Poppy

Moriah Rose Pereira, professionally known as Poppy, is an American singer-songwriter, director, producer, author, actress, dancer, model and YouTuber.

Early Life
Poppy was born in Whitman, Massachusetts on January 1st, 1995. She is of Latina, Portuguese and Spanish heritage and grew up with a mother and a father, two brothers, and one sister. She went to public school when she was young and did not have many friends growing up, and was bullied for being "skinny and quiet". For several years, Poppy's parents ran a haunted house in the month of October. She completed her education early through homeschool, claiming that throughout her childhood, she would often spend time isolated and alone, and the internet was her "teacher". Poppy also claimed that when she was young, she wanted to be a Rockette and was a dancer for several years. Her father played drums in a punk rock band, and one of her brothers played drums as well. Her siblings introduced her to some of her favorite artists. She was inspired to become a singer after listening to female-fronted bands such as Blondie and No Doubt. In December 2006, Poppy joined The Nutcrackers, a roller derby team in the Boston Roller Derby, alongside her sister. She was the mascot of the team for a short time due to being too "fragile" to participate in the sport itself, but later was allowed to join the team. She lived in Whitman until she was about 14, then moved to the greater Nashville area due to her father's change of job and wanting a new start to their family. In 2010, Poppy joined the newly-formed Nashville Junior Roller Derby. She left after a short while but continued to skate for fun. When Poppy was 15, she received vocal coaching from Brett Manning, and a year later started uploading covers and original songs to her YouTube channel thatPoppyTV. Sometime in 2013, Poppy had moved to Los Angeles, California by herself after signing with Island Records. She initially met Titanic Sinclair through a mutual friend in early 2014; later that year, she teamed up with him to portray the character Poppy and start her professional music career.

2011-2014: Career beginnings
Poppy began her musical career in 2011, and her first performances were at small venues such as IndieCove. She made two YouTube channels, the first one was called "Moriah Poppy" and the other "thatPoppyTV". thatPoppyTV was created on October 6th, 2011, and the channel contained covers, original songs and vlogs. The Moriah Poppy channel contained more personal content such as performance videos and random uploads. She performed live at small venues such as Playlist Live, Digifest 2013, VidCon, and others. Her first stage name was "Moriah Poppy"; the name Poppy was from a friend, who had nicknamed her after a fictional character. Poppy later changed her stage name to "That Poppy" but often shortened it to simply "Poppy". She originally planned to release an extended play (EP) at the end of 2012, which would have been indie and alternative rock-oriented, but this release never materialized. However, she released two original demos titled "Doesn't Mean I'm Wrong" and "What If I". This era's videos have been deleted or made private due to not being consistent with the current Poppy project.

2014-2016: Bubblebath and 3:36 (Music to Sleep To)
Poppy later signed with Island Records in 2013, releasing her debut single "Everybody Wants to Be Poppy" as well as her debut EP Bubblebath, which featured the successful single "Lowlife". She performed several shows to promote Bubblebath. In late 2016, Poppy left Island due to several accounts of mistreatment. On October 17th, 2016, she released an experimental ambient album exclusively on her Bandcamp, titled 3:36 (Music to Sleep To). On November 17th, 2016, she also released a single titled "Adored", which was another Bandcamp-exclusive release.

2017-2018: Poppy.Computer and Am I a Girl?
In early 2017, Poppy created a label with Sinclair called I'm Poppy Records, releasing the single "I'm Poppy" on the label. Additionally, the release of "I'm Poppy" was the final release under her previous stage name, That Poppy. Later, she signed with Mad Decent, who released her debut album Poppy.Computer. Throughout late 2017 and early 2018, she went on the Poppy.Computer Tour to promote the album. A remix EP titled Poppy.Remixes was released in March of 2018, which featured a remix of "Interweb" and four remixes of "Moshi Moshi".

She released her sophomore album Am I a Girl? on October 31st, 2018 under Mad Decent. The album included the singles "In a Minute", "Time Is Up", "Fashion After All", "Hard Feelings", and "X". She later went on the Am I a Girl? Tour in promotion of the album. Prior the release of the record, the songs "Metal" and "Immature Couture" were released as promotional singles.

2019-2020: Choke, I Disagree, graphic novels, directorial debut and Grammy nomination
On June 28th, 2019, Poppy released her second EP Choke, which was her last release under Mad Decent before leaving the label in July 2019. It included the singles "Voicemail", "Scary Mask", and "Choke". Later that month, she released a graphic novel titled Genesis 1, along with her second ambient album I C U (Music to Read To), which serves as the soundtrack to the graphic novel.

She released her third album, I Disagree, on January 10th, 2020. The album included the singles "Concrete", "I Disagree", "Bloodmoney", "Fill the Crown" and "Anything Like Me". The album marked Poppy's first Billboard 200 entry, peaking at number 130 and selling over 7,000 units. Poppy went on the Threesome Tour with Bring Me the Horizon and Sleeping with Sirens to promote both the album and the Choke EP. She also went on the I Disagree Tour to promote the album. On June 3rd, 2020, Poppy released a cover of t.A.T.u.'s song "All the Things She Said". On August 14th, 2020, Poppy released a deluxe edition of I Disagree entitled I Disagree (more), which includes four bonus tracks. On October 20th, 2020, Poppy released her second graphic novel, Poppy's Inferno, along with its soundtrack Music to Scream To. On December 1st, 2020, Poppy released her third EP A Very Poppy Christmas, which is Christmas-themed.

2020 would mark Poppy's directorial debut. She directed the music video for "Anything Like Me" with Jesse Draxler. Poppy then directed the music videos for "Sit / Stay" and "All the Things She Said". In April, Poppy would return to her YouTube channel to create and direct a series of makeup tutorial videos featuring herself. This would begin Poppy directing videos that are more oriented around the Poppy character. Poppy would then direct the music videos for her fiancé Ghostemane's singles "Lazaretto" and "Hydrochloride".

On November 24th, 2020, the Recording Academy announced that Poppy's song "Bloodmoney" was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, but the song lost to "Bum-Rush" by Body Count. This was Poppy's first ever Grammy nomination. She was the first female solo artist to be nominated in the category, as well as the first female artist to be nominated in the category since 1999.

2021-present: Eat (NXT Soundtrack), Flux and production debut
Following Poppy's nomination, Poppy performed her then-unreleased song "Eat" at the Grammys. On April 8th, 2021, Poppy performed another previously unreleased song titled "Say Cheese" at the WWE event NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver, in which it became the new official theme for WWE NXT. On May 26th, 2021, Poppy released a cover of Jack Off Jill's "Fear of Dying".

On June 8th, 2021, Poppy released her fourth extended play Eat (NXT Soundtrack) at NXT TakeOver: In Your House. The EP contained official releases of "Eat" and "Say Cheese", alongside three additional tracks. This marked Poppy's studio production debut, producing the EP solely by herself.

Poppy's fourth studio album Flux was released on September 24th, 2021. The album included the singles "Her", "Flux" and "So Mean". She will be going on the Never Find My Place Tour in promotion of the album.

Personal Life
Poppy has dyed her hair several colors throughout her life, most notably purple, blue, red and blonde. She first dyed her hair purple when she was seven years old. In an interview with Enfnts Terribles, she stated that other mothers at her school would judge her mother because she let Poppy dye her hair purple. As of July 2020, she has sported a black bob with bangs. She is vegan by personal choice and owns five pets: cats Pi, Kiki and Damian, a bearded dragon and a dog named Crash.

In an interview with Nylon France, Poppy revealed that she had suffered from an eating disorder in the past.

Identity and Activism
In 2018, Poppy publicly spoke about questioning her gender identity and confirmed that her questioning inspired her studio album Am I a Girl?. She stated in an interview with Nylon that her gender was undetermined, saying that "some days I feel like a boy, some days I feel like a girl, so I haven't figured it out yet". In an interview with Flaunt Magazine the following year, however, she revealed that she had ended her questioning, stating "I am a girl, but I believe everyone should be able to identify with what they choose". She is an ally to the LGBT+ community and in March 2020, Poppy confirmed to a fan that her sexuality is "pending". She has protested against police brutality and racism as well.

Romantic Relationships
Poppy privately dated American singer-songwriter Josh Moran sometime before August 2015, and shortly after privately dated Titanic Sinclair until late 2019.

She began publicly dating American rapper Ghostemane in November 2019. In July of 2020, Ghostemane proposed to Poppy. They were engaged until their separation as romantic partners in November 2021.

YouTube Persona
Poppy is also a fictional character predominantly featured on the video-sharing website YouTube, portrayed by Pereira. From 2014–present, Pereira has consistently used the Poppy character on YouTube and at live events, which have gained the attention of the public. Currently, the Poppy character is limited to only YouTube videos, while Pereira, under the musical stage name Poppy, is herself.

History
The Poppy YouTube channel was created on October 6th, 2011, which originally contained original songs and covers. In late 2014, she started working under the direction of Titanic Sinclair, completely erased her old content and reinvented herself.

Poppy and Sinclair's first video was uploaded on November 4th, 2014, titled "Poppy Eats Cotton Candy", which only shows Poppy eating cotton candy. The video was shot in Sinclair's living room with no budget and was originally going to be a one-off video. The most popular Poppy video is "I'm Poppy.", which shows a 30-second clip of Poppy saying "I'm Poppy" looped for 10 minutes. The channel's subscriber count is hidden, though it has been revealed on numerous occasions. On September 8th, 2017, it was confirmed by YouTube LA on Twitter that Poppy had surpassed one million subscribers and received her Gold Play Button. On July 5th, 2019, Poppy's subscriber count was accidentally turned on and was revealed to have 2.4 million subscribers. In July of 2020, Poppy surpassed 1 million Instagram followers. Poppy won a Streamy for breakthrough artist on September 26th, 2017.

Poppy's identity was initially kept guarded. She explained in an interview with Racked: "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." She also revealed in a statement made on May 7th, 2018 that she had kept her identity guarded due to being a survivor of abuse. The description of her video titled "Happy Birthday to Poppy" had previously revealed her birthday as January 1st, 2001. However, this is assumed to be the "creation date" of the Poppy character, with Pereira herself being six years older.

Character
Poppy as a character represents the media and its speculation on whether or not a celebrity is a member of a cult such as the Illuminati. The project is meant to satirize pop culture and the media itself. Poppy is portrayed as a teenager; she shows innocence and ignorance towards the "outside world" throughout her videos. She usually sports her trademark arm length bleach blonde hair and typically wears clothing that is related to modern Japanese culture and Harajuku fashion. Her voice is often soft and high-pitched. In her videos, Poppy is usually shown standing still with little expression on her face, rarely blinking. Poppy's current actions are done in more of a "robotic" manner, with the aesthetic of her discography and videos being more internet and technology-oriented.

Canonically, the character of Poppy is intended to represent an android. In an interview with Titanic Sinclair for Dom's Sketch Cast, Sinclair was asked how much he looks forward to seeing more humanlike androids. He responded by saying "I already know one", referring to Poppy. He further described her as a "very humanlike being who one day approached me and I decided to document her". Poppy herself revealed that the inspiration for the character partly came from her interest in the Myers-Briggs personality test, and is "directly linked to how [she] was when [she] was untouched by the world, the most innocent way of thinking".

In 2019, Poppy began to show more emotion in person and through her songs. She slowly dropped her persona throughout the year, speaking more normally in interviews and in less of a robotic fashion. As of September 2019, she had frequently sported short blonde hair with black dyed bangs, similar to her bangs in her "Moriah Poppy" era. In the video "The Icky Babies", Poppy stated that the Icky Babies were sent to her on a mission to bring "spiritual change" and that they are her destiny. This marked a significant turning point in the format of Poppy's videos, as they began taking place in front of a black backdrop with various lights instead of a white backdrop. Poppy herself has usually dressed in darker clothing following the change. Following the Choke EP, Poppy began to release more metal-oriented songs, which she has described as "Poppymetal" and "post-genre".

As of late 2019, Poppy has done several out-of-character interviews and publicly dropped Sinclair as a collaborative partner. In December 2019, Poppy dyed her natural hair color back to brunette.

Cult
Poppy is known to have started a cult of sorts involving her fans. She previously sold a book on her webstore titled The Gospel of Poppy, which is essentially her version of the Bible including prayers, musings on God and fame, and transcripts of her YouTube videos. She often encourages her fans to pray to her and treat her as their "queen" and says that watching her videos is "church" for them. She had also sold a "membership ring" of a pink triangle with a P in the middle, which is a symbol seen in many of her videos. There is a playlist on her YouTube channel called "The Cult of Poppy". In July 2019, she released a graphic novel titled Genesis 1, which serves as an "origin story" for Poppy.

