With 2.95 million subscribers, Poppy is best known for the cult hysteria which follows her robotic and one-dimensional internet persona. Poppy began sharing her phygital universe on YouTube when she was only 19, and since, theories of her being an AI machine started emerging and circulating across the internet; her doll-like glassy eyes, porcelain skin, sleek platinum hair, robotic high frequency voice all adding to the enigma.

What may come across as peculiar to some, is simply an expressive and even addictive art form to others. (Poppy has starred as a real-life gynoid in her videos, creating outlandish and intriguing content and repeats the words “I’m Poppy” for over 10 minutes in a video of the same name.) The proof of her success, however, is the millions of views each of her videos have garnered. The oldest video on her YouTube channel involves her eating cotton candy for one minute and 23 seconds and has been viewed 4.5 million times.

She also often performs with her friend, Charlotte, who is a mannequin with a synthetic voice. Artificial intelligence, ASMR trends, and digital art have existed for years but haven’t been utilised by artists until more recently, and yet Poppy began experimenting and exploring these spaces when they were still in uncharted territories.

As robotic as her digital persona may be perceived by the masses, there’s no doubt that Poppy is far more human than people may realise. The artist has undoubtedly been misrepresented in mainstream media and has been stamped with labels that couldn’t be further from the truth. After just one conversation, it was clear that Poppy is complex, three-dimensional and engulfed with emotion.

“There’s been obviously a great deal of progress in digital art, even since I first began making the videos on YouTube,” Poppy shares over a Zoom call. “And I think what’s intriguing to me, using the internet as a medium, is that there’s infinite possibilities, you can go on forever, you can reach people and other countries and places that you might never go to. And I think that is the most magical thing to me as a creator. I hope to meet people that love my work. But I think it’s really wonderful that you don’t know who’s watching. It’s inspiring.”

There’s no doubt that the internet can certainly be a rabbit hole, and yet it’s allowed Poppy to connect with people that were like-minded. So, it would be only natural to think that that she’d be undoubtedly obsessed with the internet.

“I feel like we’re very much in an era where everybody is competing with each other to be exactly the same, and to be the most relatable. And I think that’s very boring,” she shares.

Poppy’s not wrong at all. The internet can start to smell like desperation when everyone becomes a replica of one another. Whether it’s the pressure to have flawless skin or recycling the same socio-political threads, the chances of coming off as tone-deaf or simply ordinary have tremendously grown since the internet was invented.

And yet in an ocean of people that look and sound the same, there in her own element exists Poppy. A refreshing surprise whose best quality is her ability to be her full self. Born Moriah Rose Pereira, Poppy was raised between Boston and Nashville before settling in Los Angeles. She speaks of her past as something she almost had to escape.

“What influenced me is the desire to get out of where I was from, and leave it in the past,” she says.

Poppy claims that the instability of her childhood is also what led her to pursue a career that she considers just as fickle.

“Music and art are not stable pursuits. But it seemed more stable than home,” she continues.

As for her favourite habitat, it’s when she’s in front of the camera or performing.

“I would say that I just go to another place in my head. And it’s one that’s almost more in tune with how I was when I was small. And I was in awe when I first discovered performance,” says Poppy. “It’s almost like a childlike wonder, you know, it’s a bit of the unknown. I do like a thrill. And it’s not entirely safe in the sense of, you don’t know what’s going to happen, because there’s people watching you, and you’re forced to be in the moment. It’s almost a bit like riding a motorcycle, you have to be present for it.”

Whether she enjoys heart-racing rollercoasters or the mere thrill of watching her fans sing along to every word of her songs is unknown. What is certain, however, is that Poppy is an adrenaline junkie. The artist released her first single “Everyone Wants To Be Poppy” in 2015, and she has been proving that very statement one accolade at a time. With several albums, a graphic novel, a viral YouTube platform, tours around the world and now a cover on GRAZIA under her belt, there’s simply no stopping Poppy. Even when she faced road bumps along the way, such as disputes with not one, but two of her previous record labels, she never stopped chasing her dream.

Ironically, Poppy seems to detest the notion of virality.

“It’s interesting to say or to talk about going ‘viral’ because it seems such like a fleeting thing. And I feel like it almost undercuts the works that I’ve put out. I think that what I do is a lot more multifaceted,” she clarifies. “I think the touring career that I’ve been able to have, was only made possible by the fact that people are able to come back and grow with me. And I think it started with the videos, but the fans and followers of mine come back, they understand that it’s more than just the videos.”

