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JOB PISTON + CHARLAP HYMAN & HERRERO | “13:30” 2018
[Poppy](http://instagram.com/imPoppy/) is a weird and wonderful construct, a cartoon character, YouTube personality, cult leader, and crooner. Her sound is spooky, synth-heavy, and ethereal; but that is not all there is. Appropriately, to understand the depths of how Poppy arrived, we have to see and hear who she is—a performer and a platform. But with this star, traditional interview would not provide the necessary means for a full profile of all that Poppy is. This is an effeminate hologram humanoid we’ve all followed deep into internet wormholes at one point since her strange and stimulating emergence as a YouTube sensation. In 2013, she featured short films in collaboration with creative director, Titanic Sinclair, where she talked to plants, indulged in ASMR, and attempted to aid a drug-addled mannequin DJ to get on a wagon. Naturally, the interview itself is akin to meeting the lovechild of Kawaii Barbie and Andy Kaufman. With her high-pitched, childlike voice and doe eyes, I feel stuck in a corner, unsure of how to breach her barriers. In surrendering to the fact that Poppy is not another docile, or even a singular being, but an eccentric and expansive internet experience, I became a Poppyseed.
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JILLIAN MAYER “CHIME TIME” 2018
_“You will pledge your allegiance to Poppy.You will do anything poppy says. Poppy loves you and will always love you. Poppy welcomes you into her universe. Feel the love of Poppy flow through you. Feel the pulse of the internet as we become one.” - The Gospel of Poppy ©_
Who does Poppy feel like her fan base is? Who is Poppy speaking to with her work? “I stay out of politics because I’m just an entertainer. I like focusing on creating art. My personal gender politics? I am a girl, but I believe that everyone should be able to identify with whatever they choose. I would never restrict somebody from enjoying my content based off of who they are or where they are from. It’s meant for everyone._”_
Photogrammetry: David Cihelna. 3D Art: Nate Soto.
At first, I struggle to find her thesis in it all. This satirical persona recounts her character’s “origin” story by releasing an ASMR video of herself eating cotton candy against a blood-soaked, but very catchy, pop music video for her song, “X.” And a cult leader? I assume it was all a rouse to break the internet, and hope that she’ll break character and explain it all to me. Or, as many internet theorists claim, I would have my eyes opened to the truth: that she is an actual robot demon. When questioned on her human life, her hometown, her age—the artist, signature style unwavering, answers in her programmed tone, “I’m from the internet. I have no age.”
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LAIA CABRERA + ISABELLE DUVERGER | “ILLUSION” 2018
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LAIA CABRERA + ISABELLE DUVERGER | “ILLUSION” 2018
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LAIA CABRERA + ISABELLE DUVERGER | “ILLUSION” 2018
The interview itself does not yield the map that would unlock Poppy’s inner world. But what gets me much further is obsessively spending the next few sleepless days on my computer, where, somewhere along the line, I joined her church, _Poppy.church_, became enlightened, and slowly started to manifest the enigma that is the singer and simulation herself, who’d sat down with me to talk about happiness, social media, cults, and Johnny Cash.
Photogrammetry: David Cihelna. 3D Art: Nate Soto.
“At the core, if you are really proud and really fully invested in your work, I think that will come across to the audience. From our experience, that seems to be true.”
To dive into her discography is one thing, but to burrow deeper, for days straight as I did, is a disturbing and inspiring path to discovering a new understanding of the web. “I think, because my name is Poppy, people think that my music is just pop. But when I was specifically only doing pop music, I never felt that it was to the formula, either. It was still my own brand of pop music. I have always been a fan of Gary Numan, David Bowie, and Johnny Cash. And lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Nine Inch Nails again.”
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LEAH GUADAGNOLI | “SPECIAL OCCASION” 2018.
Poppy’s church is the best kind of cult, and I experienced that firsthand in my exploration of the site. It’s strewn with fan art as aesthetically fantastical and fanatical as the artist herself—depictions of Poppy in an array of embodiments, from a clean and colorful image of a hairless cat, to your more traditional anime-style portraits. The conversations in chatrooms are full of clearly set boundaries, expressing and emphasizing safety and fellowship, from anti-bullying forums, to chatrooms dedicated to breaking down your favorite Poppy song. I didn’t live through the Groupie era, but I’ve seen and read that first issue of _Rolling Stone_, and, minus the sexualization of the fangirls, the theme of love and community that the first “true” fans had then doesn’t seem far off from what Poppy has procured with Poppy.church.
“My fans started calling me their cult leader so I decided to start a church. It is online but our goal is to have an actual building in Los Angeles where people can come and worship and create as well. Poppy.church is a fan-centric website that allows them to talk to me directly. I do go on very often and leave journal entries and messages on the walls. I wanted to create my own platform so we know what’s going on. A safe space.”
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ELISE PETERSON “YOU ARE SEEN” 2018
Even though her fanbase is strong and in a continuous state of expansion, with each production, film, print, audio or otherwise, Poppy has presented something that shows a significant shift in her work without offering us a new statement. Next, Poppy promises to once again edge towards her self-proclaimed overall creative goals by giving us another album that she says speaks to her career more so than anything before. Falling under the categories of “experimental,” and “post-genre,” she gives us, as we’ve now learned to expect, very little information on the drop itself, other than the name, _I Disagree_.
Photogrammetry: David Cihelna. 3D Art: Nate Soto.
“It is called ‘I Disagree’ and it’s coming out in November. It’s my dream album, my most exciting release. We got to really explore a lot of things and uncharted territories. The tone is quite severe, and the lyrics are very on the nose._”_
Poppy’s future holds much for us; she’s proven her ability as an artist to push past our preconceived human boundaries, to take us places bizarre and brainy. Poppy, or, the artist formerly known as Moriah Rose Pereira, may not be your God, or mine just yet, but she’s giving the post-internet age something to believe in, and making something that matters to many, many people in the midst of an often maddeningly modern world.
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KATIE STOUT “SPHINX FOR MY GARDEN” 2018
* * *
Photographed by: [Dyan Jong](https://www.instagram.com/dyanjong/?hl=en).
Styled by: [Samantha Burkhart](https://www.instagram.com/samanthaburkhartstylist/?hl=en) at The Wall Group.
Hair & Makeup: [Ashley Kucich](https://www.instagram.com/ashleyckucich/?hl=en) using Oribe, R+co, Koh Gen Do, and Laura Mercier.
Lighting: Chet Hay.
Photogrammetry: David Cihelna.
3D Art: Nate Soto.
Location: [Flutter Experience](https://flutterexperience.com), Los Angeles.
* * *
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