That Poppy

Early life

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

Career

Prior to 2014, Poppy performed at various social media festivals, including VidCon in June 2012 and DigiTour in June 2013. She was featured on the rapper Eppic's track, "Hide and Seek", in July 2013.

Poppy moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to pursue her musical career, teaming up with director and musician Titanic Sinclair 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 2015. Poppy performed at the Corona Capital Festival in November 2015. She released her first single, "Lowlife", a month after releasing "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy" and released her first EP, Bubblebath in February 2016, a four-track pop record on Island. Poppy released an experimental ambient music album called 3:36 (Music To Sleep To), composed by Titanic Sinclair and herself, in October 2016. In February 2017, Poppy starred in a series of videos for Comedy Central called "Internet Famous with Poppy".

Poppy has described herself as a "kawaii Barbie Child", and has said that her style is inspired by that of J-pop artists. She has described her music style as "music [that] makes you want to rule the world." 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. She has also cited Elvis Presley as a musical inspiration.

Poppy's real name and identity are 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."

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". 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".

YouTube

Poppy's YouTube channel was created on October 6, 2011, and she uploaded her first video in 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". Poppy's channel has been discussed by other YouTubers, including PewDiePie, The Film Theorists, 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. 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.

Aside from her abstract promotional videos, Poppy's channel has 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".

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles