Confused TV appearance Between love experiment and PR show - the story behind Ski Aggus

Rapper Ski Aggu is back with long hair, a polyamorous relationship and a wild appearance on breakfast television. It hardly matters whether it's all real - the important thing is that everyone is watching.

"What appears is good; and what is good appears." This was written by a French writer back in the 1960s - long before a rapper sat barefoot in a tree and declared that he could no longer remain silent.

The idea behind it: In a world where everything becomes a commodity, it no longer matters who someone is or what they have - only their image. Everything we experience directly disappears behind its own staging. Rapper Ski Aggu provides a pretty good example of this thesis.

If you don't know Ski Aggu, here are the most important facts: rapper with ski goggles, has been on the line-up at almost every major festival in recent years , has over 4.5 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has also performed alongside rap star Ikkimel at times.

Then he took a break. Last December, he announced on social media that he was going to Australia for an indefinite period of time to work and travel, find himself and learn English. Even then, it wasn't entirely clear how serious he was.

Now he's sticking his bare feet in front of the camera

Now he's back, with something new to come on Thursday. And Ski Aggu knows that if you take a break for a few months and then come back with a new song, you have to do a bit more promotional work than usual. The rule is: if people talk about it, that's good, if they comment on it, better. If the media write about it, best of all.

This is exactly what Ski Aggu has achieved. "Ski Aggu is back - with a new look", headlined "Watson". "New goggles and several partners?" asked "20 Minuten". And yes, gotcha, we're writing about it too.

To announce his comeback, the rapper retold the story he had already told in December: during his work-and-travel trip to Australia, he not only found himself, but also consumed ayahuasca, he now says. Ayahuasca is a traditional plant concoction from the Amazon region that has a strong mind-altering and hallucinogenic effect.

Ski Aggu's hair is now falling down to his chest. He has swapped his ski goggles for glasses that also cover his "third eye" - the spiritual symbol for intuition and inner awareness that is often located on the forehead. In a video that Ski Aggu posted on Instagram, he sits in a meadow under a tree, plays the harmonica and stretches his bare feet into the camera.

Presenter Sylvie Meis and Sat.1 breakfast television

Presenter Sylvie Meis and Sat.1 breakfast television were also involved in the comeback. "A lot happened in Australia. I realized a few things. I've reflected a lot," says Ski Aggu in a conversation with Meis that he posted on Instagram. He sits on a tree and wobbles forwards and backwards. "I can no longer keep quiet about it," says the rapper. He is now doing what his heart tells him.

On Saturday, the rapper then appeared on Sat.1 breakfast television. Not alone, however, but with two companions, whom - so the story goes - he met on an ayahuasca trip in Australia and with whom he has been in a relationship ever since. Just this much about the show: it ends with several people massaging each other's feet.

It is doubtful whether Ski Aggu actually met his two companions in Australia. After a quick image search, you come across an actress who looks very similar to the woman massaging the rapper's feet.

You can find the performance funny or completely out of place - as can be seen in the comment columns on social media. You can get upset about "how stupid society has become" and "how low-level" breakfast television has become. Or you can play along. The result is the same in all cases: attention. If you get outraged, you get publicity. If you comment ironically, you do too. Anyone who writes about it - we've already said it: guilty.

None of this has to be credible

What exactly the role of Sylvie Meis and Frühstücksfernsehen is and how involved they were remains an open question. The breakfast TV presenter, at least, was irritated by Ski Aggu's appearance. "I'm not sure whether it's a really cool performance. But I also have the feeling that you've undergone a bit of a transformation," she said to the rapper at the end.

But the choice to present the comeback in this way is also unlikely to be coincidental and suggests irony. On Sat.1 breakfast television, the staging is particularly striking: The rapper suddenly sitting barefoot on morning television and talking about ayahuasca and a polyamorous relationship seems even more absurd there than on Instagram. Sylvie Meis also fits into this picture: well-known enough to guarantee attention, but not a figure who immediately dismantles the story.

But, and we come back to the French writer: what is being sold here is not directly Ski Aggu's music. It's a transformation - or more precisely: the image of a transformation. And that is almost part and parcel of a comeback: If you come back, you have to reinvent yourself. Or at least appear that way. The long hair, the bare feet, the ayahuasca. It all shows that Ski Aggu has apparently changed - radically.

Whether he has actually ever been to Australia and whether he is serious about the ayahuasca is pretty irrelevant. None of this has to be credible. Just visible.

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