Remember Toby Sheldon, the 33-year-old man who spent $100,000 on plastic surgeries to make himself look like Justin Bieber but doesn’t actually look like Justin Bieber? How about Kitty Jay, the woman who spent $25,000 on plastic surgeries to look like Jennifer Lawrence but doesn’t actually look like Jennifer Lawrence?
In retrospect, it seems inevitable that the pair would link up with Madonna-impersonating drag queen Venus D’Lite, start a band called The Plastics, and release an autotune-laden club anthem about plastic surgery. Hey, write what you know!
The video is a marvel, with shots of Botox injections and the group sharing a single microphone like a dead-inside million-dollar quartet. Lyrically, it’s an origin story of sorts, with each member describing their transition from garbage ordinary human to beautiful, perfect celebrity. As a rich pad of synthesizers introduces the track, the trio lays out a bone-chilling manifesto: “Are you one of the boring people who don’t want to be beautiful? Because everyone can be beautiful when you’re made of plastic!”
With their sterile facsimile of top-40 production, candidness about self-improvement through silicone, and gloating, emotionless vocal performances, The Plastics remind me of experimental musicians like James Ferraro and Jam City, who co-opt the glossy aesthetics of corporate culture for their own subversive musical ends. It’s hard to pick a favorite part, but I’m especially partial to D’Lite’s verse: “I got my butt done, each cheek/It was painful/But it was worth it/All this beauty, hey, isn’t shameful!”
