguish one phrase from another. My music director, Carolyn Hao, really helped me through that. For example, I try to make “merengue” very legato and “cha-cha” very staccato, which is fitting for the dance styles. And in the second verse, when Rico comes in, I try to make that build and have “Tony sailed across the bar” be a narrative climax.
What have your interactions been like with the fans who specifically came to see you on the Dins’ world tour?
The vast majority of people are so kind. One of my favorite things about tour is getting to meet people who really love the Dins and really love jazz. There was somebody who sort of cornered me backstage as I was heading back to the greenroom. She was like, “Oh, what are you doing tonight?” I said I was getting dinner with the Dins, and she was like, “What are you doing after that? You should come to a bar with me … a bar in my house.” Obviously, I did not go. But pretty much everybody else has been really lovely, very respectful.
Hundreds of thousands of strangers are calling you attractive. Can you describe your relationship with desirability?
I’m trans, and I was never considered super beautiful when I was female-presenting. The word that I got a lot was “pretty” or “cute.” And then I cut my hair, and with that came a lot of confidence. That also changed the way that people perceive me; I started getting “handsome” or “hot.” There’s gender politics we could get into there. But it’s strange, it’s very flattering. It’s nice to know that people find me attractive, I guess? Some people are very forward about it.
I read all the comments on my page, and a lot of people are clocking me as a cis man. I have a video about what I looked like pre-transition, and people were like, “Wow, I had no idea you were trans.” Without getting into why I don’t want to be perceived as trans and how that’s very much internalized transphobia, it was very, very affirming.
Unfortunately, I’ve also seen people misgendering you and sharing transphobic sentiment in your comments. How have you navigated that?
I’m from Utah, which is not a great place for trans people or queer people in general, but I transitioned during COVID, so I never had to be publicly trans in Utah. Harvard is sort of a bubble. People see me and recognize me for who I am and are generally very respectful. If they’re not, it’s out of a place of ignorance, not malice.
When “Copacabana” blew up, I saw this crazy influx of really hateful, terrible comments, and I was like, Holy shit. Of course, I speak from a place of extreme privilege to be able to say this at all, but I was shocked at how much people hate trans people. You can be mad — I’m still going to exist in the way that I am.
I thought it was sweet that your dad made a TikTok account to shut down some of the negative comments, too.
As an Asian American, I feel very lucky that my dad is so liberal and has been so accepting. When I blew up, somebody was like, You’re his biggest disappointment, which I think is so funny. I made a video response to it more as a joke than anything else. Like, are you sure? He comes to all my shows and a cappella performances. He always gives me a big hug after and says he’s proud of me. Ultimate ally, for real.
This is a little bit of a tangent, but people have been like, “Of course he’s proud, his son goes to Harvard!” I think that sells my dad short a little bit. I have three siblings, and he loves all of us. He was very clear when we were applying to colleges that we could go wherever we wanted, and he would support us either way. He’s proud of the people that we are and the people that we’ve become. And I’m proud of him, I think he’s a great dad. Both of my parents are really lovely.
Why has it been important for you to publicly share about your transition on TikTok?
I actually started doing that before I blew up. I treated TikTok much more as a video journal then. Top surgery was such an important event for me, as it is for many trans people. I feel so privileged to have been able to get it at all, and there were a lot of hoops I had to jump through to make it possible for me and my family to be able to afford it. I really didn’t want to forget any of it, so that’s why I posted a lot about it. After I blew up, I started posting about before and after my transition. That was more because I think there can always be more trans creators and queer representation. I want to empower people to be themselves. And I have plans to set up some donation-y things so I can fund top surgery for people who can’t afford it.
For some trans people, their voice is a source of gender dysphoria. As a singer, is that something that affects you? Do you anticipate wanting to change your voice at all?
That’s sort of a funny question, given everything that happened this past spring semester. I auditioned for a lot of theater things, and I left the process being extremely disheartened because of my voice. I have a very, very deep voice — I’ve never taken testosterone or anything like that — but I don’t have the lower range that assigned-male-at-birth people do.
I’m very grateful to be in Harvard theater, but over and over again, I’m either cast as an effeminate man or children. The only time this has not held true was my first delve into theater, when I was cast as Callahan in Legally Blonde. The music director transposed it up a fourth so I could sing it. But then, you know, effeminate man, child, effeminate man. And it sort of became clear to me that that’s what directors perceive me as, whether they know it or not. It’s been very dysphoric. I was sort of spiraling. Like, Wow, nobody will ever see me as a man unless I take testosterone, which I don’t really want to do right now because I like my voice. I don’t want it to change, especially because I do want to go into theater and singing professionally. If I take testosterone, it’s probably going to make me into a baritone or bass. And right now, I’m in that tenor sweet spot where I have a very high range and also a sort of okay tenor range.
What are your career goals after you graduate next year?
My current plan is to pursue theater and singing and acting in any capacity. And if that doesn’t work out, I will have a biology degree to fall back on, and I hope to get a Ph.D. I would love to end up on Broadway or in film playing roles where it’s not necessarily too important that I’m trans. For a long time and low-key still, I don’t really identify with the label. I hope that a director would see me and be like, “Oh, yeah, you could be Jack Kelly or Orpheus or — recently I’ve been super-obsessed with Sweeney Todd — Anthony.” And it wouldn’t be a political statement.
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