{{Short description|Internet subculture}} {{Distinguish|Surf punk (music genre)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox music genre | name = Seapunk | image = Seapunk is Alive!.png | caption = Example of seapunk aesthetic. | stylistic_origins = {{flatlist| *90s R&B *90s pop *90s house *Southern hip hop *chiptune *new-age *drum and bass *chopped and screwed *witch house }} | cultural_origins = 2011, Tumblr cyberculture | subgenres = {{flatlist| *Icepunk }} | local_scenes = Chicago, Illinois | other_topics = {{flatlist| * Vaporwave * biopunk * slimepunk }} }} '''Seapunk''' is a subculture and internet aesthetic that originated on Tumblr in 2011. It is associated with an aquatic-themed style of fashion, 3D net art, iconography, and allusions to popular culture of the 1990s. The advent of seapunk also spawned its own electronic music microgenre, featuring elements of Southern hip hop and pop music and R&B music of the 1990s. Seapunk gained limited popularity as it spread through the Internet, although it was said to have developed a Chicago club scene.<ref name="ChicagoReader">{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/seapunk-twitter-tumblr-ultrademon-zombelle-molly-soda/Content?oid=5389539|title=The Week Seapunk Broke|last=Raymer|first=Miles|date=January 12, 2016|work=Chicago Reader|publisher=Sun-Times Media, LLC|access-date=August 16, 2016|archive-date=September 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913043629/http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/seapunk-twitter-tumblr-ultrademon-zombelle-molly-soda/Content?oid=5389539|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==History==
=== Forerunners === Precursors to the seapunk aesthetic are evident in the post-apocalyptic Kevin Costner film ''Waterworld'', the background graphics in the Sega Genesis game ''Ecco the Dolphin'', the 2007 video game ''Aquaria'', the surfer gangs in ''Point Break'' with their shell jewelry, and the iridescent green and blue dresses worn by the mute mermaid Marina in ''Stingray''.<ref>[http://www.thisisjanewayne.com/news/2012/11/16/trend-vom-underground-zum-mainstream-sea-punk-die-subkultur-der-digital-natives/ Jane Wayne]</ref><ref>[http://www.standardsandmore.fr/actuel/65-les-gens/436-seapunk-life-is-a-beach-and-then-you-dive French seapunk]</ref>
=== Origins === Originally, seapunk started as a trend and an Internet meme on Tumblr in 2011.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}} The term "seapunk" was coined by DJ Lil Internet in 2011, in a humorous tweet: "Seapunk leather jacket with barnacles where the studs used to be."<ref name="NYTimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/fashion/Seapunk-a-Web-Joke-With-Music-Has-Its-Moment.html|title=Little Mermaid Goes Punk: Seapunk, a Web Joke With Music, Has Its Moment|last=Detrick|first=Ben|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307133039/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/fashion/Seapunk-a-Web-Joke-With-Music-Has-Its-Moment.html|archive-date=7 March 2012|date=March 2, 2012|work=The New York Times|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> In December 2011, ''Cluster Mag'' reported on the emergence of seapunk in electronic media and quoted Pictureplane, who described seapunk as "a mostly Internet-based phenomenon birthed out of the Tumblr and Twitter universes as a means to describe a lifestyle aesthetic that is all things oceanic and of the sea."<ref name="Cluster Mag">{{cite news | url=http://theclustermag.com/2011/12/the-abyss-seapunk-splishsplash-oceangang/ | title=The Abyss: #seapunk #splishsplash #oceangang | last=Stephens | first=Alexis | date=December 5, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909201415/http://theclustermag.com/2011/12/the-abyss-seapunk-splishsplash-oceangang/ | archive-date=September 9, 2015 | access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> Musician Ultrademon is also credited with originating the short-lived movement. She released an album titled ''Seapunk'' in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Seapunk No More: The Strange, Supernatural World of Ultrademon|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/seapunk-no-more-the-strange-supernatural-world-of-ultrademon/|access-date=2021-01-24|website=Vice.com|date=18 July 2014 |language=en}}</ref>
Images featuring neon flashing colors and rotating geometric shapes floating above oceans of brilliant blue or green water are found on the pages tagged with a #Seapunk hashtag on Tumblr. Seapunk digital imagery draws largely from 1990s 3D net art. The aforementioned imagery has given rise to other internet-based subgenres consisting of similar themes, such as slimepunk and icepunk.<ref name="NYTimes" />
Rapper Azealia Banks used seapunk imagery in her "Atlantis" music video in 2012.<ref name=":0" /> Singer Rihanna was influenced by and referenced seapunk in her "Diamonds" performance on ''Saturday Night Live'' in 2012.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Respect">{{cite news |last=Harwood |first=Nick |date=November 30, 2012 |title=You Never Thought Seapunk Would Take It This Far |url=http://respect-mag.com/you-never-thought-seapunk-would-take-it-this-far-zombelle-talks-azealia-banks-rihanna-the-week-the-second-internet-exploded |access-date=February 12, 2014 |publisher=Respect}}</ref>
Elements of seapunk imagery were claimed to have influenced designers such as Versace and Givenchy.<ref name="DailyBeast">{{cite web |last=Sidell |first=Misty White |date=December 10, 2012 |title=Seapunks Internet Trend Takes High Fashion, from Proenza Schouler to Versace |url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/10/seapunks-internet-trend-takes-high-fashion-from-proenza-schouler-to-versace-photos.html |access-date=February 12, 2014 |website=The Daily Beast}}</ref>
==Musical style== Miles Raymer of the ''Chicago Reader'' described seapunk music as "a style of music that incorporates bits of ‘90s house, the past 15 years or so of pop and R&B and the latest in southern trap rap—all overlaid with a twinkly, narcotic energy that recalls new-age music and chopped and screwed hip hop mix tapes in roughly equal measure."<ref name="ChicagoReader" /> According to ''The New York Times'', seapunk music "constitutes a tiny music subgenre" that contains elements of witch house, chiptune, drum and bass, jungle music, 90s rave music and Southern rap. ''The New York Times'' also noted that some seapunk tracks remix songs from R&B acts such as Beyoncé and Aaliyah.<ref name="NYTimes" /> In January 2012, an article about seapunk music was featured in the ''Dazed & Confused'' magazine. Katia Ganfield interviewed Lilium Kobayashi (a.k.a. Ultrademon) in the article, titled "Seapunk: A new club scene intent on riding sub-bass sound waves into the future".<ref name="Dazed & Confused Seapunk Article">{{cite web|url=http://katiaganfield.tumblr.com/post/15519605971/my-article-in-most-recent-dazed-and-confused-about|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306033339/http://oi44.tinypic.com/otjf4o.jpg|archive-date=6 March 2014|title=Seapunk: A new club scene intent on riding sub-bass sound waves into the future|last=Ganfield|first=Katia|date=January 2012|publisher=Waddell Limited|pages=26–270|access-date=August 16, 2016|work=Dazed & Confused|issue=190}}</ref>
Seapunk was said to have developed a Chicago club scene.<ref name="ChicagoReader" />
Notable seapunk artists include Azealia Banks, Blank Banshee, Grimes, Isaiah Toothtaker, Slava, and Unicorn Kid.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timeout.com/chicago/music/lana-del-rey-grimes|title=Lana Del Rey + Grimes|website=Time Out|publisher=Time Out Digital Ltd.|access-date=July 15, 2016}}</ref><ref name="TheGuardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/14/seapunk-has-now-gone-pop|title=Seapunk: Scenester in-joke or underground art movement?|last=Stehlik|first=Lucy|date=December 14, 2012|work=The Guardian|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>
==Fashion == thumb|American women with rainbow hair and seapunk-inspired outfits, 2013|220x220pxSeapunks often wear bright green, blue, turquoise, cyan, or aquamarine clothing;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/mar/20/youth-subcultures-where-have-they-gone|title=Youth subcultures: what are they now?|last=Petridis|first=Alexis|date=March 20, 2014|website=The Guardian|publisher=Guardian News and Media|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> featuring nautical themes such as mermaids or dolphins, plastic Ray Ban wayfarers, shell jewelry, feathers, tartan overshirts associated with the surfer subculture, baseball caps, tie dye, transparent-plastic jackets, and skipper caps. Symbols such as yin-yangs, smiley faces, and references to the 1990s are also part of the style.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.spin.com/2012/11/azealia-banks-rihanna-seapunk-beef-saturday-night-live-video/|title=Seapunks Salty Over Rihanna and Azealia Banks' 'Net Aesthetics|last=Martins|first=Chris|date=November 14, 2012|website=Spin|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref>
===Hair and makeup=== Seapunks often dye their hair, and sometimes facial hair, with varying shades of turquoise, lilac, and sea blue.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/06/27/merman-colour-is-the-next-big-thing-in-mens-hair-5268577/|title=Merman colour is the next big thing in men's hair|last=Scott|first=Ellen|date=June 27, 2015|website=Metro|access-date=August 16, 2016}}</ref> The seapunk styling was appropriated by several mainstream popular music and hip hop artists during the 2010s, most notably Kreayshawn, Nicki Minaj, Soulja Boy, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Azealia Banks, Rihanna, and Frank Ocean.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1891900/frank-ocean-blue-hair/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812110358/http://www.mtv.com/news/1891900/frank-ocean-blue-hair/|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 12, 2014|title=Frank Ocean Is Basically A Merman|last=Muller|first=Marissa G.|date=August 7, 2014|website=MTV|access-date=July 14, 2016}}</ref>
== Related genres ==
=== Slimepunk === '''Slimepunk''' is a music genre and Internet aesthetic described as "oozy, dystopian synth hip hop".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Essay: Whatever happened to genre? |url=https://dmy.co/news/adam-harper-whatever-happened-to-genre |access-date=2026-02-06 |website=dmy.co |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Detrick |first=Ben |date=2012-03-02 |title=Little Mermaid Goes Punk |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/04/fashion/Seapunk-a-Web-Joke-With-Music-Has-Its-Moment.html |access-date=2026-02-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Music}} {{columns-list| * 2010s in fashion * Biopunk * Cyberpunk * Cyberpunk derivatives * Electronic dance music * Trendies * Vaporwave * Utopian and dystopian fiction * 1990s in music * Post-Internet }}
==References== {{reflist}}
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