Flux

The world’s first introduction to Poppy, the musical identity of Moriah Rose Pereira, was on YouTube. Posting postmodern performance art videos as Poppy, the uncanny valley ASMR android, she enamored and confused audiences with her abstractions, like whispering “I’m Poppy” on repeat for 10 minutes. Then came her music career—still in robotic character—cheery-sounding, existentialist synth-pop like 2017’s Poppy.Computer and 2018’s Am I a Girl? In 2020, she shifted gears again, releasing I Disagree, an eclectic mix of feverish hyperpop and metal. Flux is a continuation of that heavy impulse, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Deafheaven, Jimmy Eat World). The record begins with the title track, a screech of asymmetrical noise, the clattering of drums, overdrive guitars, vocals like a hellish Avril Lavigne fronting Nine Inch Nails. From there, her post-genre interests abound: the glam “Cherry Bomb” punk of “Lessen the Damage,” dreamy electro-pop on “Hysteria,” shoegaze on “As Strange as It Seems”—her AI personality even makes a reappearance on the pop-punky “So Mean” (“How did I get here?” she asks in a familiar monotone).