Spend five minutes online and you’ll probably see it all, An AI-generated video that somehow has millions of views. Someone arguing with strangers they’ll never meet. Another endless cycle of doomscrolling. A meme that’s somehow hilarious and deeply unsettling at the same time.
It’s chaotic and addictive, but also exhausting. For Filmore, it’s also quite impossible to ignore.
His latest release, EVERYTHING IS BRAINROTT, doesn’t try to fix the internet or even explain it. Instead, it mirrors it back to us in all its noise, absurdity and emotional confusion. The result is a track that feels just as overwhelming, fragmented and strangely compelling as the digital world that inspired it.
“The hope is that it reflects the state of the internet,” he says. “That it feels and sounds like the internet. It’s only a warning if you don’t like what you see.”
The title itself immediately grabs attention. “Brainrott” has become one of the internet’s favourite words, usually thrown around as slang for spending too much time consuming nonsense online. But for Filmore, the term reaches much further.
“It’s like a catch-all term for the current cultural moment,” he explains. “It’s incel culture, the enshittification of everything, AI abuse, harassment and manipulation. Everything right now feels like one of those brainrott videos because it’s all just sooo stupid.”
That frustration runs throughout the project, but not in the way you might expect.
Filmore isn’t standing outside internet culture looking in. If anything, he admits he’s right in the middle of it.
“I’m just way too online. That’s my problem,” he laughs. “It’s less things or topics I was drawn to and rather ideas I couldn’t avoid. I mean, to be online a lot, you have to dim your eyes to certain things, but you still see them. It’s impossible not to.”
That honesty is what makes EVERYTHING IS BRAINROTT feel so relatable. Rather than presenting itself as a lecture about social media or digital addiction, the project feels like someone trying to process the same overwhelming feed everyone else is scrolling through.
Interestingly, Filmore doesn’t see the song as satire or even social commentary.
“I don’t think it’s satire,” he says. “Satire has lost a lot of bite these last few years because everything’s so dumb.”
He points to how reality has become almost impossible to exaggerate, making parody feel increasingly redundant.
“I also don’t think it has the depth to be social commentary either. If anything, it’s just a reflection or observation of where we’re at. And because of that, it’s equally as dumb.”
That reflection extended beyond the lyrics and into the production itself.
To understand what makes online content so addictive, Filmore watched video essays and read articles exploring digital behaviour. But most of his research was far less academic.
“I just did my normal routine,” he says. “Load up Twitter (X) and scroll.” The music itself was built to capture that sensory overload.
The lyrics came first, particularly the refrain “B R A I N R O T AND T AGAIN,” before Filmore and producer Adam Redmond took the song into the studio.
“We kinda just agreed to say yes to everything and make it as busy and noisy as possible,” he explains. “Then we started to reel it in once the piece started to take shape. It was weirder.”
The result sits somewhere between experimental electronic music, digital chaos and emotional overload, creating a listening experience that mirrors the constant stimulation of life online, But beneath the noise lies something much more human.
The internet promises connection, yet many people have never felt more isolated. It’s a contradiction that became central to the project.
“What’s the point of feeling connected if it has no value?” Filmore asks. He points to parasocial relationships and transactional intimacy as examples of connections that often leave people feeling emptier than before.
“In the song and video, I sort of fall in love with someone or something online and it doesn’t serve me. It ruins my life. I was never alone or disconnected; I was just miserable.”
Despite exploring some heavy themes, humour still finds its place throughout the project. “I’d lose my mind if I didn’t laugh,” he says. “I live in Ireland. That’s the primary way to deal with trauma or anything really.”
He admits he’d probably make jokes at a funeral, not because he isn’t taking things seriously, but because humour is how he processes difficult emotions. “I’m just as uncomfortable as they are,” he says of listeners. “I’m maybe just more scared of sitting in my feelings.”
That blend of discomfort and vulnerability also shaped his collaboration with fellow artist Niall Tarmey.
Filmore describes Tarmey as bringing an emotional perspective he couldn’t have offered himself.
“Niall’s a little younger than me and approached the theme in a much more earnest way,” he says. “He was a little angrier and frustrated. A different flavour that I couldn’t provide.”
Then, with obvious admiration, he adds, “Also… what a verse.”
While EVERYTHING IS BRAINROTT feels like one of Filmore’s most ambitious projects to date, he admits he’s still discovering exactly what the wider Brainrott universe will become.
Initially, he wanted the project to respond directly to online culture, matching its pace and energy. But his thinking has started to evolve.
“I wonder if there’s a different path to evolve the project,” he says. “I want it to be something that builds rather than just responds.”
The biggest creative challenge has been scale. “The internet is all-encompassing,” he explains. “So my initial goal was to have the project be so as well. I’ve quickly learned this is impossible, so I think I have an even better idea in the works.”
Even the song’s most repetitive lyric carries more meaning than first meets the eye.
“‘I’m shrivelled, I’m shrivelled, I’m shrivelled, I’m soft,'” he quotes. “I know this refrain is really dumb but that’s kinda the point.”
“It’s repetitive nonsense and you’re not entirely sure if I’m talking about my brain or… the other thing, right?” he laughs. “But for me, there’s no difference.”
Ultimately, Filmore isn’t trying to offer answers or tell listeners how they should feel about technology, social media or modern life. He simply hopes the music cuts through.
“I’d love for them to feel something,” he says. “Even if it’s not good. I’d love for it to cut through the noise.”
Asked to describe this new creative era in just three words, he doesn’t hesitate.
“Everything is BRAINROTT.”
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Listen to Everything is BRAINROTT by Filmore
Written by Angel Joanne Okonkwo
