That Poppy

Moriah Rose Pereira (born January 1, 1995), better known as Poppy and formerly as That Poppy, is an American singer, songwriter, and YouTuber. She first earned recognition for surreal performance 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.

Poppy's debut EP, '' Bubblebath'' (2016), featured ska and pop influences. Her debut studio album, '' Poppy.Computer'' (2017), was largely an art pop release and saw her embark on her debut concert tour, the Poppy.Computer Tour, until 2018. She experimented with electropop and heavier genres such as nu metal on her second album, '' Am I a Girl?'' (2018), while her second EP, '' Choke'' (2019), and third album, '' I Disagree'' (2020), continued in a heavier direction and incorporated heavy metal and industrial rock. The single " Bloodmoney" from ''I Disagree'' received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, making Poppy the first solo female artist to be nominated in the category.

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), returned to 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 was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 1, 1995. She moved with her family to Nashville, Tennessee, at age 14. She recalls wanting to be a Rockette as a child, and took dance lessons for 11 years until deciding to be a musician. She was bullied at school for being skinny and quiet, leading her to complete the latter half of her studies via homeschooling. She moved to Los Angeles in 2013, at the age of 18.

Career

2011–2014: Beginnings

Poppy had her first performance at IndieCove in August 2011, where she covered an Alanis Morissette song. Her YouTube channel was created in October 2011, under the name ThatPoppyTV, 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. She performed at social media festivals, including VidCon in June 2012 and DigiTour in June 2013. She was featured on Eppic's song "Hide and Seek" in 2013, and moved to Los Angeles to pursue her music career. 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. 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". 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. Poppy has stated that her YouTube videos tell a story. 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. She appears to have developed a drug and jealousy problem after Poppy became famous, which strains their relationship.

The channel has been discussed by other YouTubers, including PewDiePie, Social Repose, Night Mind, the Film Theorists, Reaction Time, and the Fine Brothers on their '' React'' series. She starred in an episode in which she reacts to children reacting to her videos. She has also appeared in an episode of the web series '' Good Mythical Morning''. In 2014, she signed with Island Records to start a music career under the name That Poppy.

2015–2017: ''Poppy.Computer''

On June 23, 2015, That Poppy released her first single, "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy". The song was most likely recorded for a debut album that she had announced and described as a dance-pop and punk record. The album was eventually scrapped, and she released her debut extended play (EP), '' Bubblebath'' (2016), instead. It was preceded by the 2015 single " Lowlife". She performed at the Corona Capital Festival in November 2015. 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. In October 2016, Poppy released an 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. The following month, she 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". That September, she received the Breakthrough Artist of the Year award from the Streamys. Poppy's debut studio album, '' Poppy.Computer'', was released in October 2017 by Mad Decent. Its second single, "Computer Boy", was released in May and received the Song of the Year nomination at the Unicorn Awards. "Let's Make a Video" was released as the third single in June, alongside a VHS-grainy music video. The third single, " Interweb", was released in July and performed live on ''The Late Late Show with James Corden''. In November, Poppy announced that her second album was "almost ready" and that she was going to Japan again to finish it. Her first concert tour, the Poppy.Computer Tour, started on October 19, 2017, in Vancouver.

Poppy made her ''YouTube Rewind'' debut in 2017 and was one of the few content creators to get her own lines. In April 2017, she began selling a book on her website called ''The Gospel of Poppy'', described as "a book of wisdom". In March 2018, Poppy performed "Moshi Moshi" at the Japanese pop music festival Popspring.

2018: ''Am I a Girl?''

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. 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". The Sinclair case was settled out of court on September 14 "with no money exchanging hands". The copyright case against Poppy was dismissed.

In July 2018, Poppy released a cover of Gary Numan's song "Metal" as a single on all digital platforms. Poppy's second studio album, '' Am I a Girl?'', was released on October 31, 2018. The album's lead single, "In a Minute", was released in July. The second single, " Time Is Up", featured American DJ Diplo and was released in August. Each week of October, she released three more singles from the album: "Fashion After All", "Hard Feelings", and " X". The album also featured the song "Play Destroy", a collaboration with Canadian singer Grimes.

At the end of the year, Poppy began to drop hints about a new project and website called Poppy.Church, which is no longer active. She attended the 2018 American Music Awards and returned to the Streamy Awards as a presenter. Her cover of "Metal" was featured in the video game ''WWE 2K20''.

2019–2020: ''I Disagree''

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. The graphic novel tells the origin of Poppy. 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.

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. 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".

After attending the iHeartRadio Music Awards in 2016, she returned in 2019 wearing a dress designed by Viktor & Rolf, and sat front row at their fashion show. Poppy revealed plans for a horror movie and her own music streaming service. She attended the ''Billboard'' Music Awards. Her song " Scary Mask" was released in May and featured American rock band Fever 333. The song was included on her second EP, '' Choke'', which was released on June 28, 2019.

In August 2019, Poppy signed with Sumerian Records

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