It’s a weird time to be a pop star right now – you can’t tour or go out on the road to do the normal promotional stuff, so you have to find innovative solutions. This may be why Ava Max ended up launching her new album Heaven & Hell inside the kids’ game Roblox, in one of the most surreal events I’ve ever witnessed.
The fever dream of launch party featured Ava on a massive in-game screen, where she answered a series of questions from fans, performed some of her songs, and mingled with the crowd of janky-looking avatars in virtual form. At least, that was the idea, as the event unfolded with several apparent technical hiccups.
The whole thing kicked off with the Q&A session, but whatever intern was in charge of making it seem like Ava Max was actually there and responding to questions live clearly fell asleep on the job. It played out as a series of pre-recorded responses, cut together in a big block with no breaks in-between. At one point, Ava gamely pretended to know what Roblox is (I still don’t FWIW):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MBu1QU_VaI
Ava later played some songs while mingling with the crowd, with her in-game avatar appearing several times the size of all those around her, looming over them like some sort of enormous pop girl yeti:
https://twitter.com/popcravemusic/status/1309652989452447744
A series of spontaneous ‘reactions’ that were clearly meant to be spaced out during the interactive portion ended up being played all at once, resulting in Ava delivering a bizarre stream-of-consciousness monologue that went:
“It looks really fun down there, do you mind if I come dance with you? This dancefloor is amazing! I love this song! It’s nice to meet you! Let’s see you do … this move! I hope you’re dancing at home too! Devil? Angel? It doesnt matter on this dance floor! Whoah, this has been so fun, I’m actually exhausted from partying with you all!”
To top it all off, things ended with Ava being cast into some kind of fiery pit. According to PopJustice user Butterfly, who stuck it out all the way:
“Apparently her character was supposed to float off on a cloud, but in many servers (mine included) she was pushed into the lava pit below.”
One thing’s for sure, I will be thinking about this event until the day I die.
Ava Max Roblox Event!! @Roblox @AvaMax @Roblox_RTC pic.twitter.com/Z67pJ8zlKR
— Krimux (@Krimux_) September 25, 2020
Ava Max’s Heaven & Hell is out now, and PSA, it actually kind of slaps. I’ve been listening to nothing but it and Sufjan‘s new album these past few days so maybe I’m having some kind of gay nervous breakdown, but anyway, enjoy:
