Stauber has released the albums Finite Form (2013), Viator (2015), Pop Food (2017), and HiLo (2018). The first two tracks of Pop Food, "Buttercup" & "Oh Klahoma," went viral on TikTok. In 2020, he won the Shorty Award for Best in Weird.
Career
Stauber majored in marketing and minored in studio arts[4] at the University of Pittsburgh.[5] Stauber fronted the band Joose.[3][6] While he was a college senior, he joined the band Zaki as its lead singer; the band released a self-titled album in 2018.[7]
Stauber's song, "Buttercup", is the opening song released on his 2017 album Pop Food. The song, along with remixes and covers of it, became a popular internet meme, especially on TikTok,[8] which contributed substantially to its success. The song had 383 million Spotify streams as of April 2023. The song has been described as "bubbly, dramatic pop with Panda Bear-esque vocals."[9]. "Oh Klahoma", the second track from Pop Food, also became popular. The song is used as background music in a TikTok trend called #ghostphotoshoot, where creators dress up as ghosts and take photos of themselves, sometimes wearing sunglasses and other fashion accessories.[10][8]
Stauber also publishes under the name "Jack Stauber's Micropop", releasing extended versions of short songs found on his YouTube channel.[11] Under the Micropop name, Stauber has released six EPs and one compilation album, along with two soundtracks for his works with Adult Swim.[12]
Adult Swim
The first short Stauber created for Adult Swim was called "Wishing Apple," a short released on July 3, 2018 on the Adult Swim YouTube channel.[12][13]
The next was "Valentine's Day is Not for the Lonely," which premiered on Off The Air's season eight episode "Love" on August 28, 2018.[12] The short was released earlier, on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2018.[14]
The surrealist musical comedy "SHOP: A Pop Opera" premiered on Adult Swim in March 2019. The series utilizes mixed media, incorporated clay animation, music, and VHS-like filters.[15] The six-part series aired each episode at midnight from March 4 to March 9.
A short surrealist musical psychological horror film, entitled "Jack Stauber's OPAL", premiered on October 30, 2020.[15][12] The same day, OPAL was also released on the Adult Swim YouTube channel.[16] Stauber also received help from the producers at Williams Street for the creation of OPAL. The film utilizes stop-motion, 3D-animated, and live action segments.[17][18]
Stauber's song "Buttercup", from his 2017 album Pop Food is a mix of pop and lo-fi, with an 80s and 90s aesthetic. The song is popular on the social media platform TikTok.
Meg Fair of Pittsburgh City Paper highlighted Stauber's knack of "pulling unrelated sounds and influences into [his] music, throwing them into a bowl and tossing them into a strange salad that challenges your musical taste buds."[19] Jenna Minnig of PennState CommMedia compared Stauber's voice and hypnagogic pop style to Ariel Pink's, but said it was reductionary to compare the two.[5]Knoxville News Sentinel's Chuck Campbell described Stauber's music videos as "nostalgic and childlike, but there’s also something disturbingly adult about them, the kind of thing that might have surfaced on Pee-wee's Playhouse back in the day."[11]
Music
Stauber is well known for his hypnagogic pop,[5]avant-pop,[20][2] and synth-pop[21] music. Stauber's unique vocal effects are developed in the shower, and are inspired by Donovan's song "Hurdy Gurdy Man".[2] Stauber collects objects to create sounds to use in songs, and has a drawer filled with "various noise-makers" he has collected.[2]
Stauber's videos utilize a mixture of different types of media, such as traditional animation, 3D computer animation, claymation,[11] and live action. Almost all voices in these videos are done by Stauber himself.[2] His videos are usually separated into three styles: "surreal", characters with odd and striking facial expressions and frequently part of his claymations, "colorful", which are usually featured in his VHS animations and music videos, and "Stauber faces", light-skinned characters with cartoon noses.[12]
To create his animations, Stauber uses Microsoft Paint for the drawings. He then sequences the frames in Adobe Premiere Pro, and then runs the finished video through a VHS tape.[2]
Teeth are often referenced in Stauber's music and videos. Teeth featured in Stauber's videos are most often fake, these false teeth being created using resin, though he has also sometimes used actual teeth in his work.[12]
