we owe penelope scott an apology

Penelope Scott

TikTok experienced a notable surge in new users during COVID’s peak in 2020, with users drawn to its ease of use and an algorithm that is capable of turning anyone into a micro-influencer. Emerging artists recognized this as a chance to connect with audiences they might not have been able to reach otherwise.

Enter: Penelope Scott - one of the many TikTok musicians who gained popularity during that era, especially with her song Rät. She describes the song as “a breakup letter to the tech cult that is Silicon Valley,” noting that Rät had been shortened from its original title “Elongated Muskrat.”

The song may sound familiar to you as a TikTok earworm, as it had gone viral and amassed almost 300M streams on Spotify alone. Penelope Scott was on a Genius interview, made appearances on various podcasts, and seemed poised to emerge as one of TikTok's leading new artists.

So what happened?

Amid recent events, Rät is trending yet again five years later, prompting the question: “where is she now?” After some (very brief) investigation, I found that she’s still making music, performing, and is active on various social media platforms. However, I was taken aback when I found that she had faced a significant amount of hate.

I decided to search “Penelope Scott controversy,” as one does, to see if I could find anything I must have missed. But no, there were no significant controversies to report, unless you consider her art just that.

Upon further investigation, I found that she faced rapid decline in 2021, coinciding with a shift in public opinion. One Reddit user described her as having “a chronic Twitter (RIP) user view of the world” and fans began to think that her “too obvious” political takes were “cringe.”

The general consensus across the internet is that the animosity increased when she released “Self Care,” a song mocking self-care routines rather than focusing on your mental health, with lyrics like “top ten ways to smear honey on your face.” But this was 2021, the golden age of GRWMs and skincare routines. It sounds like the song struck a nerve.

Another Reddit user explained that “her songs focus too much on built up anger and frustration. Additionally, many of her songs such as ‘American Healthcare’ discuss problems that cannot be controlled by an individual.” Which, to me, is still not an offense and definitely not one that warrants the hate sent her way.

I can’t say I’m too surprised. Trends are moving at lightning speed, and unfortunately, she was treated as just another trend to be lifted up and then torn back down again.

However, this is a pattern that women/non-binary artists know all too well (get it?)

While going on this deep-dive through subReddits and comments explaining the root cause of the hate, one user said exactly what I had suspected,

“There's a lot of fake explanations but the only real one is misogyny.”

We lift them up, celebrate their success, and propel their popularity to new heights until we decide we’re tired of them, like playing a song on repeat until it becomes unbearable. A glaring double standard persists, with Scott emerging as just another target.

Not liking an artist’s music is not a crime, however, resorting to personal attacks on their character and appearance due to these differences crosses a line. Particularly, when there are men who have committed actual atrocities and cancellable offenses who see no repercussions (are we actually still listening to Chris Brown?!)

In my opinion, I think the world simply wasn’t ready for Penelope Scott. She was ahead of her time, and in an era marked by rising anti-intellectualism, it’s possible that her use of very big words intimidated listeners.

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