VICE ARTICLE LINK: https://www.vice.com/en/article/nobody-paid-attention-to-oliver-trees-music-until-he-became-a-living-meme/
ORIGINAL ARTICLE EXCERPT:
I spent close to three evenings with Oliver, and each time I walked away confident I had figured out everything about him, only to collapse into a paranoid state of bewilderment and despair, second-guessing everything he had told me. His inner circle acts in much the same manner, and his approach appears to rub off on those close to him. Take Steve Zilberman, for instance: The 27-year-old DP who’s paid to shoot Oliver’s video content with an iPhone couldn’t help but slip further into the realm he had already fallen into—he also rocks sandals and socks; he has a large earring dangling over his face; and he’s bleach blond, with the remnants of dreadlocks near his neck. (Zilberman informed the group, with no supporting evidence, that if you get dreadlocks, and then shave your head, much of your hair will grow back as dreadlocks.)
At the very least, Oliver’s crew is a glimpse into his effect on others—but it doesn’t change the fact that he intends to obfuscate. He blurs the line between fantasy and reality, if there’s really a line any longer. Imagine him, maybe, as the bastard child of Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, the son who’s begging to be seen. Perhaps he has whiffs of Andy Warhol, being accepted into an industry he largely satirically skewers, and of Andy Kaufmann, like when he goes on the comedian Blake Webber‘s talk show and absurdly sabotages the whole thing at knife point. He has roots with Nathan Fielder, too, and Sacha Baron Cohen.
Scroll through his Instagram (at the moment, he has 323,000 followers), and you’ll come across a taste of his satire: him holding a big bag of weed next to his grandma and ripping huge bongs and whipping them at the wall, as well as an array of photoshopped pictures (flying through a ring of fire, sitting in a chair that’s far too big with a head that’s far too big, looking a bit like Voldemort after a severe car accident). Watch his very real-seeming 16-minute tour mockumentary, which includes the rapper Skizzy Mars discussing the merits of “real art” and Oliver acting like a quick-tempered sociopath, and you might get a better idea. (“Everyone’s saying how much they like the video and shit and how good his music is but I’m just sitting here confused as to whether this shit’s for real,” wrote one comment, upvoted more than 500 times. “Satire in its purest form 👏🏻,” said another, upvoted by almost 400.) Then, for fun, visit the rest of his YouTube channel, where, to his 160,000-plus subscribers, he notes that he’s a professional scooter rider. (Wikipedia does, too.) In the comment section of a recent clip, “Oliver Tree Scooter Pro,” people argue if it’s actually him performing the tricks; the video description states that it’s a man named Robby Mier. (In fairness to those who fail to notice this—”The funniest part is how you’re genuinely good at scooting”—you do have to click “show more” for the rest of the credits to be revealed.)