AM I A GIRL?

With Am I a Girl?, Poppy takes her music's questioning and blurring of reality to another level. Poppy.Computer's witty electropop was a logical extension of the videos that made her a viral celebrity; on her second album, Poppy focuses on this fame with songs that reflect what pop music sounds like outside of that self-contained world. Poppy's sense of humor is still evident when she sings about getting her nails done in one breath and reforming the state in another on "In a Minute" or coos "my hair and makeup make you envious and wanna die" on "Fashion After All." For every familiar-sounding song like "Iconic," there's an unexpected twist like her wish to see boys in bikinis ("they'd look good on you") on the L.A. snapshot "Girls in Bikinis," a shout-out to gender fluidity that's emphasized on the album's title track. Elsewhere, Poppy proves there's still some virtual life left in the project's original concept of technology versus humanity. On the standout "Time Is Up," Diplo's sleek, aloof production and Poppy's lyrics about humankind's growing obsolescence provide the album's best mix of mainstream pop trappings and high-concept lyrics. Likewise, the replicant lament "Hard Feelings" introduces Am I a Girl?'s fascination with heavy guitars, which evokes Babymetal as much as it does Limp Bizkit. It also recalls the work of Grimes, who appears on the Art Angels-esque "Play Destroy" and manages to sound more inhuman than Poppy with her helium coos and gremlin growls. While it's not as cohesive as Poppy.Computer, Am I a Girl? succeeds at expanding Poppy's sound and identity enough to keep fans listening and guessing. ~ Heather Phares