By: James Southworth
Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
One of the oddest artists working in the music landscape right now is Poppy. It honestly surprised me when she started having a music career. Why, you may ask? Well, that's because Poppy (otherwise known as Mariah Pereira) initially got her fame as an off-kilter YouTube star. I remember when some of her videos starting blowing up, mainly because YouTube can be a place for weird content to thrive. Fans began making theories about this character, mainly that she was an AI controlled by some faceless puppet master. Poppy becoming a musician seemed weird to me, but it actually ended up working with her delightfully satirical debut album "Poppy.Computer". I personally like her sophomore album "Am I A Girl?" even better, as it showed a surprising amount of new styles, including rock and even metal. Poppy's newest album, "I Disagree", sees her almost entirely ditching the more satirical pop she's known for and instead going full-on rock/metal-pop. How does this change fair? Well, while the album isn't perfect, I still think it's a pretty interesting listen with some real high points.
The high points in this album are really high to me. I've had several songs on this album on repeat, so the fact that many cuts have high replay factor is a significant positive. The album gets started off with one of my absolute favorites, lead single "Concrete". I think this song more than any other embraces the weirdness that can come with a song that is full metal and full pop. For example Poppy says the phrase "Bury me six feet deep" with both a whispered metallic growl and a chirpy pop singing voice. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it just does. A lot of credit has to go to Poppy's backing band as well, who all do a great job at making the rocking segments of the album work. There's some impressive band work throughout this whole release, and this song is an early indicator of their talent. After this, we get the title track. I wasn't really a big fan of this song the first time I heard it. It's still not one of my favorites from the album, but I do like it considerably more now. It begins off with Poppy speaking in Japanese, which is a little bit odd. But it made me think that maybe this song was inspired somewhat by the Japanese band Babymetal, and this could have been her way of paying subtle tribute to them. I think this song is a bit more intriguing on a lyrical standpoint, as it seems to be Poppy's most personal stance against the music industry. It could also be said that Poppy is definitively breaking away from her AI persona in this song, as she is now starting to express disagreement, and have opinions of her own. It's a pretty cool concept, and I think it works well. Also, that chorus was catchy once it started growing on me. After this comes the most shocking track on the album, "BLOODMONEY". This song bludgeons you over the head when you first hear it. It's so big and loud, and Poppy sounds angrier than ever with her shouted vocals in the chorus. I'm not usually the biggest fan of noise rock, but this song really made that genre work for me. The screeching metallic backdrop creates an atmosphere that is altogether unsettling and made me feel uncomfortable the whole time. I could see people interpreting this song in two ways. To me, the song is a much more angry and pointed critique at music executives who think of themselves as elite over the artists the work with. They only care about the money, even if it means drawing blood from the artist, much like the song title suggests. The usage of religious imagery is clever in showing music execs' God complexes, and Poppy's unabashed anger adds that needed extra edge.
Next comes what is easily my favorite song on the album, "Anything Like Me". If you've read any of my other music reviews on this website, then you know that I am a sucker for a song that shifts between genres and makes it seem effortless. That is exactly what this song does. I also think we are actually hearing Mariah in this song more than the character of Poppy. Her vocals in parts of this song sound more raw and almost cracked. Poppy's voice tends to be more robotic, so I think it's significant that some of the vocals here sound relatively unfiltered. There's some pretty deep introspection where Mariah expresses a desire to lose the inhuman parts of herself "I feel her heart/Beating in me/Get her out of me...". This song makes the character of Poppy look a little different to me. Maybe Mariah is showing to us that adapting a dead-to-the-world personality like Poppy can be easy, but it is dangerous. There are parts of this song where Mariah turns into Poppy, and as an almost warning, she says "You shouldn't be anything like me". The way this song shifts genres is so cool, starting off as an acoustic ballad, then shifting into an electronic rock song, then going into an almost orchestral arrangement, and finally ending off in an almost metalcore-like style. All these shifts make this song incredibly compelling and enjoyable to listen to. It has potential to be one of my favorite songs of the year. "Fill The Crown" is a pretty solid rocker to end off the first half of the album. Unfortunately, the second half isn't as interesting, but there are still some highlights. "Sit/Stay" is another pointed attack at the music industry, and also gives some encouragement to artists who are feeling controlled. It tells them to disrupt the system and not give in to the demands of higher ups. "Bite Your Teeth" is a delightfully brutal metal assault, with what is easily the heaviest breakdown on the album. I don't think "Don't Go Outside" is as mind-blowing as it wants to be. However, I appreciate that this track closes off the album by bringing in lyrical snippets from three previous cuts on the album to make it feel cohesive.
There are a couple of issues I have with this album. Probably the broadest problem is the amount of genres done on this album. It can feel like tonal whiplash at times going between Poppy's varying attempts at metal-pop. There's no denying it can feel very weird to go from "BLOODMONEY" directly into "Anything Like Me", both of which are completely different from one another. What helps this issue from becoming too prevalent is that the songs are still mostly interesting enough on their own. There are a couple of specific tracks that just don't work well for me. "Nothing I Need" is a pretty dull ballad as a whole, not having many interesting progressions or lyrical ideas. I think this song needed more to it, as it just seems like it's built to have success on rock radio stations. "Sick of the Sun" isn't an awful track by any means, but I do think a song about Poppy's experiences with depression should've hit me harder. This is the track I remember the least from the album, and every time I listen to it, after it's over I forgot what I'd just heard. Finally, while I said that "Fill The Crown" was a solid rocker, I still have an issue with the way that Poppy uses stuttered vocals in the song. More often than not they come across as irritating and pointless. They don't ruin the song for me necessarily, but I've found myself not returning to the song as much because of said vocal effect.
Overall, Poppy's third album "I Disagree" is a pretty good release. I don't think it's quite the huge, game-changing album some people say it is, but at the same time I can understand why people would believe that. There are a lot of tracks here that are absolutely stellar and warrant repeat listens. So yeah, I recommend this album. Even if you're not a metal fan, I would say try it out. You might be surprised with what you find.
Before I reveal my favorite/least favorite tracks, I have a special announcement. I have decided to do YouTube Reviews again, and this time I'm dedicating to it! My YouTube name is the same as this site: JAS Reviews. Just because I am making video-from reviews doesn't mean my text reviews are going away. There will be less of them, however. I actually made a YouTube review for this album if you want to check it out. Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZBo-YOy8jA
Favorite Songs: "Anything Like Me", "BLOODMONEY", "Concrete", "Bite Your Teeth", "Sit/Stay"
Least Favorite Songs: "Nothing I Need", "Sick of the Sun"
