Oliver Tree, among the six casualties in a helicopter crash on Sunday, June 14th
Alina Pawl-Castanon – Oliver Tree by Keenan Hairston for Lollapalooza 2021
Sitting on the step to Union Station, I had set my bags down, gearing for my week-long stay in Michigan, and was preparing to spark the last cigarette for the next 5 hours. With 45 minutes ahead of me, I opened my phone to the headline that pulls me back a thousand miles away: Back to 2018, an awkward character’s harsh bowl cut and the experience of Alien Boy.
Oliver Tree, Pop Icon and Comedian, has passed away after a midair collision involving two helicopters over Rio De Janeiro Sunday Morning of June 14th. According to AP news and CNN Brazil, the crash was centered in the city’s Western zone, killing all 6 on board. He had been seen the day prior on social media playing soccer in Brazil. He was 32 years old.
At the time of publication, authorities are still working on identifying victims involved. Oliver Tree had performed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on June 4th, promoting his self-produced studio album Love You Madly Hate You Badly. After a reported split from Atlantic Records, detailing the events on his Instagram over the last few months, Tree released his album under his own Record Label “Alien Boy” on April 24th.
His transparency and take-me-as-I-am attitude was one that has always been such a captivating element of his overall stage and social presence, dating back to 2013 in San Francisco during Tree’s heavy dubstep days with R&B Records.
His 2018 hit song duo music video titled “All that x Alien Boy,” however, is what sent Tree soaring within the online and electro-pop world. With 80’s bright neon colors, an impressively sharp, contrasting bowl cut, and a voice that transcended across the bright electric beat, His Music video reached millions of streams.
The character he created within a visual and audible landscape was one that was bright, expressive, and unapologetic in form; from bowl cut to long luscious mullet, Tree on and off stage was someone that wasn’t afraid to be authentic and wonderfully bizarre within his truth.
Featured on his 2020 album Ugly is Beautiful, the song starts with Tree’s voice hauntingly floating within an eerie ambient sound. The music video starts with an accident; a razor scooter thrown, blood smeared, and sunglasses disheveled. As we slowly pull into Tree’s face, the scene changes into a more intense and intimate visual shot, capturing a chaotic feel within movement surrounded in a desert landscape. That is, until we switch once again to Tree hauling down a paved road on a child-sized motorized scooter, a bright smile on his face.
Tree was headed to Portugal to continue his tour with a July 1st show in Lisbon before making his way across Europe and into the States. He was due to perform at Salt Shed in Chicago on August 11th.
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Oliver Tree Links:
Official: https://www.olivertreemusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/olivertree/
