Grimes Assists Poppy on New Metal-Pop Song ‘Play Destroy’

Grimes joins singer-songwriter Poppy on her experimental new song, “Play Destroy.” The disorienting track flips between snarling industrial-metal verses and pillowy synth-pop choruses. Poppy adds to the stylistic contrast with her vocals, singing destructive lyrics in a soft coo.

“This is how we play, this is how we play destroy/ Manipulate the girls, indoctrinate the boys,” she observes on the hook, adding later, “Burn down the local Way Mart/ Drop a match in the gas tank, blow up your neighbor’s pool.”

“Play Destroy” appears on Poppy’s new LP, Am I a Girl? – her second issued through Diplo’s Mad Decent label. The DJ-producer makes a guest spot on the album’s second single, “Time Is Up.” Am I a Girl? follows Poppy’s 2017 record, Poppy.Computer, which Rolling Stone named the year’s 19th-best pop release. 

Grimes has yet to detail her upcoming fifth LP, which will follow 2015’s Art Angels, though in February she teased a potential fall 2018 release date. The art-pop singer recently appeared on Janelle Monáe’s single “PYNK” and composed the theme song to the animated Netflix series Hilda.