page_title: Foster the People
section_title: Supermodel and side project (2012–15)
hierarchical_section_title: Foster the People / History / Supermodel and side project (2012–15)
caption_attribution_description: Foster the People performing at Bilbao BBK Live 2014 on July 11, 2014
context_page_description: Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. It currently consists of lead vocalist Mark Foster, lead guitarist Sean Cimino, keyboardist Isom Innis, and drummer Mark Pontius.
  Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in Los Angeles as a struggling musician and working as a commercial jingle writer. After Foster's song "Pumped Up Kicks" became a viral success in 2010, the group received a record deal from Startime International and gained a fanbase through small club shows and appearances at music festivals. After releasing their debut album Torches in May 2011, "Pumped Up Kicks" became a crossover hit on commercial radio in mid-2011 and eventually reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The record also featured the singles "Helena Beat" and "Don't Stop". The group received three Grammy Award nominations for Torches and "Pumped Up Kicks".
  After touring for two years in support of Torches, Foster the People released their second album, Supermodel, in March 2014. It was preceded by the lead single "Coming of Age".
context_section_description: Mark Foster and unofficial bandmate Isom Innis debuted their electronic music side project, Smims & Belle, at Hard Summer in August 2012. (Mister) Smims is Foster’s DJ name, while (Southern) Belle is a moniker used by Innis. The duo’s songs include "Ghetto Blastah" (with a music video directed by Michele Civetta), and "Beat Illuminati". Smims & Belle released an official remix of Lana Del Rey’s "Blue Jeans", featuring a bespoke rap verse from Azealia Banks. The project’s unreleased material includes remixes of tracks by Little Dragon, Florence + the Machine, and The Internet. Smims & Belle have been inactive since around 2015, coinciding with increased production responsibilities for Foster and Innis within Foster the People.
  At the 2012 Brit Awards, Mark Foster said that Foster the People's second album would be released in 2013. In June 2013, the band played at the Firefly Music Festival—as well as at a secret show at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, performing four new songs: "A Beginner's Guide To Destroying The Moon", "Pseudologia Fantastica", "Fire Escape", and "Coming of Age". Their second album was supposed to be released in November 2013, but Columbia decided to delay the release until January 2014 because they "didn't want them to be stumbling a hurtle too intense like that fourth-quarter competition. The record's so beautiful, we didn't want to take a gamble of potentially losing it in the rush." Foster told Rolling Stone, "This record still has the joy that our first album did, but it's been thrown into a pit and forced to dance among wolves." Foster said that the new album, which is "more organic and more human", would be released in early 2014. He hinted at a few new tracks, including "A Beginner's Guide to Destroying the Moon" and "Are You What You Wanna Be?", and stated that the first single should be on radio by January. Foster also told Rolling Stone that, "In the first record, I was looking at my vision for the project through a piece of opaque glass," and that the next album will be "a clearer picture of what I've had in my head when it comes to that vision."
  The first single, "Coming of Age", was digitally released on January 14, 2014. The group's second studio album, Supermodel, was released via digital retailers on March 18, 2014. The album was followed by three more singles ("Best Friend", "Pseudologia Fantastica", and "Are You What You Want to Be?") and an extended play titled Spotify Sessions, which featured recorded versions of five songs off of their album.
  The band promoted "Coming of Age" by releasing a time-lapse music video of a seven-story mural of the Supermodel album cover being painted in downtown Los Angeles. Young and Sick, who also designed artwork for Torches, designed the mural. The painting took over ten days to complete. Although Young and Sick designed the mural, the actual painting was done by artists LeBA and Vyal under the guidance of Danial Lahoda, the owner and director of LALAarts. Foster explained that the mural wasn't intended to be a promotion for the album cover: "it's meant to be a piece of art for the city that happens to be an album cover." On January 23, 2014, the band played a free show in front of the mural. Following some legal controversy, the Supermodel mural was later painted over.
  On March 24, 2015, during an interview in Paraguay, Foster the People announced that they were working on a third album. When describing their upcoming record, they said that "the first record was more, kind of, electro-pop, the second record was more of a rock record, and I think this one is going to be a little more hip hop".
  On September 23, 2015, Foster the People announced that Fink would be leaving the band to pursue other opportunities. He stated, "I would like to express my extreme gratitude to our fans for your incredible love and support over the last four years. It was a true gift getting to perform for such loyal, passionate, and heartfelt people. I will miss playing and seeing all of you on the road. God bless you all." During an interview in 2018, Mark Foster admitted 
caption: Foster the People performing at Bilbao BBK Live 2014
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