Moriah Rose Pereira (born January 1, 1995), better known as Poppy and formerly as That Poppy, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and YouTuber. She first earned recognition for surrealperformance art videos on YouTube, in which she played an uncanny valley–like android commenting on and satirizing internet culture and modern society. She has become more widely known for being highly experimental and versatile with her artistry and music.
As part of her long-time collaboration with professional wrestling promotion WWE and its NXT brand, Poppy released the metalcore EP Eat (NXT Soundtrack) in 2021. Her following two albums, Flux (2021) and Zig (2023), as well as her fifth EP, Stagger (2022), featured alternative rock and dark pop sounds. Her sixth album, Negative Spaces (2024), continued her trend of moving away from pop and electronic music and towards heavy metal. That same year, she received a second Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance nomination for featuring on Knocked Loose's song "Suffocate".
Early life
Moriah Rose Pereira[2] was born in Boston, Massachusetts,[3][4] on January 1, 1995.[4][5][2] She moved with her family to Nashville, Tennessee, at age 14.[6] She recalls wanting to be a Rockette as a child,[7] and took dance lessons for 11 years until deciding to be a musician.[8] She was bullied at school for being skinny and quiet, leading her to complete the latter half of her studies via homeschooling.[9] She moved to Los Angeles in 2013, at the age of 18.[10]
Career
2011–2014: Beginnings
Poppy in front of a pure white background, characteristic of her YouTube videos
Poppy had her first performance at IndieCove in August 2011, where she covered an Alanis Morissette song.[11] Her YouTube channel was created in October 2011, under the name ThatPoppyTV,[12] alongside another channel, Moriah Poppy, where she posted covers and vlogs. However, all these videos were mostly made private and some others deleted, and the second channel was deleted in 2014.[13] She performed at social media festivals, including VidCon in June 2012 and DigiTour in June 2013.[14] She was featured on Eppic's song "Hide and Seek" in 2013,[15] and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career.[16] There, she teamed up with director Titanic Sinclair to make a series of abstract promotional videos on YouTube.
Her first YouTube skit, called Poppy Eats Cotton Candy, was uploaded in November 2014.[17] The videos were described by Sinclair as "a combination of Andy Warhol's pop accessibility, David Lynch's creepiness, and Tim Burton's zany comedic tone".[16] Sinclair also alluded in an interview that Poppy's character in the promotional videos presented itself to him as an android and how some of the concept relates to the uncanny valley hypothesis.[18] Poppy has stated that her YouTube videos tell a story.[19] Her fictional friend Charlotte, a celebrity-interviewing mannequin with a synthetic voice, was a recurring character. She usually appears interacting with Poppy but also on her own.[20] She appears to have developed a drug and jealousy problem after Poppy became famous, which strains their relationship.[5][21]
On June 23, 2015, That Poppy released her first single, "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy".[28][29] The song was most likely recorded for a debut album that she had announced and described as a dance-pop and punk record.[30] The album was eventually scrapped, and she released her debut extended play (EP), Bubblebath (2016), instead.[31] It was preceded by the 2015 single "Lowlife".[32] She performed at the Corona Capital Festival in November 2015.[33] From July to August 2016, she released a series of advertisements for the shoe company Steve Madden on her channel as a part of its Steve Madden Music program.[34] In October 2016, Poppy released an ambient music album called 3:36 (Music to Sleep To),[35][36] composed by Titanic Sinclair and herself, with assistance from polysomnographists from the Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine.[37] The following month, she became the face of Japanese retailer Sanrio's first "Hello Sanrio" collection.[5]
In February 2017, Poppy starred in a series of videos for Comedy Central called "Internet Famous with Poppy".[38] That September, she received the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award from the Streamys.[39][40][41] Poppy's debut studio album, Poppy.Computer, was released in October 2017 by Mad Decent.[42] Its second single, "Computer Boy", was released in May and received the Song of the Year nomination at the Unicorn Awards.[43] "Let's Make a Video" was released as the third single in June, alongside a VHS-grainy music video.[44] The third single, "Interweb", was released in July and performed live on The Late Late Show with James Corden.[45] In November, Poppy announced that her second album was "almost ready" and that she was going to Japan again to finish it.[46] Her first concert tour, the Poppy.Computer Tour, started on October 19, 2017, in Vancouver.[47][48][49]
Poppy made her YouTube Rewind debut in 2017 and was one of the few content creators to get her own lines.[50] In April 2017, she began selling a book on her website called The Gospel of Poppy, described as "a book of wisdom".[5][51] In March 2018, Poppy performed "Moshi Moshi" at the Japanese pop music festival Popspring.[52]
On April 17, 2018, Sinclair's former partner Mars Argo filed a 44-page lawsuit in Central California court against Sinclair and Poppy alleging copyright infringement, stating that Sinclair based Poppy's online persona on theirs, as well as emotional and physical abuse Sinclair had allegedly subjected them to in the period after their separation and the subsequent abandonment of the project.[53][54][55] On May 7, Poppy made a public statement about the "frivolous" lawsuit, saying Argo was attempting to manipulate her psychologically. She called the suit a "publicity campaign" and a "desperate grab for fame".[56] The Sinclair case was settled out of court on September 14 "with no money exchanging hands".[57][58] The copyright case against Poppy was dismissed.[53][57]
In July 2018, Poppy released a cover of Gary Numan's song "Metal" as a single on all digital platforms.[59] Poppy's second studio album, Am I a Girl?, was released on October 31, 2018.[60] The album's lead single, "In a Minute", was released in July.[61] The second single, "Time Is Up", featured American DJ Diplo and was released in August.[62][63] Each week of October, she released three more singles from the album: "Fashion After All", "Hard Feelings", and "X".[64] The album also featured the song "Play Destroy", a collaboration with Canadian singer Grimes.[60][65]
On January 8, 2019, Poppy announced a graphic novel through Z2 Comics titled Genesis 1, which was released to comic book stores on July 10.[75] The graphic novel tells the origin of Poppy.[76] It was co-written by Poppy, Sinclair, and Ryan Cady, with art by Masa Minoura and Ian McGinty. She elaborated in an interview with Gigwise that the album released with the graphic novel, titled I C U: Music to Read To, is an ambient music album meant to be listened to while reading.[77]
On January 23, 2019, Billboard announced Poppy would star in the augmented-reality experience A Jester's Tale, created and directed by Asad J. Malik. It was produced by RYOT and 1RIC, and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival as part of the New Frontier program.[78] The storyline "transports viewers inside a child's bedroom to meet a cast of character holograms". The same month, she released a song titled "Voicemail".[79]
In August 2019, Poppy signed with Sumerian Records and released her first single with them, "Concrete", which served as the lead single from her third album.[90][91] The second single, "I Disagree", followed in October alongside the album preorder, and it was also revealed to be the album's title track.[92] In November, "Bloodmoney" served as the third single from I Disagree,[93][94] which later earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, making her the first solo female artist to be nominated in the category.[95][96] "Fill the Crown" was released as the fourth single in December.[97][98] A statement confirming that Poppy and Sinclair parted ways was released in December 2019.[99] She accused him of glamorizing suicide and using this to manipulate her.[99] Poppy stated that while on tour, Sinclair had attempted to coerce her by threatening to hang himself with an item of hers.[100] She stated that Sinclair "lives an illusion that he is a gift to this earth".[100] Responding to the fan speculations that some of her videos were "secret cries for help", Poppy noted that while it was not intentional, the videos projected a facet of reality and "people online sensed it a lot sooner than I did".[10][101] Regarding Mars Argo's allegations against Sinclair, Poppy stated, "I was never 'an accomplice' to [Sinclair's] past actions like some believe — I was a person who suffered similar wrong doings as [Argo] brought to light."[100]
Poppy's third studio album, I Disagree, was released on January 10, 2020.[102] It peaked at number 130 on the Billboard 200, marking Poppy's first entry on the chart.[103] An official music video for "Anything Like Me" was released alongside the album.[104][105] On January 28, 2020, Poppy announced her second graphic novel, Poppy's Inferno, which was illustrated by Zoe Thorogood and Amilcar Pinna, and co-written by Ryan Cady. After numerous delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was published on October 20 alongside a soundtrack album, Music to Scream To.[106] In March, a music video for "Sit / Stay" was released,[107] her first music to be self-directed. In June, she released a cover of the 2002 t.A.T.u. single, "All the Things She Said".[108][109] In July, "Khaos x4" was released as the album's final single, and the deluxe version of Poppy's third album, titled I Disagree (more), followed on August 14, 2020.[110][111] She released a four-song Christmas EP, A Very Poppy Christmas, on December 1, 2020.[112][113]
In March 2021, Poppy performed live at the Grammys and debuted the song "Eat".[114] In April, her song "Say Cheese" became the official theme song for professional wrestling show WWE NXT, following her performance at the event on April 9, 2021.[115] In May, Poppy released a cover of Jack Off Jill's song "Fear of Dying".[116] In June, she surprise-released her fourth EP, Eat (NXT Soundtrack), which features the previously performed songs "Eat" and "Say Cheese".[117][118]
On December 29, 2020, Poppy announced that she had been working on the follow-up album to I Disagree and said it will have "a completely different sonic vibe" to its predecessor.[119] In June 2021, she released "Her" as the lead single from her fourth studio album, Flux.[120][121] In July, she announced that Flux would be released on September 24, 2021, and released the title track as the second single from the album.[122][123] In August, she released "So Mean" as the third and final single from Flux with an accompanying music video.[124][125] Poppy and Sumerian Records teamed up with Roblox for its first-ever listening party upon the release of the album, streaming Flux on the gaming platform. Music from the album was integrated throughout nine Roblox games between September 24 and September 26, 2021.[126][127]
In January 2022, Poppy released a song about her cat Pi, titled "3.14" on YouTube.[128][129] She also announced the Never Find My Place Tour, which started on March 8 in Sacramento, California, and ended on November 30 in Glasgow.[130][131] On August 27, 2022, Poppy premiered a song at the Reading Festival called "FYB", an acronym for "Fuck You Back".[132] In September, she signed with Republic and Lava Records, and released the song "FYB".[133][134][135] It served as a single from her fifth EP, Stagger, which was released in October. It was also announced that Stagger would be her only release under Republic and Lava Records.[136] A music video for the title track was released alongside the EP.[137] In December, Poppy began teasing new music and announced that she is working on her next album.[138][139]
In 2023, Poppy returned to Sumerian Records, and released her fifth studio album, Zig, on October 27, 2023. In March 2023, Poppy announced the song "Church Outfit",[140] which was released in April as the album's lead single.[141][142] The same month, she announced a co-headlining tour with pop-rock band Pvris called the Godless/Goddess Tour, which ran from August 18 to September 15 and included supporting acts Pom Pom Squad and Tommy Genesis.[143][144] In May, Poppy released a cover of Kittie's song "Spit".[145][146] In June, she was featured alongside Danny Elfman on Stu Brooks' song "They'll Just Love You".[147] In July, Poppy released the second single from Zig, titled "Knockoff", in addition to an announcement of the album's release date.[148][149] The album's third single, "Motorbike", was released in September.[150][151]Zig's fourth and final single, "Hard", was released in October.[152] In December, a music video for "Flicker" was released.[153]
On June 4, 2024, Poppy released the single "New Way Out", which was produced by former Bring Me the Horizon keyboardist and producer Jordan Fish.[160][161] On September 17, 2024, Poppy released another single, "They're All Around Us",[162][163] and on September 23, 2024, announced her sixth studio album, Negative Spaces, which was released on November 15, 2024.[164][165] On September 29, 2024, Poppy joined the Canadian metal band Spiritbox to perform their song "Soft Spine" at the Louder Than Life festival.[166]
In October 2024, Poppy announced her own variety show, Improbably Poppy, which premiered on October 11, 2024, on the live-streaming platform Veeps.[167][168] On October 15, 2024, Poppy released two more singles: "The Cost of Giving Up" and "Crystallized".[169] In November 2024, Poppy's single with Knocked Loose, "Suffocate", was nominated at the 67th annual Grammy Awards in the Best Metal Performance category.[170] On November 19, 2024, Poppy announced the "They're All Around Us" tour, which will span 28 cities across North American in 2025.[171] On November 27, 2024, Poppy performed "Suffocate" with Knocked Loose on Jimmy Kimmel Live.[172]
Poppy has said that her stage name originated as a nickname given to her by a friend.[202] A natural brunette, she has dyed her hair many colors, usually to match the aesthetic of each of her albums' respective eras.[203]
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."[204] In 2018, she stated that she originally kept her identity guarded due to being a survivor of past abuse.[56]
Reception
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".[16] 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."[205] 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".[206]
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."[207] 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".[206]
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".[208]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".[209]Alternative Press cited Poppy in their list of 20 artists who defined the sound of nu-metal.[210]
Personal life
Poppy's potential gender questioning was one of the main themes of Am I a Girl?[201] 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".[211]
In October 2019, Poppy began dating rapper Ghostemane. In July 2020, she announced on social media that the two were engaged.[212][213][214] The couple separated and called off their engagement in late 2021.[215]
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.[216]
^Brzezicka, Aleksandra (December 4, 2020). "Best of 2020: Poppy". Upset Magazine. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
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