Poppy Rose Reflects On The Songs That Guide Her Life

Following years of learning, healing and reflection, Poppy Rose has emerged as one of Australia's most unique voices in hip hop. Originally hailing from Wagga Wagga in NSW, Poppy was confronted by musical inspiration from her brother's iPod where she was introduced to the world of A Tribe Called Quest, Tupac, Biggie Smalls and J.Cole.

Following a trip to Melbourne to to see A$AP Rocky live in concert, Poppy realised her own dreams to also be on stage, moving to Australia's cultural hub and began to work through the city's open mic scene. She became known to audiences for the first time in 2017 with her breakout single Ocean, which was defined by its DIY qualities and effortless flow.

What followed was two years of battling issues with addiction triggered by the global sidelining of creatives during the great pause in 2020 and 2021. Since then, she's utilising the healing and learning through these difficult periods to create a new era of her music, one that resulted from a process of soul-searching. The first taste of this new era is her new single My God, which showcases her ability as a truly unique songwriter. It was written and produced by Poppy with additional production from HAMLEY and was mixed and mastered by Matt Fioravanti. 

On the track she said, "My God is an anthem about reclaiming myself from a struggle with addiction. I wanted to create a song that was empowering and fun that reminded me of all the things I'm capable of. I started playing around with 808 melodies and MIDI trumpets which kicked off the melody for the chorus and the inspiration for the verses.

"I like trumpets because they remind me of the word 'triumphant'. My God is just the beginning of the story I want to tell about myself in the hope that someone else out there can relate to it in one way or another. I wanted to create a song that’s catchy, fun and also serious, because I figured if I put all of those together, then maybe I can get some points across. I wanna destigmatize the stigmas."

To get to know the emerging artists sonic world, we dive deep into their creative mind and asked them the songs that guide her life. 

A Song That Reminds Me Of A Best Friend
Well, i have to shoutout this one to my cat 'Chonky' cause he loves me unconditionally and truly is my best friend. We go everywhere together, he likes to be big spoon and even though I am his owner, Chonky most definitely owns me. Love you chonky babe!

A Song That Changed Your Music Taste Forever
Kanyes earlier albums 'College Dropout' and 'Graduation' had a big influence on me growing up and they might even be the reason why I picked up the pen. I pinned it down to 'All Falls Down' because I love the storytelling in the verses, and how Kanye turns it back on himself in the second verse and talks about his own insecurity which was something I never really heard rappers talking about 10-15 years ago and is still very rare in hiphop. Not to mention, the chorus which is originally from the queen, Ms. Lauryn Hill's song 'Mystery of Iniquity' who is one of the first female singers and rappers music that I really resonated with. The rapping verses and melodic/singing chorus in 'All Falls Down' is the same structure to how I write most of my songs.                                   

A Song You Play After A Long Day
The flow, the lyrics and the ambient sounds and vocals let my mind drift away from everything I have on my own mind and it takes me to a place where I dont have to worry for a moment, and at the same time brings me back to the present moment whilst listening. This is what I need after a long day and this song does that for me.

The Perfect Love Song
Man, this song just hits me in a way like no other. It's too real. I believe our perception of love starts from our parents, this relationship is the most complicated one for me. They brought us into this world and they are in our DNA. It's the perfect love song because I always love my parents but there have been times where I thought 'fuck you!' you know? Little Simz encapsulates a relationship with a parent so perfectly in these lyrics and reminds me of why we forgive; "I'm not forgivin' for you, man, im forgivin' for me".

A Song That Makes You Feel Like A Total Boss
BEAT SWITCH, BEAT SWITCH, FLOW x100000000, FEMALE BOSSES oooooofffftttttt, I love this song! The cadence on this track and the flow is just unmatchable. The beat is so hard. The beat switches give me ankle breaker vibe in basketball. There's no way I can listen to this song and sit still. Put this on, I'm ready for anything. Lets GO!!!!!!

A Song That Reminds You Of A Warm Hug
Just a beautiful song by a beautiful soul. It's hard not to get emotional listening to Mac but listening to the lyrics in 2009 and the purposefully simple beat and piano gives me a feeling of hopefulness. I can relate to the lessons in the lyrics and the realisations of overcoming darker times and being stronger because of it. What a beautiful gift Mac Miller gave to the world.

The Favourite Song You've Ever Written
My favourite released song I've wrote is 'My God'. I pieced the lyrics together so they have punchlines and clever use of words. In the second verse, the first sentence says 'will' five times which creates a methodical sentence and then each sentence after that ends in a word that is then taken into the end of the next rhyme but doesnt finish with the same word as the sentence before... does that make sense? Give the track a listen and see if you can figure it out ;)

A Song By Your Biggest Inspiration
J. Cole has always inspired me to keep everything real, honest and his music has been a big part of my life since 2011 (Cole World: The Sideline Story). I love his smart lyrics, stories, melodies, singing and the production in his songs. My older brothers are probably my biggest inspiration for showing me all of the music I grew up listening to and there are a lot of stories in hip hop about overcoming struggles and as a little girl it's what I needed to hear. Music is what I turned to for hope and guidance. "I wish somebody made guidelines, on how to get up off the sidelines."