Poppy: Empty Hands

"Just as reality started to become indistinguishable from AI brainrot and streamers began flooding the White House press pool, Poppy unplugged herself from the satirical cyborg character that made her a minor YouTube luminary in the 2010s and fulfilled her unlikely pivot to personhood. For Poppy, aka 31-year-old singer-screamer-pop-star Moriah Pereira, her transition from weird-internet denizen to two-time Grammy nominee has landed her in the increasingly popular-and increasingly unbearable -world of blockbuster metalcore, where she's now one of the genre's biggest and most talented stars."

"Poppy's metal breakthrough arrived with 2020's . That album's madcap collision of Grimes-ian alt-pop, glitchy glam, wacked-out J-pop, and steel-toed nu-metal had the same eye-bulging whiplash effect as other "extremely online" landmarks like and The Money Store. In the years since I Disagree, Poppy's output has become far less net-damaged and slightly more conventional, flitting between riotous metalcore, No Doubt-ish alternative, and low-light synth-pop before returning to a hook-heavy form of metallurgic pop-rock on 2024's Negative Spaces."

"On that album, Poppy's acrobatic voice, capable of lunging from fanged shrieks to majestic wails on a dime, found its match in producer Jordan Fish, the former Bring Me the Horizon member whose handiwork on BMTH albums like Sempiternal and That's the Spirit remade metalcore in the image of high-gloss pop music, creating a new genre paradigm that Poppy's now thriving in."

Poppy moved from a satirical cyborg YouTube persona to an acclaimed, two-time Grammy–nominated performer rooted in blockbuster metalcore. Her 2020 breakthrough fused alt-pop, glitch, J-pop, and nu-metal into a startling, internet-era collision. Subsequent releases shifted across metalcore, alternative, and synth-pop before embracing hook-heavy pop-metal on 2024's Negative Spaces. Her vocal range spans fanged shrieks to majestic wails. Producer Jordan Fish co-wrote and co-produced Empty Hands, intensifying breakdowns, choruses, and synth-guitar collisions. The music often amplifies her strengths—catchy hooks and clean singing—while sometimes feeling enervating or clumsy amid maximalist production.

Read at Pitchfork