Whatโs the deal with Poppy? Itโs been years since her infectious introductions and plant interviews first took off on YouTube, and itโs still pretty hard to nail down exactly whoโor whatโPoppy is. Today, Poppy herself continues that line of questioning as she drops her sophomore album, AMIAGIRL? She tells us the album title means exactly what it asks: โSome days I feel like a boy, some days I feel like a girl, so I haven't figured it out yet.โ
The album doesnโt seek to answer that through its songsโAMIAGIRL?ย is 15 tracks of sugary sweet, robotic goth-pop, three-quarters of which explore โfashion and identityโ before moving onto โuncharted territory,โ an introduction to the pop-metal sound Poppy wishes to further develop.ย
As a Hollywood resident, Poppy has become mesmerized by the vanity that surrounds her every day, something she explores on the album. โI'm fascinated by people's obsession with how they look and how humans really do judge you within the first few seconds of meeting you,โ Poppy said. What she also finds fascinating, she added, is โhow people don't try to check facts first, and they just draw their own conclusion.โย
Perhaps what's most intriguing about this stance, and Poppy's fascination with judgment and vanity, is that she leaves what we know of her up to speculation. Even when giving a relatively long answer to a question, Poppy reveals little to nothing that we can latch onto, dig further into. Itโs all very surface-level, but Poppy is clearly so much more than that.ย
Perhaps Poppyโs interest in the immediacy with which people will make assumptions is what lets her reveal so little. When I asked Poppy about what she hopes fans, new and old, will learn about her from this album, Iโll admit, I asked the question twiceโonce, referring to Poppy, and a second time, referring to her as Moriah, the singerโs legal name. Without any hesitation, Poppy replied, โWell, thereโs nothing to learn about [Moriah]. There are only things to learn about Poppy, because thatโs me.โ Ifย Poppyโs obsessive fansย havenโt already figured out โhow much I like fashionโ and her tendency to jump from genre to genre, theyโll learn about that, but not much more.ย
After speaking with Poppy, reading through all of her previous interviews with various publications, I kept thinking about โA Cyborg Manifesto,โ an essay by Donna Haraway. If you didnโt pore over feminist theory in college (shout-out to my loans), donโt worry. I wonโt overwhelm you with the intellectual jargon. Essentially, in the essay, Haraway uses the notion of a cyborg as a metaphorical way for women to escape the traditional limitations of gender and feminist language.ย
Now, Iโm not trying to inscribe Poppy in the greater discourse of feminist theory by drawing these comparisons, but maybe Poppy chooses to function as a cyborg-esque figure, questioning gender, questioning identity, as a human below, thus forcing us to not discuss Poppy in the same way that female musicians have been discussed for as long as pop music has been a thing. In return, weโre forced to question Poppyโs motives, Poppyโs inspirations, in much more intricate way because she refuses a very fundamental descriptor.ย
For songs at a time, Poppy sings of shopping and putting on makeup, sticking with vanity-riddled themes. Of course, these arenโt things that Iโd prefer to be read as inherently associated with women, nor would I consider ruminating on them as something anti-feminist, but as they coincide with a titular questioning of gender, theyโre something to consider.ย
Thereโs no breaking away from Poppyโs refusal of human-hood. On โInterlude #1,โ weโre taken back to the startling introduction many of us had with Poppy, 48 seconds of mechanical noises undercutting a garbling repetition of the singer saying, โIโm Poppy.โ Poppy refers to it as โthe I'm Poppy machine being assembled.โย
Thereโs a second interlude, another moment where weโre reminded of Poppyโs mechanical aspects. This interlude, Poppy tells me, is โan intro to the new chapter.โ ย The singer plans to toy with a darker pop sound even more in the future, mentioning that she has artists ranging from Gary Numan to Nine Inch Nails and Skinny Puppy on heavy rotation as of late.ย
Though the change in soundscape is new for Poppy, the subject matter and imagery illustrated by the lyrics is intrinsic to the evolution of Poppy as a phenomenon of the internet.ย
Poppyโs first video to go truly viral no longer exists online in its original form, but was titled โHow to Load a Gun.โ The content is pretty self-explanatory, but Poppy pointed out, โI didnโt even fire it or do anything. I just loaded it.โ Poppy isnโt quite sure why, exactly, this video caused her to rapidly gain followers and views, but suggests, โmaybe they just really liked seeing a very sweet, innocent-looking girl with a very deadly weapon.โย
Poppy mentions that the video will be re-uploaded again at some pointโa decision which, in a year whereย 297 mass shootings have taken placeย in the United States, feels tone-deaf and shock-producing.ย
This fascination with violence, or rather the fascination with how we consume images of or relating to violence, reappears in the canon of Poppy on AMIAGIRL?ย with recent single โX,โ a track littered with lyrical paradoxes.
Poppy sings in the first verse, โI wanna love everyone/ Empty every bullet out of every gun/ Please take me back to where we began,โ but then flips moods in the chorus: โGet me, get me bloody, please get me bloody/ You can get down on your knees if you're naughty.โ Rather than blending the sonic inspirations across the album, Poppy directly flips from a sound suitable for a childrenโs album during the verses to the furthest extent of her dabbling with metal. Thereโs no in-between. Sheโs both calling out for peace and wishing for violence, not acknowledging that these two things must be mutually exclusive.ย
If you think too far into Poppy, it becomes difficult to enjoy Poppy.ย AMIAGIRL?ย provides no emotional relatability, nor does it convey any broader messages that are easy to latch onto. Itโs catchy and palatable; a polished work. But itโs just that until Poppy decides to reveal more, or until listeners and observers of the Poppy machine go mad trying to gain a deeper understanding of who or what Poppy is. Is she even a girl? I still donโt know.ย