Introduction to Poppy
I’m Poppy. I’m Poppy. I’m Poppy. I’m Poppy. I’m Poppy. She introduces herself in one of her earliest videos repeating the phrase over and over for ten minutes. But who is Poppy? She seems to have appeared out of nowhere on the internet about three years ago, yet her accounts date back to 2011. On the surface, she seems to be yet another celebrity to rise to popularity using quirky and bizarre themes to gain publicity. But in the age of social media, it is increasingly easier to learn more about the person behind the production. We are able to share more and more intimate moments and personal thoughts with basically everyone. Looking at Poppy’s social channels however, raises more questions instead of answering them.
Most of her videos are too unnerving to watch from beginning to end for reasons that are hard to put your finger on. You find yourself scrolling to the comments in the middle of the more unsettling scenes, the digital equivalent of turning to a friend in the movie theater and gauging their reaction to the batshit thing you just
saw on screen. (Pandell 2017)
It is safe to say that there is something else going on, a message that she isn’t directly spelling out. The topics that are “discussed” in her videos revolve around the internet as an all powerful social force, and our relationship with technology. Poppy is the internet, and the internet is arguably omnipresent. There is still room to grow, but essentially, everywhere you go, Poppy is there with you. She catches you in her ‘interweb’ like a spider, a legitimate effect she has on people; a paralyzing inability to look away.
There is one more missing piece to understanding Poppy, and that is Titanic Sinclair, LA based director and musician, and the two of them are responsible for all of Poppy’s work. Titanic has a background in music and internet content production, and his own work bears a striking resemblance to Poppy’s. His first project known as GroceryBag.tv was a website with a companion Youtube channel. He created video content and music with singer and girlfriend at the time, Mars Argo. Most notably the two starred in a series they called the “Computer Show” where they would talk to the camera, in front of a white background, in high production quality, and speak nonsense about the internet and computers.
This previous collaboration has been the subject of controversy this year. Following the split of Titanic and Mars in 2014, all of the grocerybag.tv content was scrubbed from the internet except for three of the most popular videos; two music videos and a video titled ‘Delete your Facebook’ (which Poppy would later recreate). Around this time Poppy crossed paths with Titanic and Mars when she moved to LA that same year at 18. Her and Titanic exchanged ideas and launched her Youtube channel (in its current state) in late 2014, and Mars Argo vanished from the internet. Since Poppy’s debut, people online have been debating whether Poppy is a deliberate copy of Mars Argo drawing many comparisons between the two, with people even shouting “where’s Mars Argo” at Poppy’s live performances.
This year these suspicions were confirmed when on April 17 2018, Brittany Sheets a.k.a. Mars Argo filed a lawsuit against Corey Michael Mixter a.k.a. Titanic Sinclair and Moriah Rose Pereira a.k.a. Poppy, for copyright infringement and domestic violence. She alleges that while her and Titanic were in a relationship and following their breakup he “emotionally, physically, and psychologically abused [Sheets], including breaking into [her] apartment, breaking her possessions, and assaulting [her] physically,” (“Sheets v, Mixter et al” 2018). She also alleges that Titanic and Poppy are copying her intellectual property as a form of continued abuse, calling Poppy “a knowing accomplice to Mr. Mixter’s unlawful actions.” Poppy publicly claimed this to be a “desperate grab for attention” from Argo, and the case was dismissed in September to be settled in private; leaving us shrouded in more mystery than before.
This mystery is part of the allure of Poppy. She exists in the YouTube age where her content fundamentally exists in the same space as a teenager’s vlogs with 45 views as well as Jimmy Kimmel Live or an artist like Beyonce. Popularity is solely based on appeal to personality, and how the audience gets to experience said personality. Yet, Poppy is meticulous about her every post, photo, video, interview, and song, keeping her personality a mystery. An art critic from New York Magazine says that Poppy is ‘bad art’ citing some derivative aspects of her work. Yet I argue that Poppy is the personification of internet culture expressed through the conventions of popular culture. She exemplifies the current media technology landscape- creating an experience through online video and music through a postmodern lens.
"People, especially nowadays, are so obsessed with knowing everything. They'll have to invest their time in finding it." - Poppy
“Just that they’re always trying to get to the bottom of something, and I just want them to stay at the top of it.”