While these actions make it seem like she is indeed a cult leader, both Poppy and her former director Titanic Sinclair constantly stated they are not in a cult on social media and in their YouTube videos. At one point, she had a shirt that read "I Am Not In A Cult Led By Poppy" on her website, though it is no longer available.

Between 2018 and 2019, Poppy had a website and interactive game titled Poppy.Church, which seemed to go along with the cult theme as people received personal invitations to it and it kept track of the user's social media activities.

Poppy is shown to be controlled by a force known only as Them, whom she references in her videos and in interviews. They are known to make her do certain things. It is most likely that They are supposed to represent cult leaders and that They use Poppy as their puppet. In the music videos for "Lowlife" and "I Disagree", They are primarily portrayed as Caucasian middle-aged men. In Poppy.Church, They are portrayed as two separate entities split up into They and Them. They is portrayed as a pink-cloaked figure and Them is portrayed as a white-cloaked figure.

Summoning
Poppy is shown to have the ability to summon people. She has summoned clones of herself in the videos "Oh No!" and "3 of Me", as well as summoned Brandon Wardell, Stryker, the Devil, DJ Andrew Luce and Tom Green in Internet Famous with Poppy.

Bleeding
Poppy has been shown to bleed from the mouth or the nose at will, most notably in "Oh No!", "Am I Okay?" and the I'm Poppy YouTube Red Original.

Levitation
Poppy is shown to have the ability to levitate as shown in "Moving Forward", in which she levitates for the majority of the video, then drops to her feet.

Controversies

 * On April 17th, 2018, Brittany Sheets (Mars Argo) filed a lawsuit against both Titanic Sinclair and Poppy for domestic abuse and copyright infringement, claiming that she could no longer work because her post-traumatic stress disorder was agitated whenever she would search up her own work online. The case was settled on September 14th, 2018 by Judge Manuel Real. After admitting that the accusations were legitimate, Sinclair destroyed all photographic blackmail used against Sheets and agreed on handing over Mars Argo Inc. to her and abiding by a restraining order, in exchange for Sheets to refrain from suing.
 * On May 7th, 2018, Poppy tweeted a statement claiming that the accusations Sheets made were false. On the same date, an interview with Sheets was released, in which she publicly forgave Poppy on account of her meeting Sinclair at a young age.
 * On July 13th, 2018, Big Bud Press, the creator of Titanic Sinclair's jumpsuit on the Poppy.Computer Tour, had accused Poppy and her team of stealing their design on one of their newly-added pieces of merchandise, the Poppy Jumpsuit.
 * On March 18th, 2021, Poppy announced she would be partnering with Foundation and releasing a non-fungible token (NFT). "Poppy of Alabaster" was released on March 25th, 2021, with bidding starting at 1.40 Ethereum ($2,254.78). Controversy arose due to the environmental concerns of participating in blockchain data extraction and mining, which most NFTs and Ethereum contribute to.

Gallery
The Poppy gallery can be found here.

Trivia

 * She has previously gone under the names Moriah Poppy and That Poppy. Currently, she uses just Poppy or Poppy Chan (in credits).
 * She doesn't drink alcohol.
 * She prefers dogs over cats.
 * She made an appearance in the Disney sitcom Jessie and the science fiction drama series Impulse.
 * She likes skateboarding and jiu-jitsu.
 * She likes video games such as Mario Kart.
 * Gwen Stefani is one of her largest inspirations.
 * Some of her favorite artists are Britney Spears, Cyndi Lauper, Elvis Presley, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey and MARINA.
 * Her favorite MARINA song is "Primadonna".
 * She knows how to play guitar and piano.
 * She is 5'7 (170 cm).
 * She can speak and write in Spanish and Japanese.
 * Blood orange is her favorite fruit.
 * Topo Chico Mineral Water is her favorite sparkling water.
 * Her favorite colors are pink and purple.
 * Her favorite album is Talkie Walkie by Air.
 * Her favorite film is Amélie.
 * Her favorite designers are Comme des Garçons, Miu Miu, and Viktor & Rolf.
 * She plays Animal Crossing: New Horizons.