After Dark--Mr Kitty

Described as an 80s-influenced, pop-goth rapper that has already hit his peak, “Mr. Kitty”, Forrest Avery Carney,—-without exaggeration—has created an entire genre of music with just one song. “After Dark,” a 2015 single from the Austin-based, 30-year old singer and songwriter, has generated over 200M plays on YouTube and amassed over 441M streams on Spotify.

But most of Mr. Kitty’s success has only come as of very recent. According to Spotify’s end of the year “Wrapped” statistics, Mr. Kitty had only had 1.1M in 2020. This month, however, his monthly listener count is over 7M. So what happened?

Mr. Kitty went viral over the pandemic. A fan decided to put the song’s “self-destructive” beat over some chopped-up HD footage of the 1992 film—”Career Opportunities”. In the scene, “Pulp Fiction” actor Frank Whaley and Jennifer Connelly each dance alone in the empty aisles of an 80s-themed Target, both unaware of their shared company. Ironically, the highly-synthesized pessimistic, downtempo flow of the song perfectly aligns to the two dancing. The genre I was alluding to earlier, Night Drive Phonk, which features echoing drums and a 200+BPM rhythm, was sparked out of the virality of Mr. Kitty’s hit song.

Mr. Kitty’s music is a like an EDM mix between Prince, Lil Peep. His lyrics truly are dark, kind of depressing, and just have a hard, underground-edgy sort of feel. The grunginess makes the songs relatable, but the beats make you want to dance. Pairing the two together is not what makes Mr. Kitty’s sound strange or unique—that combo has proven successful before. But the difference is that his music is easily-recognized as something that would only be popular among Gen-Z/millennials, but it also integrates booming drums and keyboards that makes it sound like its from the 80s. That is what makes it unique and fun to listen to.

Last summer, Mr. Kitty came under the microscope after he admitted to exchanging nude photos with 15-year old Russian boy in 2019. Mr. Kitty, who was married and would have been 27 at the time, made a public apology in an Instagram post last summer, saying,

“A couple years back, I took a break from music and it’s time that I say why. Before my break, I was going through a rough time in my life and I decided to seek validation online. I chose to go through my DMs and have conversations with my fans. one person struck a nerve with me and we started talking for a couple days. I began to develop feelings for this person and the conversation turned explicit. A while after we had been talking he revealed he was a minor. I broke down. This was the lowest moment in my life…”

This is the quote that the Austin Chronicle received from that minor, in July of 2021. They were 17 years old at the time.

“This situation occurred in May of 2019. I was a big fan of his music and at a time and wanted to know him more. In the 3rd of May I texted him in dm, asking him height/weight. I was with my friends and they saw what I texted. After he responded my friends asked him with my phone about his dick as a joke. He answered me, after seeing all my profile pictures and realizing I’m a minor, with a nude pic. At first, I understand why he sent me nudes since he knew I’m a minor, I was scared af but at same time I was flattered to receive this kind of attention from a guy I liked. I told him that it’s ok and no one will know about it, then he replied “Send me yours”. Later I sent him my nudes, because I wanted to revive our relations for some time by this bad way of sharing pictures. I asked him to guess my age, he thought that I was 16, but I immediately told him that I was 15 in fact. As soon as I said, he apologised, but realising that I’m ok with this and won’t tell anyone, he continued sending pics and vids.

While chatting, I sent him a vid of a “The Sims” gameplay, where I made copies of us have sex. He said he wished to see this irl but unfortunately, we were in different cities. He called me in a video chat and wanted to see me but I was too scared to pick a call because I was shy of my English and was not ready to see my idol like this. In his apology he mentioned his depression and that he felt bad, wanted to commit a suicide but all of this is a lie. He continued to chat with me till the last moment, told me he’s my daddy and sent me sex tapes, asked “Do you like me being older than you?”. I answered his provocative messages and I was not ok, even if I didn’t fully realise that back then.

All of the seriousness of this situation came up to my mind in 2020 when I had a breakdown and I had my first relationship. In April of 2020 he sent me his last sex tape with another person and asked if I was interested in sharing nudes. After my respond he deleted that video and texted “ok”.

I’m 17 right now and 2 years after I shared this story because I accidentally told someone that I chatted with MrKitty in 2019 and they asked for details. Even this situation took place a long time ago, I still get grossed out because of this. When people started to find out all the details, I was told that it’s my fault, that I made him do this and that I didn’t mention my age. Everybody defended him, saying that “he can change”, but I don’t believe that. His apology is just a try to save his career and I’m glad that people help me by sharing this story.”

Mr. Kitty has not released any new music since 2019. Ironically, and despite the story of his sexual misconduct becoming public, he has grown more popular than ever since then.

Despite what you may think of Mr. Kitty, “After Dark” is a song that makes you feel like you’re longing for the things that haven’t happened for you yet, the things that may never happen for you, and the things you would would like too happen for you—all at the same time. It reminds you of what it feels like to be in the standing in the snow in middle of an empty street surrounded by nothing except for silence and darkness. It makes you feel like you are underneath warm blankets with your legs wrapped around somebody close to your side.

There also happen to be a few other popular “After Dark”/movie mashups. Each of these are equally entertaining, suspenseful and dramatic.

Drive (2011)

Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Nerve (2016)

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

The Batman (2022)