“There is no bottom,” Titanic says. “That’s the crazy thing.”
“Just stay at the top,” Poppy adds. “It’s never-ending, but don’t go looking where you shouldn’t be looking, just let it be what it is. Let it excite and then leave it there.”
-NPR Interview (Lancianese 2017)
Postmodernism in the Internet Age
Since the dawn of the internet, people have used it to communicate with one another using pay-to-access chat rooms and online bulletin boards, and even online gaming before the use of computer generated graphics. With the debut of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, there was an explosion of media that sought to explain the internet, and given the 90s-era 'RADICAL' culture, the internet was marketed as a ‘totally cool’ ‘superhighway’. A futuristic information tool that had something for the whole family. But that sentiment died down following the dot com bubble, leaving such enthusiasm to a group that would be marginalized as internet nerds. All while active internet users and internet speeds continually increase. Pop culture and news media would continue to view the internet as a space for the weird and unusual, pushing what we understand “internet culture” to be further into a box.
But what really is internet culture? It seems like the only place for the unusual and bizarre. Everything ever created seemed to be available at our fingertips and Japanese anime, 80s and 90s pop music, dance music, video games, and other escapist media gained the most popularity, as well as many conspiracy theories and bizarre horror media.
Although these conversational platforms have many times more users today, the new users mostly imitated the norms of the founding users — e.g. many reddit early adopters do not realize that the site is now visited by ¼ a billion people monthly. At one point, people thought the influx of new internet users would make the internet more like the real world. What actually happened is the real world became more like the internet. Since these platforms have since grown in size by multiple orders of magnitude, it’s clear the
power-users of 2006–2010 have had a disproportionate impact on our culture.
The period from 2006 - 2010 is crucial to understanding the evolution of the internet.
The first wave were sites like 4chan and myspace, which brought numerous message board subcultures together, but could not sustain themselves long enough to last. The second wave were what we think of as “social media”, sites like tumblr, twitter, reddit and pinterest, which were originally populated by message board people, but lasted long
enough to become mainstream platforms. (Sakunthala 2016)
The aesthetic and musical genre known as Vaporwave emerged in the beginning of the 2010s on these larger platforms. An expression of the current state of internet culture: the convergence of many niche subcultures spread onto the convergence of all media. Using these elements of Japanese culture, weird art, illuminati symbolism, a vintage aesthetic, and 80s and 90s dance music that has been unrecognizably slowed down, to create a new multimedia art form that critiqued the late stage capitalist society we exist in.
Frederic Jameson says that a result of our culture burying itself further into materialism, we have been forced to come to terms with the fact that human culture has always been materialistic to the same degree. Through the development of our understanding of media as an abstract idea that combines the concepts of a specific form of aesthetic production, a specific technology, and a social institution.
It is because we have had to learn that culture today is a matter of media that we have finally begun to get it through our heads that culture was always that, and that the older forms or genres, or indeed the older spiritual exercises and meditations, thoughts and
expressions, were also in their very different ways media products. The intervention of the machine, the mechanization of culture, and the mediation of culture by the Consciousness Industry are now everywhere the case, and perhaps it might be interesting to explore the possibility that they were always the case throughout human history, and within even the radical difference of older, pre-capitalist modes of production.
(Jameson 1991, 67)
The idea that virtually anything can be thought of as a media text, combined with his emphasis on boredom being a key factor in our perception of art- that a ‘good’ text can be boring and an exciting text can be ‘bad’- completely changes the way we experience everyday life while also giving us a new framework to explore the past.
Vaporwave brings this concept to the fore as it emphasizes the medium, quality, and method of delivery more than the text itself (text here being music with corresponding visuals). The style is characterized by the appropriation of 80s and 90s mood music styles such as smooth jazz, elevator music, R&B, and lounge music which is then looped and sampled with a variety of different audio effects. However it is a common theme to mix the tracks in such a way that it replicates the experience of hearing the music played over the intercom system in a department store using low pass filters and reverb effects. The visuals are often characterized by commercial advertisements from the 80s and 90s, japanese anime from the same period, early internet art, and a heavy use of the ‘VHS filter.’ At this moment, when the quality and efficiency of video streaming is at an all time high, vaporwave imagery emphasized noisy, glitchy, lo-fi video. It also brings commercials to the fore as the main focus, when traditionally a television program is the main focus and the commercials are only shown alongside. The previously mundane and boring have become the exact opposite- media of expression and creation of new, exciting content.
