American singer, songwriter and musician Poppy drops her new album Empty Hands tomorrow.
The musical ensemble is expected to be
lyrically ‘visceral and cynical’ as it primarily tackles the theme of greed.
It features the elements of industrial
music, pop sensibilities and a return to the artist’s surrealist roots.
“The sentiment of Empty Hands has a couple
of layers to it depending on how you take it in or what it means to you,” Poppy
said in an interview.
“A few of them are obvious and a few of
them are a little bit coyer. The message that is pertinent to me in relation to
this is – when there are a lot of people that are trying to grab and take, what
is all of it for,” she added.
“Because when we leave, none of it is ours
anyway – whether it’s money or recognition or anything superficial. Why are you
being so greedy when it’s not coming with you into the afterlife?”
The artist, Moriah Rose Pereira, formerly
known as That Poppy, is also a YouTuber, and earned recognition for her
performance art videos on the platform from 2014 to 2019. In them, she played
an uncanny valley-like android, satirising Internet culture and modern
society. Since then, she has become more
widely known for being experimental and versatile with her artistry.
Her debut album Poppy.Computer (2017)
featured art pop and Japanese-inspired elements.
In 2020, she reinvented herself with I
Disagree and gained popularity as a heavy metal singer.
The record garnered the creative talent her
first Grammy nomination for the single Bloodmoney, which marked her as the
first solo female artist to be nominated in the Best Metal Performance
category.
Regarding her musical journey, the singer
revealed that finding comfort in discomfort is what keeps her shapeshifting and
that she plans to continue exploring and experimenting.
“I haven’t really found my place. To me, if
I’m looked at in such a way as belonging, that’s uncomfortable, because I don’t
really feel like I came up in a particular scene. The discontent fuels the
exploration in all directions and wanting to learn more about things that
interest me,” she explained.
