“I’ve been learning sh*t from the aliens/ Like how we’re all connected to the pyramids.” If these words mean anything to you, it’s probably time to log off and touch grass. Sung to the sort of neo-soul cadence reminiscent of artists like Erykah Badu and Noname, the words come by way of viral singer-influencer Shanin Blake. With over a million followers, the white-dreaded artist – also referred to as ‘Hippy Barbie’ within certain online circles – is refracting across TikTok feeds with cooked clips preaching high vibrations to her “little shroomies” (the name she gives to her fanbase) through cringeworthy soundbites like, “When life throws you lemons make mushroom tea”, which she films inside a caravan lined with dreamcatchers and moss. In one popular video, Blake claims to have cured a kidney infection with “good vibes”, while tracks like “Energy Vampires” and “5G” sound like an AI chatbot if its dataset was plugged with Amethyst clusters and conspiracy theories. “I just know her parents work for Lockheed Martin,” says one commenter. Or as another simply puts, “brain rot”.
Blake’s viral presence comes when it appears that the culture wars has chosen its champions. With tradwives upholding conservative values on one hand, the liberals (not to be confused with the left) are in desperate need of a cultural figurehead. From the invisible hand of the algorithm, her ascent to the top of our feeds was perhaps inevitable (if not her, then someone else), or at least a sign from the universe, the perfect herbal blend of crystals, conspiracies and capitalism. While some might put this down to manifestation, Blake’s E-girl economics suggests more than meets the third eye, the most obvious being that western wellness woo and misinformation sells – “I’ve been stacking millions feeding my whole family,” she sings on track “Peru”.
What E-girl rises to the top of our feeds reveals a lot about the society we live in. So, while this wouldn’t be the first time a white and (presumably) middle-class girl has made attempts to ascend her roots with hippy aesthetics and alt-spirituality, hence terms like ‘trustafarian’, Blake’s generative affirmations (“self-love is the best medicine”) and entry-level conspiracy bait is peak algorithm. She appeals to both the lowest common denominator Coachella girlie who wants to do the inner work practising daily affirmations on Spotify and the haters who gawk at her larger-than-life aesthetic and turn it into memes. As one post puts it, “I bet you if you buried her in the ground something would grow.”
On the surface, Blake’s social media presence feels like the final boss in a decades-old saga between western spirituality and capitalism. The same commune hippies who built the first computers are now the tech bros making billions off your data and vaping DMT at Burning Man. Coming up at a time when conspiracies are at an all-time high – with most people getting their news off unofficial channels like TikTok and Instagram – Blake’s popularity can’t help but feel like the woke liberal agenda crystalised into the body of a pot-smoking E-girl.
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Society’s attempts to sell us back an individualistic, commodified ‘cure’ under the guise of wellness isn’t anything particularly new, neither is using conspiracies to sell us sh*t – think the fitness influencers spouting New Age theories about 5G hooked to a five-step health plan. Coined in 2011, the term ‘conspirituality’ refers to this very phenomenon, describing the convergence of New Age spirituality and online conspiracy theories. Yet take away the mirage of aliens, dreads and the Lemuria-speak, and Blake’s marketing tactics are suspiciously status quo, not much different from Bella Delphine selling her bath water or Nara Smith, the Mormon trad wife, capitalising on her lifestyle via floral tea dresses and sourdough starters. Her TikTok account directs users to her OnlyFans, which makes you question how much of this is really about spiritual awakening or simply cold hard cash. One meme even compares Blake to E-girl army commando Haylujan, who used her virality to launch a successful merch line, with the caption, “I love psyops”. That is to say, same sh*t, different point on the Political Compass.
But this is where things become even stranger. The thing about conspirituality is that however much its followers think that everything is connected, the ascendant energy is one of fierce individualism, which makes it the perfect vessel for neoliberal ideologies to masquerade as fake progressive beliefs – something we’re already seeing weaponised by E-girl soldiers in the IDF. While Blake’s social media presence is mostly apolitical, her existence on our feeds bizarrely coincides with what some people are referring to as the return of 1968. Most of the discourse centres on the parallels between the state-sanctioned violence taking place across student campuses against pro-Palestine protestors and the historical anti-Vietnam war demonstrations that took place exactly 56 years before – the same events that ignited the original hippy movement.
Hippy aesthetics have long been in the consumer cycle in the forms of tie-dye and boho chic, but there’s something about this moment that feels particularly disorientating. It seems the actual hippies – those countercultural individuals rebelling against mainstream narratives and rejecting conventional reality – are out there on the streets protesting genocide and fascism, while those profiting off the hippy aesthetic are upholding the status quo, gazing brainlessly at us with a fluoride stare.
