Following the bizarre and twisted brand of úber-pop and nu-metal mariah that Moriah Pereira (Poppy) tapped into for 2020’s I Disagree has been strained even further now we come to Zig (Sumerian). Her Flux album was the pop-punk bridge making her fifth album the next logical maturation point.
Her branding is the biggest change in what happens here, aside from the lack of guitars or other organic instruments. Poppy’s persona up to this point, has given her the illusion of being perhaps a virtual reality avatar or a pop star, rather than her zipping herself into an actual latex jumpsuit. It is difficult to discern what is real, is she seriously singing about cars and her nails on “Hard” or is this her poking fun at the things flesh and blood humans place value in.
To create the transformation in her new sonic persona, her vocal performance has smoothed way down. There is less of the soft little girl in a cartoon world cooing, and a lower breathy moan steaming up the vocal booth. Her more aggressive vocal outbursts remain brief. At times she might remind you of a more objectified version of Grimes. Her vocal phrasing often defaults to a more hip-hop-influenced staccato.
Zig opens with the groove of “Church Outfit”. She displays a more brazen pop attitude, powering her anime like a siren’s call. She does scream a tad, but it’s mixed behind her more sexualized purr.
The first noticeable guitar is on “1s 0s”. Yeah, she is playing a bass in the video for “Hard” but that is not the sound that is coming from the speakers. The title track is one of the album’s strongest songs, as it incorporates beefy rock guitar, allowing her to not feel forced to make her vocal melodies adhere to the pop rule book. There are other experimentations like the breakbeat drumming keeping “The Attic” moving with more purpose than what you might expect from a pop ballad. For every song with a more minimalist approach to the beat, there is a song like “Motorbike” which is carried by a funkier futuristic groove. Another highlight is the jarring bipolar twist to the last song. That is what this album needed a little more as it is what made I Disagree stand out.
These songs are not trying to be as hooky as the more saccharine pop artists turning tricks for their record labels. Poppy uses a more subtle style of songwriting that proves she does not need the same assembly line of producers and songwriters to make an album like the Sam Smiths or Doja Cats of the world. This is well-crafted radio-ready pop music that is still run through her eccentric filter.
Poppy retains enough of her internet oddity persona, to set her apart from the TikTok pandering artists your kids are listening to. If you like left-of-center pop music in the same sonic zip code as Charli XCX, you are in the right place as Moriah proved she could put the Poppy into pop star here.
Buy the album here:
8 / 10
WIL CIFER