In I Disagree, Poppy combines the hard rock and metal sounds from the late 90’s and early 00’s with her iconic bubblegum pop. She sacrifices some of her more absurdist cult-like lyrics in order to tackle more personal subject matter, particularly revolving around her disenchanted relationship with the music industry. At its best, we see Poppy masterfully combining these contrasting genres. For many stretches of the tracklist, however, we see her attempts at bridging these genres marred by some of the nu-metal clichés better left behind.
Concrete
Sonically, “Concrete” succeeds as an opener; it showcases the musical interpolations that Poppy will work with for the rest of the album. Foregoing traditional song structures, she instead sections the song into choruses of bubblegum pop, baroque pop, J-pop, power metal, and nu-metal, each topped by Poppy’s excellent delivery and gorgeous harmonies. The repetitive lyrics don’t convey anything meaningful; nevertheless, the catchy “Bury me six feet deep” delights after several listens .
I Disagree
Much like “Concrete”, “I Disagree” features a great vocal performance from Poppy. Her style highlights the lyrics which alternate between “disagree(ing)” with the music executives’ decisions and threatening to “let it all burn down.” the former of which especially sounds great. Poppy chants her disputes in both a whisper and a wail, the latter mixed with an especially sinister vocal effect. The instrumental, however, contains nu-metal tropes that already wear thin, like a chunky guitar expected from the basest of metal bands. Outside of the bridge, nothing about the music here is worth remembering.
BLOODMONEY
Starting on quiet acapella riff dancing around a double harmonic scale, “BLOODMONEY” suddenly bursts into a violent chorus backed by industrial drums and menacing bass. Poppy continues stuff the instrumental to the breaking point as she demands that the listener “Beg forgiveness from Jesus and Christ.” Just when the music appears to reach its noise capacity, it explodes into a breakdown that only occasionally ceases to give way to Poppy screeching.
When Poppy indicated she would be combining metal and pop, this is the unique direction that I had hoped for. She not only improves upon her classic unsettling imagery, describing “grabbing hands… grab(bing) what they can”, Shethen uses said imagery to provide a coherent op-ed on the greed of the music industry, equating it to worshiping the “(adored) devil.” Poppy pairs this theme with stiff drums, aggressive synthesizers, and progressive-pop inspired harmonies. Even the calmer moments on this song offer no respite. Whether she monotonously mourns her “soul being ripped from her body” or questions “what do you believe, when no is around?” Poppy unsettles the listener for the entire three minute runtime.
Anything Like Me
After that bombast that was “BLOODMONEY”, the calm introduction of “Anything Like Me” is very welcome. However, the remainder of the song fails to live up to the quality of the rest of the album so far. She wears her influences on her sleeve; the majority of the song’s sound homages “The Beautiful People” by Marilyn Manson. The dual lyrics contrasting Poppy’s empathy (“I feel her heart beating in me”) and selfishness (“Get her out of me”) are fantastic, but the verses where Poppy plays an arrogant pop star (“Sorry for what I’ve become/Because I’m becoming someone”) are tiresome.
Fill the Crown
Sadly, the artistic lull continues in “Fill the Crown.” “Fill the Crown” begins with a Robyn-inspired sequenced bass line, but then breaks into this chunky Rob Zombie-esque guitar riff. As uninspired as this guitar riff is, the instrumental is ultimately inoffensive. The discordant man overpowering Poppy during the chorus, on the other hand, is incredibly offensive. The delivery on the line “follow the leader” alone makes this song worth skipping.
When you get past the shoddy performance from her counterpart, you can listen to Poppy’s lyrics talk of some Faustian deal, where one can be “free” and “fed” at the expense of “(one’s) life.” In isolation, the lyrics might be called a little basic.
Nothing I Need
However, when considered jointly with “Nothing I Need”, “Fill the Crown” functions as an excellent prequel. Easily the most stripped back song on the album, “Nothing I Need” tells the story about Poppy and her relationship with Titanic Sinclair. Titanic promises her “everything (she) thought (she) wanted,” in exchange for her artistic freedom. Upon receiving the gift, Poppy realizes that he gave her “nothing (she) need(s).” Ultimately she realizes that she owes this man nothing, and thus all of his power “slips away.” The song concludes with a quiet, lovely instrumental.
As much as I miss the absurdist android Poppy, I’m glad we get the chance to reflect on the genuine human Poppy. In these quiet moments she comes off as both genuinely hurt, yet strong enough to overcome the tribulations of the past few years during her ascent to stardom.
