BEST NEW MUSIC: POPPY - FASHION AFTERALL

Poppy is a strange one. Her Robot Barbie shtick is really working. Like maybe too much so. It has me actually questioning if she really is a human or not. Her songs are great and she pretends to be a human— she’s like seriously one shade away from Alexa. What if I really did believe she’s a Robot? I think I might. I mean, why not? Is that so far-fetched? Honestly, in a world as fucked up and crazy as the one we all live in I don’t doubt for a second that some of our artists are actually just part of some kind of simulation meant to keep us in check. The real problem here is that’s exactly what she’s going for. She wants to be so convincingly inhuman that maybe for a second people really do start to believe she’s not actually human. WHICH REALLY IS something that a non-human would try to do in order to make themselves appear more human. Have you ever seen Bladerunner? I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Mallsville. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Fashion District. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

POPPY - FASHION AFTER ALL

Yeah, sure, the song is great. It’s Poppy. They’re all always great. How could they not be when they’re brewed up algorithmically in a lab, produced by nineteen people, perfectly engineered to perpetuate this case of disinformation as well as utter catchiness. Seriously, I can’t go on writing about her songs not knowing if this is a real person or not. I’m not even sure I can enjoy them. Sure, they’re perfect bubblegum pop and totally enjoyable on their own. But isn’t that alone kind of creepy? Like a Stepford Wives pop-star situation.  Is this appealing to you? It’s kind of appealing to me? It’s mostly own madness at work here by this point, I know. But that’s what makes it fun. Right? Write songs so good it hurts, convincing your fan base to just be confused even further about whether you are real or designed to make you seem that way. There are even Poppy superfans on Twitter, who will most likely retweet this. But the question is: are they bots too? Are they in on the simulation? Or are they just genuine fans who genuinely like what she’s doing? OR BOTH?! Have the bots become sentient, working on their own accord to push the bot agenda forward? Is it nefarious? Friendly? I don’t know!

“Fashion After All” is Poppy’s homage to Daft Punk’s “Human After All.” With that release, Gaspard and Tomas were seemingly admitting that they were only pretending to be Robots, while Poppy might just actually be one. If I don’t make it out alive, it’s only because the bots came for me. 

From deep within the murky depths of the Los Angeles River emerged a creature: 50% raver, 50% comedian, 10% Robotcop. Kurt Kroeber doesn’t own a dog, operates Soundbleed (the world’s only dance party comedy talk show rave), and is down to party with you. Come up some time and say “Hey dude!” But definitely make sure to casually drop the secret Illuminati password.