The Massachusetts-born artist may have first emerged as a perennially-online pop force almost a decade ago, but it’s in metal that she’s fortified her sound and built her empire.
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It was an average day in suburban America. White picket fences were standing proud, the scent of freshly mown lawns was drifting through open windows as nuclear families settled down for a spot of wholesome American programming. Little did they know, their picture perfect bubble would soon burst when post-hardcore ensemble Knocked Loose took to the Jimmy Kimmel stage, unleashing a raucous performance of ‘Suffocate’ with the formidable Poppy.
The corrosive eruption of noise had pearl-clutching mothers taking to online forums, adamantly condemning Poppy for souring the taste of their TV dinners, forcing their children into inconsolable waves of tears. But Poppy remains undeterred; the Knocked Loose collab track bagged her a second Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, so it can’t be too bad. “You’re going to have a really challenging time in life if you can’t handle some loud music,” she laughs, unafraid of airing her grievances. “It’s great to know people can still get so upset over nothing. Honestly, people can say whatever they want. That’s none of my business. They don’t have to watch, they don’t have to listen. Just like I don’t have to listen to them. Everyone has an opinion, I have lots of opinions. I just don’t post them online.”
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Beamed into our call from LA, Poppy coos to her Sphynx cat Pi, her soothing lullaby of a voice entirely at odds with the ‘demonic siren’ traumatising America. On stage, she’s at the epicentre of chaos. Right now, she’s calm, coy and sweet as pie. Without the pressure of a hungry crowd, Poppy ponders each sentence, quietly cherry-picking her words with precision. When she finally deems her point worthy of tumbling out, a Tennessee lilt peppers each nugget of offbeat wisdom. “I try to consider most things,” she explains. “But then you run the risk of too much consideration. I think that’s what I’ve learned in my life; to strike that balance. If you overly consider, then you’re paralysed and spiral into self-doubt. You have to know when to just act.”
This contrast of blazing aggression and softly uttered musings defines Poppy. After a lifetime of smothering herself, fearful of taking up space and disturbing the peace, the stage offers a platform to finally be heard. “I was very afraid of my own voice when I was small,” she admits. “At first, I started to express my feelings through dance. But when I discovered music that became my means of communicating. I had to learn how to speak up.” Poppy labels her younger self as “very angry”, harbouring pain that festered and frothed beneath the surface. “Every day, I was frustrated,” she explains. “I had all these really big emotions and I didn’t know where to put them. I didn’t know how to express myself. Now, singing helps me put my thoughts out there. But speaking in public is still something I don’t particularly enjoy.”
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Poppy is a child of the digital age. After being bullied into homeschooling due to her shy demeanour in public school, Poppy was weaned by the 2000s web. Though her love of the internet has declined in recent years (“it’s too cluttered”), it’s where she’d find her voice. From ASMR-esque videos of her silently eating cotton candy, to adverts for gravity-defying shoes, the early days of Poppy were ludicrously absurd. The Lynchian genesis of the project could have been deemed an act of AI in the modern age, with instalments taking the form of ten minute montages of the singer asserting “I’m Poppy” on a loop. “The internet was the Wild West,” Poppy says, an air of whimsy in her voice. “There were no rules.”
The videos and initial singles came as a perplexing search for meaning. Poppy’s sonic debut, ‘Everybody Wants To Be Poppy’, would blend squeaky-clean pop hooks into social commentary on mass-produced popstars. Yet there would also be cuts like the reggae fusion of ‘Lowlife’ and EDM-inflected ‘Interweb’ down the line. After luring in the masses as a family-friendly pop-bot, Poppy would eventually tear the rug out from under her fans. “I’ve always known where I’ve wanted to go,” she explains. 2018’s ‘Am I A Girl?’ threw in a burst of raw heavy metal right at the very last second, closing track ‘X’ an utter shock to the system. Poppy’s response to the blood-thirsty riffs? A giddy, butter-wouldn’t-melt exclamation of “ooo – heavy!”
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Ever since slamming the brakes on her term as a plastic-fantastic popstar, Poppy has retained her discordant title and femininity as a badge of defiance. Poppy floats onstage in flouncy dresses like a fairytale, before channelling gutturals straight from the depths of hell. Her softer side has never hindered her success. In fact, Poppy has become the metal world’s favourite collaborator, previously hopping on tracks with Bad Omens, HEALTH and Fever 333.
2024’s ‘Negative Spaces’ is the culmination of this juxtaposition. It’s candy floss dissolved in engine oil, offering tar-smeared anthems with sugary-sweet centers: ‘vital’ feels like pop-rock cuts from the Avril Lavigne playbook, and ‘crystallized’ glistens with an ‘80s synthwave sheen, positively melting in your mouth. But that’s all before ‘the centre’s falling out’ absolutely rips the record to shreds, delving into cold, hard metallic hardcore in the same vein of Converge – a frazzled wall of guttural wails, scraping riffs and booming drums.
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It’s a bittersweet meeting point of Poppy’s conflicting sides; gentle introversion melding with abrasive fury. “I never want to be predictable,” Poppy asserts. It’s why she’s always mixing things up, pushing out more unique content, like her Improbably Poppy TV series and comic books alongside her music. “If something I’m creating becomes unexciting, I’m no longer fond of it. When it comes to a record, every one should feel brand new.” On ‘Negative Spaces’, Poppy proudly claims she feels “uncharted” yet again. Aided by ex-Bring Me The Horizon producer Jordan Fish, Poppy was able to rediscover herself on track. “It honestly feels like my true debut,” she explains. “The saccharine is there, the aggression is there, and I’m sitting somewhere in between it all. It’s incredible to feel like your sixth record is just as exciting and expressive as your first release.”
Poppy notes that ‘Negative Spaces’ is an effort to understand her “relationship with darkness” and comprehend the “unexplainable things” in life. “Of course, things don’t always make sense,” she’s quick to note. “We’re spinning in space on a rock, and that doesn’t really make any sense. You have to strike a balance, and allow yourself to have a fantastical, surface-level relationship with certain things. Sometimes the depths might be too heavy to handle.” The record is also a “very confrontational” dose of self-reflection. It’s a girl coming to terms with the sum of all her parts, even the more challenging fragments. “I accept myself for who I am now, but it’s interesting how you reflect on the past as you mature,” she muses. “You re-examine things you didn’t like when you were younger, consider the negative environments you’ve been in, and realise that they’re the things that make you unique today.”
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As Poppy has evolved, she’s started to feel less alien than she felt as a young girl. “It was quite lonely when I was small,” she reflects. “I used to dream of having the friends I have now. So, I’ve gotten softer and more compassionate towards humans in recent years. But I’m still standing my ground, defending what matters to me.” While Poppy has finally “found her voice”, happily speaking out about shitty record labels and predatory industry men, she’s aware the space she exists within doesn’t take kindly to outspoken women. “I’ve become a lot more aware of my femininity, being in this industry,” she admits. “It can be a tricky balancing act because you’re expected to be soft but you need to be aggressive. Sometimes I get asked about being a ‘female in music’, and I always hope it’s a genuine desire to learn; to allow me to voice the disgust that I may possess, rather than a way of tricking me into complaining about being a woman in this industry.”
“I chose this path for a reason,” she affirms. “I want to write authentically about my experience, through my own eyes. I just make sure my aggression is targeted. Anger should never be misdirected or it loses its power. As a female, there are lots of things that I disagree with along the way.” It’s a statement that can be linked back to 2020’s ‘I Disagree’; a testament to how Poppy has grown into her voice, no longer afraid to speak up for herself. “There’s a power in saying it,” she declares. “Sometimes, when I get into debates with people, I’ll just say: I disagree. Not even politely or respectfully. That’s it. And I love meeting other women in the industry that disagree with what they’re witnessing as well.”
Before we part ways, we wonder who Poppy believes she is right now. Is she America’s worst nightmare, an outspoken feminist, or something else entirely? “I don’t consider myself to be anything other than Poppy,” she states plainly, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
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Words: Emily Swingle
Photography: T-Bone Fletcher
Fashion: Caitlin Hickey
Creative Direction: Rob Meyers
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