LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Sometimes, all it takes is a spark of inspiration and a bit of luck to make it big. For Little Rock’s Buckshot Princess, a goth-country band barely a year old, their unexpected rise to viral fame proves that lightning can strike when you least expect it.
On March 15, the band released their single “Animal Cannibal (Possibly in Michigan),” a haunting goth-country rendition of the score from Cecelia Condit’s 1983 cult horror short film Possibly in Michigan. In just nine months, the track has become a sensation, amassing over 2.1 million streams on Spotify and captivating listeners across more than 150 countries.
The journey to viral stardom began in February with a simple cellphone video. Vocalist Payton Marshall recalls adding the song to their setlist as a filler during a show. When the video of their performance hit social media, its grainy, upright format didn’t deter audiences. Thousands of likes and comments poured in, urging the band to release the track on streaming platforms.
“It was just a cell phone video, upright, horrible quality, but I thought, ‘Some people might like this,’” Marshall said. “By the end of two weeks, it had thousands of likes, and people were commenting for us to put it on streaming sites.”
Responding to the demand, the band reached out to Condit for permission to record the song. Once granted, they recorded the track at Wolfman Studios in Little Rock. The response was almost immediate, with the song hitting a million streams within four months and passing the two-million mark by December.
“It felt unreal, because when we hit a million, we had maybe just been a band for about a year,” Marshall said. “So, more than anything else, I feel incredibly lucky. With the internet, I feel like it is just the luck of the draw.”
Despite their rising popularity, guitarist Evan Peck noted that their newfound fame hasn’t drastically changed their day-to-day lives.
“It almost hasn’t had too much of an impact as far as what we do in our day-to-day as Buckshot Princess,” Peck said. “Even with this song being so popular, it is weird that there are people in over 150 countries who have heard our stuff.”
The viral success has only motivated the band to focus on original music. With the spotlight on them, Marshall is determined to make the most of the opportunity.
“I just feel grateful and overwhelmed,” Marshall said. “It was just so completely unexpected, and so we’ve been really pushing for our original music after this, because now the eyes are on us.”
Buckshot Princess is now hard at work on their debut full-length album, a testament to their dedication and the serendipity that brought them international recognition. From a spur-of-the-moment addition to a setlist to millions of streams worldwide, their story serves as a reminder of music’s power to transcend expectations—and borders.