Sit / Stay
With a little distortion, the opening to “Sit / Stay” could be for an Atari Teenage Riot song, the electric hardcore riff whirring excitedly over a dance beat. The song awkwardly transitions into another nu-metal riff behind lyrics lambasting the music industry. These lyrics do not offer anything more than what the rest of album provide; in fact, chants of “I will not obey” seem inane compared to more harrowing tracks like “BLOODMONEY.” The instrumental during the verses are the first that I feel could have been given to any artist: a smattering of a looped drum machine, topped by arpeggiated chords quietly strummed on an electric guitar. The outro contains the only part of the instrumental worth remembering, when Poppy’s screams over tremolo guitar picking.
Bite Your Teeth
In many ways, “Bite Your Teeth” feels like a less well-executed version of “Concrete.” Much like “Concrete,” Poppy reiterates the same lyrics over a variety of instrumental sections. Though some of the production pays off, especially the violent black-metal guitar in the penultimate section of the song, most of the song lacks the creativity that the stronger songs on the album offer. The sections feel shorter and less memorable than the most well thought-out moments on the album, and the aggressive sections don’t linger long enough to truly make in impact. Poppy’s voice also has a strange effect applied that sounds inconsistent with the blaring metal riffs behind it.
Sick of the Sun
“Sick of the Sun” is where I think this album turns around to become memorable again. This ballad builds around a great, catchy chorus backed by rock guitar with an ethereal reverb. The laid-back vibe contrasts well with the melancholy lyrics about wanting the “sun…to go away” and how “every day feels exactly the same.” The depressive lyrics come off as so sincere and haunting behind Poppy’s flat delivery, another brief look behind the mask that she normally wears.
Don’t Go Outside
The album closes on a very strong note. “Don’t Go Outside” juxtaposes imagery of a placated, “Brave New World”-esque society with descriptions of a religious apocalypse while foreboding guitar arpeggiates over the background. While the rest of album goes for relatively intense metal sounds, this song proves that Poppy can include a less intense guitar and drums if it sets the right mood. When the Soundgarden-inspired riffs finally come in, minutes into the song, they feel deserved.
Even if this riff was the only payoff, “Don’t Go Outside” would still be a great song. However, she follows up this section by adding more instrumentals: a warbling synthesizer, worming its way around the track, heavy drum fills clattering as the song crescendos, and a virtuosic grunge guitar solo that I Disagree tastefully withheld until its final moments. Unlike “Sit / Stay”, the repetitive, skittering drum machine adds to the aura of gloom.
I wish Poppy had ended the “Don’t Go Outside” with the end of the guitar solo. However, she instead ends the album with a reprise of many of the refrains from “Concrete,” “Fill the Crown,” and “I Disagree.” The choruses admittedly all come together quite nicely. However, this final passage ignores the thematic messaging of the remainder of “Don’t Go Outside”, leading to a unsatisfying conclusion.
Final Thoughts
Even though female fronted pop-metal remained since pioneering bands like Nightwish, the sounds that most bands adopted have stagnated with Symphonic Metal. For the most part, other successful groups in this genre (Evanescence, Lacuna Coil) stuck to a safe formula: beautiful vocal lines that could be lifted from pop songs, and instrumentals that could be used by radio-friendly metal bands.
With bands like Babymetal, the zeitgeist has finally shifted to include brighter pop synthesizers and harmonies, more aggressive guitars, bass and drums, and the “screaming” vocals normally isolated from the pop music community. In the past few years, other pop acts have dabbled with songs in a similar vein. When I recently saw Kero Kero Bonito, almost all of the J-pop songs I had grew to love were performed by a five-piece metal band, complete with Sarah Bonito performing the metal grunts and squeals. It was time someone committed to an entire “bubblegum metal” album, and I’m happy to hear Poppy take a spin at combining her sonic palette with such a wide array of metal flavors. Even though I think this submission contains many shortcomings, it also presents many unique ideas that expand the genre into several places previously unexplored. I look forward to seeing how she (or anyone else) follows this up now that we have a new roadmap.
Some Music I Revisited For This
He Sleeps in a Grove by Amberian Dawn
Deutschland (Has Gotta Die) by Atari Teenage Riot
Gimme Chocolate!! by Babymetal
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) by The Beatles
Perfect Insanity by Disturbed
Bring Me to Life by Evanescence
Only Acting by Kero Kero Bonito
The Beautiful People by Marilyn Manson
Amarinth by Nightwish
Computer Boy by Poppy
WAIDMANNS HEIL by Rammstein
STFU! by Rina Sawayama
Dragula by Rob Zombie
Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden
