Poppy Season
Finally, I’m on board with a bizarre YouTuber
Are you familiar with YouTube performance artist Poppy? Her channel has been around since 2014, and if I had to describe it in one sentence I’d say she makes videos of herself against a plain background. That seems fair. A lot of the time she’ll be repeating the same phrase, or repeating a motion (like raising and lowering her arms). Recently she laid on a floor and asked commenters to weigh in on whether she should stand up or keep laying there.
I’ve had more than one friend whose taste I admire say, “Hey, I bet you’d like Poppy,” to me over the years and be wrong. But lately, I’ve been coming around.
It’s because—and this might just be me projecting, but—Poppy has seemed heated lately. Miffed. Or at least more sarcastic than usual. And unlike people in my other feeds (who were already kind of cynical to begin with) Poppy’s take on despair is still hyper-regulated. She’s pissed, but she’s in character. The result is this dissociative, even-toned bitterness that hits the spot for some reason I can’t begin to think of even a little bit.
Here are some of her recent works, in the hopes that they provide you with the same sense of relief.