Where does Poppy fit in?
Poppy uses the first wave of artists who rose to fame through social channels from 2006-2013 as a model for her own digital interactions; Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, Marina and the Diamonds, Ariana Grande, Grimes, Mac Demarco, Kreayshawn, Nicki Minaj, Sky Ferreira, etc. Through a combination of the top social media sites (Myspace, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Vine, etc) as well as experimenting with smaller networks, these figures were able to build their platform based on mediated interpersonal communication. These artists validated the internet as a legitimate medium for audience building, exposing the strengths and weaknesses of social platforms, and essentially streamlining artist-audience interaction. “Through social media, celebrities create a sense of intimacy by sharing what appears to be personal information with fans, using language and cultural references to increase affiliation, and publicly acknowledging fans and their creative works,” (Click et al 2013). This perceived personal communication between artist and fan creates a sense of trust and understanding. In an interview, a young girl says this about Lady Gaga in 2013:
Calling Lady Gaga “Mother Monster” makes “people feel like they belong somewhere.... It gives fans an identity and she’s the leader…. that voice that we don’t have.... She says what we can’t.” (Click et al 2013)
Social media brings us closer and closer to the figures we love, and can make people feel like they belong, like they’re protected. But, is this a false sense of protection?
Poppy is at the forefront of the current generation of internet-based artists like Troye Sivan, Lil Pump, the Paul brothers, Rina Sawayama, Kim Petras, GIRLI, Joji, Trevor Moran, Jack Stauber, ad infinitum. This new wave of artists owe their entire careers to social media. As the television industry embraces the utilization of social media like YouTube, the line between professionally produced and amateur content blurs. YouTube has always been a space where anyone can be the star of their own television show, and it is truer now more than ever. Poppy explores the role of social media in our interpersonal relationships in the way she creates her online reality.
When Lady Gaga calls herself ‘Mother Monster,’ she wants her fans to feel like they have a maternal figure who helps and understands them, but this has an almost converse effect where the fans place her on a pedestal and she becomes a leader figure more than a nurturing mother. Poppy is placing herself in that role from the get go. In the music video for “Bleach Blonde Baby”, Poppy is standing on a platform, in a church, with about a dozen older individuals literally looking up to her. With the purchase of her debut album, you receive a certificate of membership into “The Poppy Cult,” and an Official Cult of Poppy Hat that literally says “I AM NOT IN A CULT LED BY POPPY.” The theme of Poppy being involved in cult activity was brought about in rumors and conspiracies on social media, which would later be embraced by Poppy and Titanic. They released videos specifically stating they are not in a cult, yet continue to embrace these claims in their art and actions.
Following Jameson’s understanding of media, Poppy is a master of all media. She is consistent with her character and the universe she has created. Her social media channels are another canvas for her to paint on, rather than a mode of actual interaction. Her YouTube channel is completely devoid of the signals of authenticity typically found on the site. Her music follows typical pop conventions, but continues to stand out in the digital space. Television and radio appearances are just another medium for Poppy, where the audience can really see her character in action.
All of these works tell the same consistent story- a young girl who signed away her soul to a record company is reprogrammed into a robotic pop star who doesn’t make any decisions for herself; her only purpose is to make content that can be packaged and sold, for someone else’s gain. Poppy is as un-authentic as she could possibly be, yet ironically is the most authentic. The ironic truth is that Poppy built herself from the ground up; Poppy and Titanic are most often in charge of her work. She is currently signed to Mad Decent, the record label owned by producer Diplo, where she essentially has creative freedom.
Poppy is breaking into the mainstream at a pivotal point in society’s relationship with the internet. She legitimizes all forms of content from different facets of the internet in her art all while she is able critique our relationship with technology and the internet through a postmodern style. Poppy is a product. Poppy is meticulously manufactured. Poppy is an object. Poppy is your best friend. Postmodern pastiche can be broken down into four theoretical implications: “juxtaposition of disparate aesthetic systems, blank parody, fragmentation, [and] lack of historicity,” (Schloss 2004). We are able to see these demonstrated in many music videos across YouTube right now. Much like how early MTV was characterized by postmodernism as artists experimented with the new medium- the wilder the visuals, the more popular the song became, thus selling more records. With the internet, constant contact with artists and celebrities raises the value of personality to that of the visuals and the music.
