Lil Peep toxic fanbase

I wanna address something I've noticed in the Lil Peep fanbase that nobody talks about.

People need to stop acting like Lil Peep is niche. He is NOT niche. In a certain way, I can understand why people think he is, though.

Every time I meet a Lil Peep fan, they have to prove that they're actual, real fans. That's an extremely common thing in the community (I'm talking especially about TikTok), and I think people do this because there are a lot of posers. I don't think I have to explain why everyone hates posers, but yeah. And because I think Peep fans have a very parasocial connection with him (including me), since he's saved a lot of lives through his music.

But the issue isn't him blowing up or posers. The problem is that Peep fans wanna act like he's soooo niche and underground, like they know everything about him and they're totally not posers.

I don't care if you only know Lil Peep's more famous songs. I really don't give a shit as long as you enjoy his music, but STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE SOME UNDERGROUND NICHE SHIT.

They'll literally be calling "Kiss" underground and niche??? I think every Peep fan knows "Kiss," omfg. And that's not the only example. On TikTok I've seen a lot of videos like, "Only real Lil Peep fans know this song," or "They're expecting me to play 'Star Shopping' or 'Nuts,' but I play this instead," and then they use another mainstream (or at least well-known) Peep song as the audio.

Like... I don't wanna call them fake fans because obviously you can be a Peep fan without knowing all of his more underground songs and still genuinely enjoy his music. I have absolutely no problem with that. But stop trying to act like you're a bigger fan or more niche when you still only know his popular songs.

It's a big problem I've noticed in the community. Why can't we just enjoy his music and the vibe? Why are we always competing with each other to be the biggest fan?

Another thing I wanna mention about Lil Peep fans is that it feels like he's become popular because of his aesthetic and the whole "emo, depressed" image (I don't really know how to word it properly). Personally, I've noticed a lot of teens listening to him just to prove they're "depressed," and they kind of use him as a tool for their aesthetic.

I know what I'm gonna say is a little toxic and immature, but it annoys me so much when popular girls listen to him because these are the same people who, if they met him in real life, would definitely make fun of him. They're the people Peep is talking about when he sings about being judged and not accepted. If they saw a drug addict on the street or someone covered in tattoos, they'd judge them. But here they are listening to his music—a singer they would've 100% hated if he wasn't popular—and trying to act like they're the weird kid, depressed, or whatever.

It's really sad because Peep made such good music. He was so relatable and sang about real problems: drug use, depression, anxiety, etc. And yet half of his fanbase is made up of posers, self-proclaimed "not posers," and people constantly trying to prove they're the biggest fan.

Like I said earlier, you can enjoy his music. You don't have to know every song or everything about him. You can just be a casual listener. I. Don't. Care.

But he's been reduced to his persona and aesthetic and used as a tool to seem niche because, for some reason, we're living through what I like to call a "niche epidemic"—where everyone wants to seem more underground just so they can feel more special.

Thank you for reading my rant