Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta Looks Back on 'Fun' Leighton Meester Hit 'Good Girls Go Bad' as He Debuts Skincare Line Brotege

Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta is still shocked that the group's song with Leighton Meester, "Good Girls Go Bad," has resonated with so many people over the years.

"When I started Cobra Starship, I wanted to do something that’s in pop culture. I was already getting into pop culture and I liked it, and I also liked the cheekiness of it too," the musician, 46, exclusively tells OK! while talking about building Brotege, a U.S.-based men’s skincare brand.

"Because there’s a lot of Cobra Starship that was, like, tongue-in-cheek. It was, like, kind of embracing, like, everything — the good, the bad, the ugly, like, the ridiculousness of all the fun of it all because I wanted to have fun. I remember when I was in punk bands, it was so serious all the time. I was like, 'Dude, I don’t give a f---. I just want to have fun. I want to make money with my friends. I want to be able to hopefully buy a house making music one day.' So I was just fully immersed in pop culture. We were in the recording studio, and our producers were like, 'Yeah, I’ve gotta bump you guys tomorrow,'" he continues, adding he was watching Gossip Girl back then.

The rocker and his band had to get "bumped" because Meester was coming into the studio to record music.

"So I’m like, 'Blair Waldorf is coming to the studio tomorrow? She makes music? Amazing.'' And so I’m like, 'Listen, I’ll only let you cancel our session tomorrow if you get her to be on one of our songs.' And the rest is history," he says of the successful collab.

The artist then recalled giving the actress some words of wisdom after the song debuted.

"Soon after 'Good Girls Go Bad' came out, we were all in Paris for Fashion Week. I remember when I was talking to her, I was just like, 'Do the music. Go all in. You got exposure. You have to do it.' But it’s a lot, especially when you have a full-time career as an actor, it’s hard to also go full into music. I think the only person who successfully did it is Jared Leto," he shares.

"I’m grateful to Leighton for having done a song with us," he notes. "I actually opened Spotify the other day, and I just saw our profile. I was like, 'We have six million monthly listeners?' It jumped up. I was like, 'Last time I checked, it was three.' I’m like, 'What is going on over here?' You know? But I’m very grateful for it. It’s amazing. I never thought that when I first started music this would happen. Once you articulate your goals, they’re easier to get to."

After Cobra Starship achieved multi-platinum success with chart-topping hits like "Good Girls Go Bad" and "You Make Me Feel," they went on to tour the world. They officially announced their breakup in 2015.

The band reunited for the When We Were Young Fest in 2024, but Saporta, who is married to fashion designer Erin Fetherston, is hanging up his hat for good and focusing on other endeavors.

Saporta is now bringing the same creative energy to Brotege, a U.S.-based men’s skincare brand. Five years ago, Saporta embarked on a journey to create a simple, effective, and affordable face cream that would have everything a guy needs. The face cream is called "Good Boy Protection Daily Moisturizer."

"I’m just kind of like one of these mad scientist guys that just has a lot of wacky ideas in my head at the same time. I’ll think about it a little bit, then I’ll come away for a few months, think a little bit more, and then maybe more and more, and the time compresses," he shares. "And then that just started to kind of naturally happen with Brotege. A couple things came into my orbit — some things just showed me the universe was pushing me in this direction. I had these ideas in the back of my head, and then I’m like, 'Can I do a skincare brand? That’s so weird and left field.' And then I’m like, 'F--- it. I did a band. I can definitely do skincare.'"

While on tour, Saporta noticed a lot of the guys started to "age really poorly."

"I discovered the reason why is because this, like, drugstore-brand product that I just used. It had retinol in it, which was my first entry into learning about ingredients. So then I’m like, 'Oh, retinol is really all you need.' So, let me just make something that is an all-in-one for guys," he shares.

From there, he was off to the races.

"Over the past 18 months, I’ve learned so much. It’s been like a crash course for me, which is great, but now I’m iterating and tweaking stuff. Brotege is a simple tool for guys. It needs to be simple, it needs to work, it needs to be affordable, and it needs to be delivered in a humorous way," he notes. "If I can help people on their journey in some way. I know it sounds a little corny, but I think it’s actually doing a good thing because I think that a lot of guys just don’t know where to start with this kind of stuff. It is so overwhelming. There are so many products, and people want to take care of themselves."

"The all-in-one product is supposed to be everything that a guy needs in one step, right? So it’s moisturizing, it has retinol, which is anti-aging, and it has sunscreen in it," he explains. "It takes seven seconds, and they'll be good for the day. It absorbs really fast, and you don't even notice it's on. No fragrance, no grease."

He recently expanded with a trio of lip balms.

Each balm is named after a notorious outlaw: Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, Mikhail Kalashnikov and John Dillinger. The oversized pink, green and yellow tubes feature brass bases fashioned from real shotgun shells.

"It’s gonna be cool for guys," he says.

Saporta is having a blast learning how to run a company, which "challenges" his brain.

"I really felt like my mind was atrophying when I was in the arts. So now I am learning all these terms I've never heard before, which is fascinating," he says. "I love it, and it uses both sides of my brain — my creative side and business side."

For now, Saporta is focusing on Brotege and building the brand.

"People subscribed to Founder's Club, an exclusive promotional program and early-access community for Brotege, and I just pick their brains about stuff and what they want out of the products. People subscribed without every trying the product or anything," he says of his loyal fans.

"I am honestly so grateful that I have that. Even if I don’t do stuff for a while, I pop my head up and people are just like, 'Hey, how can we help?' I’m just like, 'Dude, you guys are awesome,'" he adds.