Sleep Token's Bodypaint Soap: The Era of Parasocial Merch

We all enjoyed Sleep Token's performance at Download Festival- but I do have some VERY exciting news for all of the Sleep Token Girlies.

Vessel, the front man of the band Sleep Token is known pretty well within his fanbase for one thing: this body paint. Weather it be the progression from his earlier product applications and the subsequent sweating off of it, or the evolution of the black product applied to his ever present bare torso during his rituals. 

During his Download headlining set, trays were installed on the floor of the stage to collect all of the sweated-off body paint from the bandmembers. And, for a once in a lifetime opportunity to the cult following-  will be releasing a line of soap bars that include one drop of said sweated-off body paint from the band.

Blessed with the sweat of a ritual, the soap bar is featuring the heady scents of cedar, musk, and bergamot. The band released a cryptic statement promoting the release of the soap that sold out in seconds-

"You will bathe, and you will worship." 

Of course, if you're reading this and wondering "How did I not hear about this?", it's because I made it up. But, it does highlight what I do want to talk about- the rise of parasocial merchandise. 

This piece has been in the works for weeks- but on my general doomscroll I actually have found that someone had the same thought as me on Reddit- so here's an honorable mention to this faux collab:

Recently in the news, the biggest example that has caught the metal scene's attention is Ozzy Osbourne's DNA water release done with Liquid Death. For $450 you can (from the product description):

Yes, we really got the Prince of Darkness to drink from 10 cans of our low-calorie Iced Tea. And yes, he actually crushed each can himself. In the process, he left behind trace DNA from his saliva that you can now own. He even hand-signed each packaging label. 

Now, when technology and federal law permits, you’ll be able to replicate Ozzy Osbourne and enjoy him for hundreds of years into the future. Only 10 available to buy.

DNA integrity and cloning results not guaranteed.

$450 for one can

100% PET lab-sealed specimen jar

9.90" tall x 3.94" wide, 60oz / 1780ml capacity

Includes one can drunk and crushed by Ozzy Osbourne

Label hand-signed by Ozzy Osbourne

Sample collected on 20-MAY-2025

Individually numbered and signed

Extremely limited to 10 total samples for purchase

Each unique, appearance will vary

Final sale, no returns 

So, for a measly $450, you can purchase a can of water that Ozzy himself drank, and crushed. For the potential of obtaining trace-DNA from his saliva on the rim of the can. Of course, this product sold out near immediately alongside the huge wave of press it obtained due to the absurd nature of the entire situation- but it is certainly not the first. You need to have a minimum of five years of screen time to understand the full arc of this- and if you're able to follow me without background support: bless you, and please go touch some grass.  

It starts in 2019.

Belle Delphine is a viral British internet personality (read: OnlyFans model) known for short form video content in cosplay and being a 'Gamer Girl'. She amassed a gigantic following and a very "thirsty" comment section. July, 2019 the creator launched "Gamer Girl Bathwater" - small jars of what she claimed to be her actual bathwater, sold for $30 each. Some people called it satire- making fun of her follower/the thirsty subscriber base, all until it sold out and then we were blessed with videos of people actually cracking it open and drinking it online. 

Not joking.

People landed on two sides of the fence- that it was incredibly smart, and that it was abhorrent and disgusting. This was the (at least the most popular example to me) of some weird abstract of intimacy with a content creator could be purchased. A tangible piece of them that you could purchase- basically taking home part of their performance art at the end of the show. 

This transactional closeness exploded during the pandemic specifically within the realm of OnlyFans creators. A strange submarket of purchasable, typically destined for the garbage objects, were packaged and sold to their fan/subscriber bases. Socks, vape cartridges, chewing gum, and of course more X-Rated objects were commonly sold. Basically anything that had a trace of the creators body with it was a popular sell. 

It created this very blurred line of performance art, parasocial marketing, capitalizing on loneliness, and bringing a very taboo kink market out onto the social media playing field for anyone to become exposed too. Veiled behind phrasing like "exclusive access", and "The Girlfriend Experience" (An experience here subscribers to OF models pay to engage with said fan involving a combination of emotional and romantic relationships on an hourly or flat rate basis - can also be called the Boyfriend Experience).

This is where we saw a shift into the want of transactional closeness to creators people engage in. Rather than just watching and enjoying the content people wanted to own something personal- that was directly involved with the content that they consumed. 

In 2020, we had Gwyneth Paltrow’s “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle. And while not “gooner” per se, Goop’s infamous candle commercialized bodily intimacy under the guise of empowerment. It cost $75 and was marketed with spiritual luxury vibes, selling out immediately. This paved the way for many other off shoot products of people creating scented products of themselves- whether it be in parody or real imitation. This helped push these kinds of products out of niche corners of the internet and into mainstream media coverage and pop culture.

Of course, I'd always been familiar with fandom creating head cannons as to what we thought characters would smell like. Even fan creations of soaps and candles, matching up on-the-market perfumes and colognes in content shared within a niche community. However throughout some point of all of this- practices of fandom basically branched over to personalities commodifying themselves and selling part of them, or the idea of them, to their fanbases. 

What had got my mind on all of this, was Sydney Sweeny's Bathwater soap. in collaboration with the soap brand Dr. Squatch. The "Sydney's Bathwater Bliss"- scented with their blend of woodsy pine scents named "Morning Wood" (gross), sold out faster than she could say 'hey boys". 

While I still maintain the mindset of "Pop off Queen" when it comes to things like this- it still makes me take a step back and thing about the more than willing consumers who want to throw down cash to obtain a soap bar that contains bath water of an actress that's on a lot of young men's 'Lists'. 

It's less of a commentary criticizing the people creating the products pandering to the fanbase with products like this- but more of a morbid awareness following something like this bar of soap's release, and a trend of cutting a hole into the middle of it. (AI bigfoot, I'm glad that's the only video on that trend I saw).

There's something fun about personalities willing to play into the novelty of their fame, make some kind of ironic statement about empowerment, while blurring the lines with consent, objectification, and brand power.

All of this to say, we're living in a world where the celebrities, creators, and bands we idolize are playing into a strange sense of commodification of their presence- then selling it off to their most obsessive fans. It creates a slippery slope of what i say time, and time again- parasocial fanbases.