The storyline of Poppy‘s career is completely baffling, transforming from a robotic and deeply disturbing figure in YouTube skits, to creating iconic bubble-gum pop, and now she finds herself as one of the most championed new voices in the alternative scene.
No matter her angle, she’s always managed to hold her devout core fans with her, which has always helped with spreading her agenda. However, this newest iteration of Poppy has really transformed into a life of its own. Huge collaborations with the likes of Bad Omens and Knocked Loose prior to this album’s release have only driven the hype even further.
The album’s opener ‘have you had enough?’ grows into its immensity at a slow pace, a tense electro-industrial sound flickering in the background before being accompanied by the deep guitar chugs. Instrumentally, it almost sounds like Mick Gordon misplaced a USB with deep-cut Doom tracks, more on that later though.
Those who remember some of Poppy’s earlier work will instantly recognise just how much better her vocal delivery is now. Previously her voice was screechy, inconsistent and generally rather unsafe, whereas now it sounds like there is a genuine level of technique involved. Of course, some of the vocal rawness from older songs has been lost as a result, but it certainly suits the level of production her heavier songs have reached.
The piano-driven ‘the cost of giving up’ has an air of familiarity to it, which is almost certainly down to the fact that ex-Bring Me The Horizon producer (and synth player) Jordan Fish is at the helm with the album’s production. To accuse it of being a scrapped song from the Sheffield-based metal-pop stalwarts would be false, but it’s fair to say that Fish’s production taste isn’t completely diverse. There are moments that show flairs of Poppy’s individuality, such as the music-box twinkle in the bridge, but these are few and fair between. It’s an early tell-tale about how much of this album falls foul to this style of production.
All of this is quickly beaten out of you as the immense sound of ‘they’re all around us’ starts. It’s a track that’s drums border on violent. It could even perhaps be one of Poppy’s heaviest songs to date. Juxtaposed with the gorgeous bubblegum-tinged chorus, it’s a fantastic display between two of Poppy’s artistic styles.
‘yesterday‘ serves as a respite from the album’s domineering metalcore, with Poppy’s soft-spoken vocals and the glimmering rising synths in the background bursting further into life as it transitions into ‘crystalized’. A song best described as an emotive dream-pop banger, and one that almost feels destined for the club dance floor. But in the context of Negative Spaces, however, it feels lost at sea.
The issue I mentioned previously regarding production rears its ugly head again on songs such as ‘vital’, ‘push go‘, and even ‘the center’s falling out‘. Each song is fine, the latter is even good. However, each one feels still manages to feel like there’s wasted potential. Previously, Poppy’s art has always felt so contemporary and progressive, to the point that much of the material on this album feels somewhat like stagnation. Sure, it’s newly trodden ground for Poppy, but for fans of the genre, it certainly doesn’t push any boundaries.
There are still some great moments towards the tail end of the album, the titular track ‘negative space’ is incredibly catchy, and while ‘new way out’ manages to feel even more like it was ripped from a Mick Gordon project than anything on the album before, the formula pays off, despite it’s repetitive nature.
Ultimately, I just don’t think Poppy hits the heights she could’ve with this album, and to be honest, not much of it is her fault. Vocally Poppy has come on leaps and bound from what she was laying down on ‘I Disagree’, but it’s the instrumental composition across most of the album that causes it to fall so flat. With it’s constant rise and fall, stop and start guitars, and industrial effects leading it down the path of bland and boring metalcore, which no amount of dream-pop vocals and interesting synths will ever save. While there are some truly vicious moments, it tends to end up being more bark than actual bite. But for an artist that has such an incredibly diverse and interesting discography up until this point, it’s a bittersweet listen.
