The internet’s favorite shape-shifter returns with her most ambitious sonic experiment yet.
Words: Stephen Ackroyd.
“Yes! I’ll be in the studio today.” It’s a typically concise response from pop’s most committed chameleon, but it speaks volumes. Even as we discuss her boundary-shattering new album ‘Negative Spaces’, Poppy remains in perpetual motion, already crafting whatever gleaming mutant masterpiece comes next. In the Never Stop Never Stopping landscape of modern music, she stands as our most dedicated shapeshifter – less an artist, more a one-woman musical revolution in incredibly impressive platform boots.
The creative process for ‘Negative Spaces’ began in the earliest days of 2024, a period that would prove transformative. “We began at the beginning of the year and finished up around summertime, around Jordan [Fish, ex-BMTH member and producer]’s birthday, to be exact!” Poppy shares, describing a process that balanced precision with creative spontaneity.
If that timeline seems like moving quickly for such an intricate record, well, that’s because Poppy approaches chaos with surgical precision. “They always do. I start making a list of things that I want to happen at the beginning of the process,” she reveals about her creative goals. This systematic foundation serves as a launching pad rather than a constraint – a perfectly controlled explosion of creativity. The methodology behind the madness proves key to understanding how Poppy has evolved from digital art project to genre-defying innovator.
That journey from provocative online presence to industrial-pop revolutionary reads like the original guidebook for digital creative metamorphosis. Those early days of short-form surrealism weren’t just attention-grabbing stunts but carefully orchestrated experiments in identity and expectation. Each video played with the boundaries between authentic expression and manufactured persona, laying groundwork for the genre-fluid approach that would later define her musical output.
The transition from ‘Poppy’ the internet phenomenon to Poppy the musician wasn’t so much a reinvention as an evolution of existing themes – artifice versus authenticity, structure versus chaos, convention versus innovation. Her 2017 debut ‘Poppy.Computer’ emerged as a knowing subversion of pop formulas, its bubblegum exterior masking sharp commentary on digital culture and identity. But it was 2020’s ‘I Disagree’ that marked the big shift toward the boundaryless approach that would eventually birth the artist that made ‘Negative Spaces’. Each release pushed further into uncharted territory while maintaining connection to her artistic core – the tension between artificial and authentic, between careful construction and raw emotion.
Now, ‘Negative Spaces’ emerges as both culmination and catalyst – an album that feels less like trying to contain a storm in a snow globe and more like becoming the storm itself. The resurgence of industrial elements in alternative music isn’t so much a revival as it is a clanging, infernal renaissance. Where it once represented a rebellion against more mainstream pop, it now serves as a vital ingredient.
At the heart of this evolution sits the partnership between Poppy and producer Jordan Fish, a creative fusion that pushes both artists into new territory. “He is an artist and a creator, and we see eye to eye on a lot of things creatively,” Poppy explains. Their collaborative approach treats genre conventions not as rules to be followed or broken, but as raw materials to be sculpted into new forms. The precision impact of classic industrial collides with atmospheric electronics, while pop sensibilities weave through distorted landscapes like silver threads through storm clouds.
When pressed about what draws her to particular collaborators (she’s also recently worked with both Bad Omens and Knocked Loose), Poppy responds with a characteristically cryptic “Are we friends?” It’s a response that perfectly encapsulates her approach to artistic partnerships – direct yet enigmatic, suggesting that genuine connection trumps industry calculations every time. This philosophy extends to her entire creative process, where authenticity reigns supreme even in the most synthetic soundscapes.
“I start off by taking notes on what I want to see myself do. It’s a moment of reflection. Sometimes it calls up uncomfortable feelings that need to be addressed within myself,” Poppy reveals of her creative process. This soul-searching yields spectacular results as the album shifts from crystalline clarity to primal screams, each transition feeling both shocking and somehow inevitable.
These subversions serve the emotional core of each track; the technical complexity never feeling gratuitous, but instead creating space for vulnerability to coexist with aggression. “Each album is a snapshot of where I am in the current moment, and music is documenting life in real-time for me,” Poppy notes, this raw authenticity shining brightest when she’s pushing hardest against conventional boundaries.
The album’s title proves particularly apt, with Poppy observing that “the space in between and the silence is just as important as the sound.” It’s in these intentional gaps and pauses that the most powerful moments emerge, ones of carefully engineered emptiness that make the returning chaos feel all the more impactful.
What’s most remarkable is Poppy’s unwavering commitment to artistic truth in an era where streaming algorithms often encourage safe repetition over bold innovation. “I don’t consider the listener in my process of making music,” she states with refreshing candour. “The only thing I consider is how the song will feel at the show in a room full of people.” It’s a laser focus that has clearly paid off – ‘Negative Spaces’ is a blueprint for how genre evolution can occur without losing sight of what made the original compelling in the first place, or getting so mixed up in the algorithm that it turns to a flavourless mush.
The path suggested by ‘Negative Spaces’ isn’t about abandoning genre entirely, but rather about understanding genres deeply enough to move beyond them. Traditional verse-chorus structures dissolve into shifting movements that feel more like shifting weather patterns than pop songs. Bass lines mutate mid-phrase, while rhythmic foundations transform without warning, creating a sense of constant evolution. It’s an approach that demands attention while rewarding it in equal measure, each listen revealing new layers of intentional disorder.
While ‘Negative Spaces’ marks another achievement, Poppy’s gaze remains fixed forward. Asked whether she has any future creative directions she’s particularly keen to explore, she responds with characteristic mystique: “Absolutely, but I don’t like to talk about things before I do them.” Always one step ahead of expectations, we’ll probably not have long to wait.
By exploring the shadows between genres, between sound and silence, between expectation and execution, Poppy has crafted something that defies easy classification while remaining distinctly her own. In an age where genre boundaries feel increasingly irrelevant, ‘Negative Spaces’ stands as a testament to the possibilities that emerge when artists approach those walls with both reverence and utter contempt. As she charts her course through the boundless terrain of modern music, one thing remains certain: Poppy doesn’t just navigate the storm; she is the storm. Dear Reader, you’d better bring an umbrella – though something tells us even that won’t be enough to keep you dry.
Poppy’s album ‘Negative Spaces’ is out now. Follow Upset’s Spotify playlist here.
Leave a Reply