Poppy (singer)
Moriah Rose Pereira (born January 1, 1995), known professionally as Poppy and formerly as That Poppy, is an American singer, songwriter, and YouTuber. She first earned recognition for starring in surreal performance art videos on YouTube as an uncanny valley-like android who commented on and satirized internet culture and modern society. This led to the release of a pilot for the proposed 2018 surreal comedy online series I'm Poppy on YouTube Premium.
Poppy
- Singer
- songwriter
- YouTuber
2011–present
- Moriah Poppy
- That Poppy
- Poppy Chan
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Vocals
- guitar
2011–present
- Entertainment
- satire
- pop culture
- music
2.96 million[1]
625 million[1]
Poppy signed a recording contract with Island Records in early 2014, and released her debut pop extended play (EP) Bubblebath in 2016. In 2017, she signed with Mad Decent and released her debut art pop studio album Poppy.Computer. To promote the album, she embarked on the Poppy.Computer Tour.[2] She released her second album Am I a Girl? in 2018, where she experimented with electropop and nu metal.
In 2020, Poppy signed with Sumerian Records and released her third studio album I Disagree, which incorporated heavy metal and industrial rock and featured lyrical themes and music videos described as "disturbing", "violent", and "macabre".[3][4] The album spawned four singles, including "Bloodmoney", which received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2021, making Poppy the first solo female artist to be nominated in the category.
In 2021, as part of her long-time collaboration with professional wrestling promotion WWE and its NXT brand, she released the metalcore EP Eat (NXT Soundtrack). Her fourth studio album, Flux, was released in 2021 and featured an alternative rock sound. In 2023, she released her fifth studio album, Zig, which was described as dark pop.
Early life[edit]
Moriah Rose Pereira[5] was born in Boston, Massachusetts,[6][7] on January 1, 1995.[7][8][5] She moved with her family to Nashville, Tennessee at age 14.[9] She recalls wanting to be a Rockette as a child,[10] and took dance lessons for 11 years until deciding to be a musician.[11] She was bullied at school for being skinny and quiet, leading her to complete the latter half of her studies via homeschooling.[12] She moved to Los Angeles at the age of 18.[13]
Artistry and image[edit]
Musical style and influences[edit]
Poppy's musical style has been described as pop, heavy metal, rock, electronic, industrial, and experimental.[note 1] More specifically, her music has covered various other genres including electropop, bubblegum pop, nu metal, pop-metal, dance-pop, art pop, experimental pop, synth-pop, avant-garde pop, dream pop, shoegaze, pop rock, pop punk, hyperpop, hard rock, noise, ambient, grunge, metalcore, alternative pop, alternative rock, industrial metal, and industrial rock.[note 2][note 3]
Poppy has been compared to artists such as Grimes, Icona Pop, Melanie Martinez, and Charli XCX.[31] Poppy has described herself as a "kawaii Barbie child".[183][184] She has described her music style as "music [that] makes you want to rule the world." Poppy states that she drew inspiration from genres such as J-pop and K-pop, as well as reggae. She recalls beginning to write music in 2012. She told Tiger Beat her musical inspirations are Cyndi Lauper, unicorns and Elvis Presley.[185] She is a fan of Jimmy Eat World, No Doubt, Norma Jean, Blondie, Gary Numan, Of Montreal, and Madonna.[183][186][187]
Public persona[edit]
Poppy has said that her stage name originated as a nickname given to her by a friend.[188] A natural brunette, she has dyed her hair many colors, usually to match the aesthetic of each of her albums' respective eras.[189]
Poppy's identity was initially kept guarded. She explained in 2016, "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."[190] In 2018, she tweeted that she originally kept her identity guarded due to being a survivor of past abuse.[191]
Critical reception[edit]
Critics have both praised the catchiness of Poppy's music and described her persona as distant from reality. Racked called her "sweet, but alien" and "brightly addictive".[19] In a review of I Disagree, Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic called it "a metallic storm, informed by pulsing beats, thrashing riffs, and crushing breakdowns. That fury is punctuated by atmospheric electronics and sugary vocals that support her deceptively confrontational lyrics."[192] David Mogendorff, who works in artist content and services for YouTube and Google Play Music, said she has "a strong J- and K-pop influence".[193]
Poppy's YouTube channel is often regarded as a commentary on social media. Vice described the tone of the channel, saying in 2022, "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."[194] Gita Jackson of Kotaku suggested the videos are a commentary on the experience of being online, writing, "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 the videos are "like social commentary... touch[ing] on the anxieties of modern life" and "a really interesting way of communicating, personal but strange".[193]
V magazine listed Poppy as part of the new generation of music, saying that "her hatched-from-an-egg, Glinda the Good Witch vibes have inspired labels from 'human ASMR' to a one-woman 'digital rabbit hole', none of which seem to stick".[195] Paper magazine also listed Poppy as one of the 100 women revolutionizing pop music, noting that "no matter what Poppy does, we can learn to expect the unexpected".[196] Alternative Press cited Poppy in their list of 20 artists who defined the sound of nu-metal.[197]
Personal life[edit]
Poppy's potential gender questioning was one of the main themes of Am I a Girl?.[187] In a 2019 interview, she stated that she identified as a woman and that she believes "everyone should be able to identify with whatever they choose".[198]
In October 2019, Poppy began dating rapper Ghostemane. In July 2020, she announced on social media that the two were engaged.[199][200][201] The couple separated and called off their engagement in late 2021.[202]
In April 2020, Poppy began to post stylized make-up tutorials on her YouTube channel. She tweeted to explain, "My ex-boyfriend would always tell me I looked ugly without make-up on, and I should never been seen without it." She also claimed that the same ex-boyfriend was leaking her unreleased videos, photographs of her without make-up, and "very personal demos that only he has" such as a cover of the Pokémon theme song. In response to the alleged leak, she posted the cover of the Pokémon theme song herself.[203]
Poppy is friends with rock singer Marilyn Manson.[204][205][206]
Studio albums