With the growth of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, these days it doesn’t seem to take much to become an internet sensation overnight. There’s no denying that these platforms can help emerging artists and talents grow a platform and ultimately get that little blue check next to their names. Just take a look at Dixie D’Amelio, who started off as an influencer on TikTok until she got signed by a major record label. Or Jordanian singer Issam Najjar, who overnight went from posting covers on TikTok to getting scouted by Universal Arabic Music, owned by The Weeknd’s manager Wassim ‘Sal’ Sleiby. Then there’s Addison Rae, possibly the platform’s biggest example of a person going from ‘rags to riches,’ as she amassed a huge following after posting dancing videos on TikTok in 2019. Since then, she’s released a song, starred in a Netflix film, and even appeared in Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Whilst social media has helped budding artists make their way to the Billboard Hot 100, it’s also made it rather too easy for everyone to find success and can be unsettling for artists like Poppy, who has been creating short form performance videos long before there was a dedicated platform for it. The artist admits that she was pressured to grow a platform on TikTok by her last record label, and was hesitant to do so.

“They were trying to force me to make TikTok videos, which comes as no surprise, but I think that it’s really strange that that has become such a large part of forcing people to create these short form videos,” she says. “I feel very conflicted because I was creating short form videos on YouTube years back, and I feel like it would be redundant of me to try and do that now.”

“I think TikTok creates very lazy art,” Poppy asserts.

There’s definitely some truth to it. To compare the high-quality production, costumes, lighting and intent behind Poppy’s performance art videos to a teenager dancing to the latest trending song on TikTok would be redundant. Nevertheless, the artist does feel gratitude for the opportunities she’s been dealt because of social media.

“I am very thankful for it at the beginning of my career. Without it, you wouldn’t know that I exist,” says Poppy. “I love using it to get my message and my work out there. I love that I get to tour the world, and people that understand me get to come to my shows and it feels very united and like a union.

“I feel like you can only really maintain the level of interaction with social media if you’re willing to be a very mentally unhealthy person,” she continues. “I think I’m just really bored of social media. We’ve lived long enough at this point to see a lot of darkness in it – there’s been a lot of suicides because of it. People should definitely pay attention to the fact that this can be really bad for us.”

Mental health is a topic Poppy is particularly sensitive about. Perhaps it’s because of her own life experiences and some of the unfortunate cards that she’s been dealt. Even without seeing her facial expressions or prolifically opening up about her past, it’s clear from the tone of her voice that she hasn’t lived an easy life.

“I don’t think people are always born as happy people. The ones that smile the most tend to have a greater darkness,” she says melancholically, right before losing her train of thought and admitting that she was making toast during the call. Hearing Poppy’s demeanour interchange throughout the conversation made it clear that she herself can sometimes put up a brave face. It also eludes that Poppy’s personality seems to be as multi-faceted as her career; cheerful and bubbly one second, wise and emotional the next. What’s also interesting to note is how Poppy often refers to herself in the third person, almost as if the artist Poppy and the person on the other side of the line were two separate identities.

Watching her videos, everything from her early performance art all the way through to her most recent music videos shows a clear juxtaposition from humorous, light-hearted and colourful atmospheres to darker, nightmarish and profoundly emotional ones. There’s clearly a deeper message behind everything that Poppy creates, yet the artist and performer prefers not to spell it out.

“I think what’s great about art is that it’s subjective, and whoever is witnessing the art that’s being made can apply their own meaning,” says Poppy. “Of course I have my own deeper meaning. But I wouldn’t want to cloud that for you by telling you what it means to me.”

“But I think that more people should leave things open to interpretation. I’m not really a fan of those interviews that they make musicians do or, like Rap Genius, where they explain every lyric, I think it’s very low brow… they defeat the purpose of art.”

For now, Poppy is more interested in creating long form videos and focusing on her music. The artist has a new song “Church Outfit” set for release at the end of March, and an album soon after.

“This new chapter of Poppy in this new album, and the visual media, it started because I wanted to have videos that incorporated my dance background,” she says.  “So, we worked almost backwards in a way, and there are certain aesthetic elements that I wanted to include and we made the music around that idea.”

In the teaser of the music video, Poppy appears in a coffin, singing “this is the outfit I want to be buried in.” When asked what she would actually like to be buried in, Poppy didn’t hesitate to provide her clearly considered answer.

“Something custom. Something Schiaparelli,” she says.

EXPLORE THE FULL FASHION SHOOT WITH POPPY HERE

CREATIVE DIRECTION: DANÉ STOJANOVIC
PHOTOGRAPHY: KRISTIAN SCHULLER
PHOTOGRAPHY CREATIVE DIRECTION: PEGGY SCHULLER
FASHION DIRECTION: ANNA CASTAN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: JEAN-MARC MONDELET
HAIR: BEN MIGNOT
MAKEUP: RUBY MAZUEL
DIGITAL OPERATOR: CHEYENNE HOCH
SET DESIGN: KATHLEEN ALISCH
SET DESIGN ASSISTANT: KATHERINA TELOO
FASHION ASSISTANT: GABRIELA CAMBERO
TALENT: POPPY
WORDS: LEEN AL SAADI

THIS FEATURE IS PUBLISHED IN THE 13TH EDITION OF GRAZIA INTERNATIONAL. PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY HERE.

TOP BANNER IMAGE: TULLE GOWN WITH BOAT NECKLINE & RUFFLES, GIAMBATTISTA VALLI COUTURE, DISCOVER THE COLLECTION