Poppy (singer)

Poppy
Residence	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Singer
Years active	2014–present
Website	http://impoppy.com/
Musical career
Genres	Pop dance-pop[1] ska punk[2]
Instruments	Vocals guitar piano
Labels	Mad Decent,[3] Island Records Interscope Records I’m Poppy Records
Associated acts	Titanic Sinclair Travis Mills
YouTube information
Channel	thatPoppyTV
Total views	129,144,807 + (June 5, 2017)

Poppy, also known as That Poppy, is an American singer, songwriter, ambient music composer and YouTube personality portrayed by Moriah Pereira.^{[4] [5]}Raised in Nashville, Tennessee^[6], she moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue a musical career, where she signed with Island Records and released her debut EP, Bubblebath (2016). In late 2016, she became the face of Sanrio's "Hello Sanrio" collection.

Life and career

Poppy grew up in Nashville, Tennessee.^[7] She recalls wanting to be a Rockette as a child and grew up dancing,^[8] which she did for 11 years.^[9] Her father was a drummer in a band,^[10] the name of which remains unknown, and she recalls watching his band play when she was very young.^[11][12]

Prior to 2014, Poppy performed at various social media festivals, including VidCon in June 2012 and DigiTour in June 2013.^[13] In 2012, Poppy sang a cover of MGMT's "Kids", with her friends in the musical group Heyhihello.^[14][15] That Poppy was featured on Eppic's track "Hide and Seek".^[16][17] That Poppy collaborated with Steamy In the City Creator Studio to produce a music video for a cover of Alt-J's "Breezeblocks",^[18] as well as Mazzy Star's "Fade Into You".^[19][20][21]

Poppy moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue her musical career,^[10] teaming up with director^[7] and musician^[11] Titanic Sinclair^[22] to make a series of abstract promotional videos on YouTube. In 2015, Poppy signed to Island Records, and released her debut song under Island, "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy" in June of that year.^[23] Poppy performed at the Corona Capital Festival in November 2015.^[24][25] She released her first single, "Lowlife", a month after releasing "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy"^[7][26] and released her first EP, a four-track pop record called Bubblebath, on Island in February 2016.^[27][28] In August 2016, Poppy released a series of advertisements for the shoe brand Steve Madden on her channel as a part of their Steve Madden Music program.^[29]

In October 2016, Poppy released an experimental ambient music album called 3:36 (Music To Sleep To), composed by Titanic Sinclair and herself, with assistance from polysomnographists from the Washington University School of Medicine.^[30] In November 2016, Poppy became the face of Japanese retailer Sanrio's first "Hello Sanrio" collection. In February 2017, Poppy starred in a series of videos for Comedy Central called "Internet Famous with Poppy".^[31]

Poppy will release her debut studio album, Poppy.Computer, on October 6, 2017. Her first concert tour, the Poppy.Computer Tour, will begin on October 19, 2017, in Vancouver. ^[32]

Artistry

Poppy has described herself as a "kawaii Barbie Child",^[11][33] and has said that her style is inspired by that of J-pop artists.^[34] She has described her music style as "music [that] makes you want to rule the world."^[7] Poppy recalls beginning to write music in 2012. She has said before that a large inspiration of hers, along with her favorite artist, is Cyndi Lauper.^[7][12][34] She has also cited Elvis Presley as a musical inspiration.^[34]

Poppy's identity is kept guarded, with That Poppy explaining, "I don't want people to talk about how old I am; I want them to talk about what I'm making [...] People, especially nowadays, are so obsessed with knowing everything. They'll have to invest their time in finding it."^[35] That Poppy is character created by Moriah Pereira, which evident by her song credits.^[36]

Reception

Although many have praised the catchiness of her music, many have also discussed her persona of Poppy as being distant from reality. Racked described That Poppy as being "sweet [and] cute, but alien [and] bizarre" and also "brightly addictive".^[10] PopularTV said of her music: "Paralleling Gwen Stefani in the No Doubt era, That Poppy mixes punk with ska-pop and makes you want to get up and dance." The UQ Music Blog described Poppy as "Electra Heart meets Princess Peach".^[37] David Mogendorff, who works in artist content and services for YouTube and Google Play Music, described Poppy as having "a strong J- and K-pop influence".^[38]

Poppy's YouTube channel, however, is often regarded as a commentary on social media. VICE described the tone of the channel, saying, "...if you have the patience to work your way through all the videos on this channel, certain trends start to emerge. The most obvious is Poppy's fixation with the internet and social media culture, which she claims to love. But far more interesting is the general tone of the videos, which have gotten progressively darker over the last two years."^[39] Gita Jackson of Kotaku suggested that Poppy's videos were a commentary on the experience of being on the internet, writing that, "In a way, she’s made every YouTube video, ever. Her channel is an index of every insincere apology, desperate bid for views and assurance that they couldn’t do it without her fans you’ll ever see. That Poppy is not only skewering the absurdity of people who make a living as public figures on the internet—she has it out for the entire experience of being online." Mogendorff said Poppy's videos were "like social commentary...touch[ing] on the anxieties of modern life" and "a really interesting way of communicating, personal but strange".^[38]

YouTube

Poppy's YouTube channel was created on October 6, 2011, and her earliest video is from November 2014, an abstract skit called Poppy Eats Cotton Candy, directed by Titanic Sinclair. The videos are described by their producer Sinclair as "a combination of Andy Warhol's pop accessibility, David Lynch's creepiness, and Tim Burton's zany comedic tone".^[10] Poppy's channel has been discussed by other YouTubers, including PewDiePie,^[40] Social Repose,^[41] Night Mind,^[42] The Film Theorists,^[43] and the Fine Brothers on their React series. Poppy also starred in an episode of their React series, in which she reacts to children reacting to her videos.^[44]

Aside from her abstract promotional videos, Poppy's channel features her original music,^[45][46] various covers and acoustic versions of her songs, including a cover of Mac DeMarco's "My Kind of Woman" and acoustic versions of her songs "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy" and "Lowlife".

The channel also has an animated promotional mini-series called Everybody Wants to Be Poppy, directed by Titanic Sinclair and illustrated by Melanie Foreman, which stars Poppy as herself, Titanic Sinclair as Rex, actor Matt Bennett as Pho, Canadian singer-songwriter Simon Wilcox as Phoebe, and Los Angeles-based photographer Sam McGuire as Wyatt. The series documents Poppy and Rex's journey as they attempt to find a "magical kale smoothie".^[47]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

References