Review
Poppy‘s sixth studio album, Negative Spaces, was eagerly awaited and didn’t disappoint: in fact, according to Kerrang magazine, it made it to number 6 of the 50 best albums of 2024. Released on November 15, 2024 by Sumerian Records, this highly unpredictable album fully defines Poppy‘s more than avant-garde and subversive universe. Once again, Poppy shows us that she follows no rules, except her own! And with the release of her brand-new collaboration with BABYMETAL on April 4, 2025, the perfect occasion has come to revisit this bold and genre-defying record.
Between a groundbreaking collaboration and a new horizon!
There’s no doubt that Poppy‘s versatile universe has helped her consolidate a certain status within the alternative music scene over the years. Although she was already well known, her latest collaborations with Bad Omens on the track ‘V.A.N‘, with Knocked Loose on ‘Suffocate‘ and now with BABYMETAL on ‘from me to u” have definitely enabled her to expand her horizons while asserting her rightful place in the metal scene! It’s undeniable that these musical collaborations have put Poppy‘s talent in the spotlight, turning the phrase “who’s she again?” into “oh it’s featuring Poppy again”.
What about Negative Spaces now ?
So far, Negative Spaces is the longest album in Poppy‘s discography. Made up of no less than 15 tracks, all were co-written and produced by Jordan Fish, the former keyboardist and producer from Bring Me The Horizon. Following his departure from the band on December 22, 2023, Jordan Fish announced various collaborations with bands such as Architects, Fever 333 and Spiritbox. On Negative Spaces, his artistic influence is more than positively felt. This successful collaboration brings a certain depth to the album, which I feel has been lacking in Poppy‘s most recent releases. If his involvement was a significant turning point in Bring Me The Horizon‘s stylistic evolution, I feel that his collaboration with Poppy has had the same impact. Poppy‘s world and her voice are further brought to the fore.
Is it really possible to define Negative Spaces?
I’m sure that if you’ve listened to the whole album, you must have been confused at first! And it’s pretty normal, Negatives Spaces stands out on first listen as a work of contrasts, where the softness of earworm-accented pop tracks such as ‘crystallized‘ and ‘vital‘ meet visceral screams such as those heard on ‘the center’s falling out‘ and ‘they’re all around us‘. One word to describe the album would be that it is beyond eclectic, Negative Spaces defies convention while remaining accessible. It’s almost impossible to guess where each track is leading. Without being disconcerting, you let yourself be carried into Poppy‘s universe. Each track seems perfectly crafted, almost flawless.
What I especially appreciated in this new album were the brief references to other tracks she may have composed in the past. I’m thinking in particular of ‘they’re all around us‘, where the song is introduced by Poppy screaming “coward” in the same way as she did in her cover of Kittie‘s ‘Spit’. The album also contains allusions to other songs she has performed in the past, allowing long-time fans to find their way around this new opus.
The watchword of the album: duality!
Negative Spaces is a work of contrasts, where the softness of Poppy‘s voice stands side by side with the brutality of her screams. But that’s not all! In addition to this rather obvious duality, each track on the album almost seems to testify, simultaneously, to an inner dialogue in which the singer’s multiple questionings reach us without difficulty, but also to a stance taken by Poppy in which she defends and asserts her position within a scene where she has been – and unfortunately still is – heavily criticized. This is exemplified in the track ‘vital‘, where the simple lyrics “Why am I so divisive, I can’t fight it” could be a reference to her constant involvement in drama, to the fact that she is constantly brought back to her past, but also to her difficulty in finding her place in a more than diverse community that is not always receptive. This is reflected in the persistent comments that can easily be found under each of her videos, mentioning the fact that she should perform in one genre more than another. In a way, these comments demonstrate that, despite the clarity of Negative Spaces’ message, not everyone wants to hear that Poppy is a multi-faceted artist. She has never wanted to confine herself to a single genre, and this album is a perfect example of this. People who want her to fit into a specific framework are totally missing the essence of what she is: experimentation and absolute creative freedom. That’s why the lyrics “Why am I so divisive, I can’t fight it” sum up the album perfectly!
Swinging between contrast and clarity, personal questioning and strong claims, Negative Spaces defies convention, while remaining accessible to all thanks to its captivating melodies and impeccable production. With this album, Poppy doesn’t just ‘perform’ music, but embraces everything that revolves around and composes her work. In this sense, Negative Spaces also reflects all the expectations projected onto her art by her various listeners. Each track is a constant reminder of the artist’s tension between freedom and restriction, between what people expect of her and what she chooses to express. In short, as well as delivering a flawless evolution, Poppy’s new album demonstrates that it’s possible to excel in different styles in a blissfully non-messy way, with a remarkable immersion and depth!