'Please Don't Listen to My Music,' Artists Tell Pewdiepie

Pewdiepie's Spotify has been discovered by fans, who are happy to learn he's got some pretty good taste in music. But not all the musicians Pewdiepie likes are fans of Pewdiepie.

All this time, Pewdiepie, Felix Kjellberg, the world's most famous YouTuber who spent the past few years apologizing for scandal after scandal, had a verified Spotify page. Who knew? Certainly not his fandom on Twitter, who were surprised by the names on his most listened to page. Artists include Bugsnax jingle writers Kero Kero Bonito, Rina Sawayama, 100gecs, and SOPHIE. These are all bands loosely affiliated with Hyperpop and PC Music, two music genres and scenes that have very LGBTQ-friendly fanbases. Some people were very surprised to see what he listened to, making good natured jokes about it.

But one of the artists that Pewdiepie apparently listens to the most were not happy with their inclusion.

"Just woke up, found out Pewdiepie listens to me and others, Pewdiepie please don’t listen to my music. Okay, back to bed," Gupi tweeted. Gupi is the stage name of Spencer Hawk, Tony Hawk's son who is pursuing an electronic music degree at Berklee.

Hawk did not go back to bed, and was instead beset by Pewdiepie fans who couldn't understand why Hawk wouldn't be flattered.

"Bruh he’s the #1 YouTuber in the world be quiet and accept the clout," one fan wrote. Hawk went so far as to tell other Pewdiepie fans that were tweeting at him to stop listening to his music as well.

Fraxiom, a musician who has collaborated with Gupi, also expressed their unhappiness, saying that they can't believe that Pewdiepie listens to their music, not realizing it is actually critical of him.

"How can Pewdiepie listen to 'thos moser' and hear 'fuck notch fuck elon musk' and be like “haha epic song! this is not also about me! I bet they would like me!'" they wrote. (Notch, the creator of Minecraft,  has been scrubbed from the game's loading screen and excluded from its 10-year anniversary after years of tweeting about things like “heterosexual pride day,” and that “it’s ok to be white.”

Another artist that Pewdiepie listens to, Umru, also said that they would like him to stop listening to their music.

What has been confusing to Pewdiepie fans is that Gupi has now repeatedly expressed that they don't want Pewdiepie's fandom, and that his music is expressly not for everyone.  Pewdiepie fans can't really imagine a world where a person who makes art does not want that art to be seen by the largest audience possible. These fans have repeatedly mentioned Pewdiepie's recent donations to charity, including a charity livestream that raised over $106 thousand dollars for The Sentencing Project after George Floyd's murder.

For a lot of people, good deeds like these have made up for Pewdiepie's previous scandals, like saying the n-word on a livestream or paying people to hold signs that said "Death to all Jews" over the service Fiverr. For some, it's still nowhere near enough, especially for fans of Hyperpop and PC Music that enjoy that their fanbases are so queer friendly. Those fans fear losing a space where they can feel comfortable to Pewdiepie's much larger and more vocal fanbase. It would appear that Gupi and Umru agree with those fans.