Have you ever met somebody who feels so real but actually doesn’t exist in this living, breathing world? I know this sounds totally bonkers but just hear me out. In the era of technology, YouTube and instagram serve the purpose of connecting billions of people on a single platform and letting them interact and get a peek of each others’ lifestyle. It is a place to brag and create hashtag regarding goals and also spread awareness about a certain issue, when needed. In a virtual world so wide, it is difficult to know the real people and recognize them in real life. Poppy is a sensational social figure who lured people to her YouTube channel with contextless videos. And this ultimately led to one unanswered question, “Is Poppy a real person?”

Who is Poppy? Is she a bubblegum pop-star? Half human, half robot? Or an internet phantom? The truth is, no one knows. She doesn’t share her last name, age and any of her personal details. The person Poppy didn’t exist in any records before 2014. Mysteriously, a YouTube channel popped up under the name Poppy and starting sharing weird videos. All her videos are about 30 seconds to a minute and all her videos had the same humdrum dialogue, “I am Poppy”. This sentence weirded out people not because it was repetitive but due to her emotionless, puppet-like behaviour. In hundreds of her freakish videos, the one which attracted a lot of attention was the one titled, “I am Poppy” where Poppy repeats those two words monotonously for about 10 minutes. She talks to a mannequin named, “Charlotte” and a plant.

Her channel is a journey down the rabbit hole where you have no idea what the whole thing is about but you still are curious to find out more about it. With her platinum blonde hair and big doe eyes, she looks like a doll, talks like a dolly so why not actually a doll. Curious people all around the world did their research on Poppy and tried to frame their own theories. Some believe she is a cyborg or an AI and some relate her to the Illuminati or a demonic cult and some even say she is a brainwashed money making machine, a product of the controversial MK Ultra and is sent out into the world especially to lure young adults and earn money.

Cult of Poppy

Her abnormal behaviour, monotonous speech and creepy videos lead up to one big question mark, “Is Poppy from a cult?" And if she really is from a cult and recruiting members, she has done an impressive job in bewitching her viewers and kept them hooked. Her first music was titled, “Low Life”. Surprisingly, her song was catchy and vanilla and left viewers asking for more. All her videos have the same pastel aesthetics, just like her clothes and her hair. Her first music video featured the devil with pointy tail, the Illuminati symbols at various parts and also she posed as the Ram aka once again the devil. Not just her debut, but the popularised triangle and eye also appeared in many of videos. Her ability to stay freakishly calm sends chills down the spine. She even makes her fan pray and repeat after her. Her fans call themselves Poppy seeds and live to either love her or expose her. Poppy is God to those who worship her. They buy her merch, spend money joining the membership in her online cult (not kidding) and basically make her rich. So who do you think Poppy is? Is she an artist trying to sell her act, to spread the pastel pop-culture or really a brainwashed individual whose mind and soul are trapped behind the scenes?

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