To celebrate the release of his new album SMILE 😀 – specifically “Kitsune Maison Freestyle,” the project’s final single – Porter Robinson gave away 200 items of designer clothing to fans. The parameters were simple: show up at the address posted just hours prior by Robinson, get in line and, once in the room with Robinson, stay completely silent.
I’ll assess your vibe, no words will be exchanged (or you’ll immediately be kicked out) and I’ll give you something from my closet for free based on that, he wrote in the Instagram caption announcing the event.
“I wanted it to be a Sorting Hat type of experience,” Robinson explained, recalling sifting through his closet, pulling aside everything he would’ve otherwise just dropped off at a local Goodwill. “I also wanted to feel something,” he laughed, pointing to another thrifting anecdote in which he pulled up with a full bag of designer clothes and just gave it to the first “fully Hypebeast-coded kid” he saw (who then mistook him for Mr. Beast, though that’s beside the point.)
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Courtesy Of The Artist
But on a more meta level, the North Carolina native wanted to bring the rollout for SMILE 😀 to life (real life, that is) and create something that existed beyond the boundaries of the online world. And bringing bins of preloved apparel – including lots of UNDERCOVER (Robinson’s favorite brand) and his music video outfits for “Get Your Wish” and “Something Comforting” – to a condo in central LA felt like the perfect fit.
The self-proclaimed “emo anime boy,” who donned the Brain Dead x HOKA ONE ONE Hopara sneakers and an oversized Kijun hoodie during our chat, describes his style as “a little androgynous, a little cute and a little Kawaii.” Drawn heavily to Japanese street style, he also says his fashion sense remains very “music-pilled” throughout all of his different eras as he tries to authentically express his personal taste via both mediums. Maison Kitsuné’s amalgamation of the two was what initially allured Robinson, with the Japanese label’s early 2000s compilation albums – remaining in his rotation.
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Courtesy Of The Artist
The producer’s fourth studio album surfaces three years after his previous project Nurture and signals a venture into new sonic territory, though he calls every project of his “a reinvention” from the last. Robinson is the first to admit he, too, is addicted to the internet, recently getting into his meme bag on Instagram to moderate his relationships with his fans.
“Being chronically online isn’t a niche thing anymore. It’s become the dominant culture,” he explains, looking to extrapolate the “uglier parts of himself” that are fueled by the internet, digging up some of the internet’s most ancient artifacts – MySpace beats, QWERTY-keyboard emoticons, and all – to inform his most introspective album yet. With the sentiment of “the internet creeping more and more into real life” at the forefront, Robinson crafted a cohesive, colorful, and nostalgic world for SMILE 😀 to live in, in which vibe-assessing, no-words-exchanged clothing giveaways are routine, and saying things like “B*tch I’m Taylor Swift” are encouraged.
“Being chronically online isn’t a niche thing anymore. It’s the dominant culture.”
The aforementioned bar is a standout lyric from the LP’s opening cut “Knock Yourself Out XD,” on which Robinson reflects on his internet-fueled insecurities. “Wouldn’t know how to brush my teeth / Without asking my team / Don’t know my schedule on the fifth / B*tch, I’m Taylor Swift,” he asserts over building synths. “It’s so f*cking stupid but everyone laughs when they hear it. I know for sure people will scream that line at the live shows.”
Where tracks like “Knock Yourself Out XD” keep it light, those like “Russian Roulette” hit hard, hearing Robinson recall one of the lowest points of his life in lyrics like “I wanna see my mom one more time / I wanna play my songs one more time / I wanna lose my phone one more time… I want to live / I don’t want to die.”
Other songs on the sonically wide-sweeping delivery include the dreamy “Perfect Pinterest Garden,” the Lil Wayne-sampling “Year of the Cup” and the ever-so-existential “Is There Really No Happiness?” In addition to MySpace and meme-inspired beats, Robinson points to two key musical genres that heavily informed the album: classic rock and J-pop. The latter has been a recent hyper fixation for Robinson, who has found himself captivated by the weekly J-pop music charts.
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Courtesy Of The Artist
This comes as no surprise, as Robinson initially got into music by way of Japanese video game music – specifically that of Dance Dance Revolution – a passion that has just become more refined with his palette. In addition to the J-pop top hits, Robinson now finds himself drawn to artists like Yorushika, Fujii Kaze and Galileo Galilei, the latter of which he toured with earlier this year.
SMILE 😀 serves as a masterful moodboard of all of Robinson’s wide-spanning influences, but it can all be summed up in one simple “Kitsune Maison Freestyle” lyric: “Everybody’s just trying to look good / Trying not to feel bad.” Robinson makes it look a lot easier said than done.
Stream SMILE 😀 – out everywhere now.
