Matty Healy and Dax Flame Enter the ​Era of Post-Irony

For Dax Flame, this is business as usual. He is a longtime internet figure whose longevity has spanned many years and many platforms, like YouTube, Instagram, and most recently TikTok. Easy work for a man whose je ne sais quoi is only matched by the likes of Nathan Fielder. But Flame wasn’t in any of these videos; instead, we had Matty Healy. I, like many others, was thoroughly confused, waiting for Healy to spit out a tour date or some sort of album promotion. Nope. He’s just there to perpetuate the awkward aura found only in most Dax Flame videos.

It’s not like it’s a rarity to see Matty Healy do an interview or post online. The same goes for Dax Flame, who appears on things like Subway Takes and often collaborates with guests, including other musicians like the J-pop group f5ve. They're both public figures in their own right, despite being in different spheres. What is weird is that there’s no tag or acknowledgment, and there’s nothing to promote right now. Just Matty Healy, taking over for Dax Flame

It’s a bit that goes on a little too long, or the feeling one has watching someone else repeat a joke ‘cause no one heard it the first time. The videos give off a sense of unease, but I can’t look away. Classic Dax Flame, really. He and Healy are similar, in that one can never tell if they are playing a character or not. Healy seems to show his real self more often, mostly in his music, but Flame could truly just be like that. True to this, not new to this.

What made this particular set of videos stick out? They are, in a way, still promotion, just not in the traditional sense.

In an internet landscape where the mere idea of promoting something is seen as a turnoff and throwing in the towel of relatability, what are celebrities to do when #ad isn’t cutting it anymore? There’s a desperate need for people to engage with whatever it is they’re selling, without, well, looking like a sellout. This is an impossible line for even the most commercialized star to not cross, especially those who brand themselves as cool, niche, even pretentious (but in the way one would want to be perceived as pretentious.)

So, how are they supposed to do a branded post without blemishing their perfectly and meticulously crafted public image? Imagine if Cameron Winter hopped on Instagram and did a PRIME ad? I hope I never live to see the day. Enter post-ironic, barely there TikTok collaborations. They’re amped up version of the feeling one gets when they notice that a celebrity follows the same meme page, or stumble upon an actor's Letterboxd.

These collaborations on TikTok look far different from the “#COLLAB” era of the past. Instead of two favorite YouTubers filming a Q&A with a description stuffed to the brim with hashtags and links back to each other's channels, fans get a 10-15 second video of their fav creators filming content as usual, with a random appearance by a celebrity who oftentimes isn’t even tagged.

Being unbranded and unsuspecting is part of the appeal. When I see my favorite singer appear on my favorite comedian's page, I freak out, not because of what they're saying or even doing, but because two things I like are intersecting in ways I wouldn't expect. From the post-ironic comedian to the world famous rock star, I thought our worlds were unreachable from another.

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