Video killed the radio star, Internet killed the video star.
Poppy demonstrates the implications of postmodernism across her various works. An example of juxtaposition is her video for the song “X” released November 5, 2018. Both the video and the song alternate between two polar opposite themes. The song begins as a heavy metal song, with Poppy dressed in white in a spotlight around masked men playing their instruments in the dark fog. Poppy is later seen covered in blood (like Carrie). For these segments, the video is in high definition with an ultrawide aspect ratio (21:9). Then it switches genres into a slow acoustic pop song, and Poppy is shown outdoors having fun with men dressed as members of her cult. For these segments, the video replicates a retro film look and is in a normal wide aspect ratio (16:9). This juxtaposition of two polar opposite audiovisual themes is made extremely apparent by almost every aspect of the video. What’s interesting is that the song ends sounding more like a pop-punk song with the set of the video changing yet again into what looks like a television performance.
Poppy isn’t shy about her inspirations, so there are plenty of examples of her use of parody. One of her earliest videos is titled “Poppy Eats Cotton Candy” posted November 4, 2014. In the video she does nothing more than the title implies. She eats a stick of cotton candy and that is it. This is a reference to Andy Warhol’s “Hamburger” from an experimental film in 1981, in which he eats a hamburger on camera. These two videos are examples of how something boring can be a good text, because their purpose goes way beyond just wanting to show a person eating. Andy Warhol liked the idea of the film because fast food burgers are eaten by everyone regardless of class. Poppy eating cotton candy on her YouTube channel has the sort of same effect - a feeling of ‘hey she’s just like us.’
Fragmentation is an interesting aspect being explored right now. Schloss writes about hip-hop as a response to the “fragmented aesthetic of contemporary media culture,” but in the age of social media, we are experiencing a fragmentation of the self. Electronic spaces and computer networks fragment and reconfigure our individual subjectivity, Sherry Turkle says in Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet that:
We come to see ourselves differently as we catch sight of our images in the mirror of the machine . . . A rapidly expanding system of networks, collectively known as the Internet, links millions of people in new spaces that are changing the way we think, the nature of our sexuality, the form of our communities, our very identities . . . the computer has become even more than tool and mirror: We are able to step through the looking glass.
We are learning to live in virtual worlds. (Weiss 1996)
In her song “Computer Boy,” Poppy sings about her computer as if it were a real person she was in love with. But in reality, the computer is a reflection of ourselves and the internet communities we are part of only echo our thoughts back to us.
I'm trying not to get attached to you
But no one else gets me like you do
Finally, postmodernism signals a waning historicity. This is especially obvious in this current moment in our culture, as it seems every artist is trying to recreate the 80s in their own way. Poppy takes this idea a step further with “Time is Up” released August 22, 2018. The song itself has New Wave qualities about it, but the lyrics and the video are where she brings the idea to life. She wakes up in a sterile room wondering if she ‘has been wiped again,’ only to come out promoting a magic pill that turns you into a robot so you can live forever. She sings about the human race and our history; what is our legacy but ‘pollution and overcrowded cities’? In the age of nostalgia, Poppy reminds us that the world has always been as terrible as it is right now.
Poppy is strange and off putting because she combines small details from a number of vastly different media and hooks you. She catches you in her interweb. Like a spider, or a fisherman. The final track on Poppy.Computer sums up this point pretty well. (lyrics attached) We’re all trying to be understood in this confusing world. Poppy is only trying to point out all of the stupid things we do just to get people to listen to us. Pop Music is about leaving all reservations about pop behind and to embrace it because ultimately it brings us together. Pop music is a language that we all speak, regardless of background. A language of pure emotion. It doesn’t matter how produced it is or how it came to exist or how it got on the radio, because what matters is the way it affects people and helps us identify with each other. Poppy isn’t very different from the rest of us if you look past all of the production and the social media and the costumes and the makeup and the music. That’s all she wants us to understand.