I Disagree

The result is very convincing; as much a young artist finding her voice as an AI besting the machine.

For every comparison you can make of individual moments, there is little here that you can honestly say you’ve heard before, and little that can be judged on traditional terms. But that’s what makes her such a fascinating force.

I Disagree is surreal, genre bending, heavy, light, childish and mature all at once.

As both a symbolic avatar for her life changes and a strong empowerment statement, I Disagree celebrates Poppy's rebirth as a pop-metal alchemist and unabashed rule-breaker.

I Disagree is her most accomplished record, full of daring theatre and snarling forward motion. While all our favourite rock bands are going pop, Poppy is unapologetically embracing her desire to go heavy. It might be inspired by the bands she grew up listening to, but there’s not a moment on ‘I Disagree’ that feels like a throwback.

I Disagree is decidedly “post-genre,” tossing Poppy’s pop aesthetic into the shredder with heavy metal and industrial rock, previously only hinted at on the tail end of 2018’s Am I a Girl? “Concrete” shifts abruptly between tempos and genres, between commercial jingles and Beatles-esque chamber-pop, all shot through with roaring electric guitar riffs. That might sound incoherent, but it serves as a bold, deftly executed mission statement.

This album is going to seriously divide opinions across the spectrum, from the trvest of metal sugariest of pop stans. But Poppy remains a daring and divisive artist making daring and divisive art, and ‘I Disagree’ is the perfect shot of adrenaline to kick start a new decade with.

Essentially, this is sugar-rush, hyperactive pop music for people with the attention span of a gnat.

She has expanded her musicality while also challenging genre conventions. A major shift from her previous endeavors, I Disagree will challenge her established fans while amassing new appreciation for the artist.

No single passage lasts very long, which gives even the prettier moments an unstable feeling, like everything might at any moment crumble into a void of distortion and noise. Throughout, her lyrics are venomous and apocalyptic.

Respite is offered up by the lilting Don't Go Outside, which reveals a beating heart beneath the conceptual framework. [Mar 2020, p.120]

I Disagree is a record you’ll want to enjoy, but not necessarily analyze. It’s perfect for a romp down the highway at 90 MPH, or engulfing your personal critics in flames. It’s not going to spark much conversation intellectually or musically, with the caveat to the latter being the obvious hype that will emanate from just how contagiously fun it is.

Overall, an enjoyable, imaginative and at times uncanny assault on the senses.

Of course, this is Poppy, and so repetitive, Twitter bot-like lyrics remain the norm (“Chewy chewy / Yummy yummy yummy”, goes one refrain). But there are moments of musical complexity and bracing sincerity that her previous albums have lacked.