A brand new single from Poppy’s upcoming album “Empty Hands” released on 12th November 2025. Titled “Bruised Sky”, Poppy has collaborated with former Bring Me The Horizon producer Jordan Fish, who has contributed to developing the overall structure of this new track, deepening the bold musical bond from where the partnership left off with 2024’s release “Negative Spaces”. “Empty Hands” is due to release 23rd January 2026 via Sumerian Records.
Within “Bruised Sky”, we gain an insight into the internal fighting and struggles between Poppy’s softer and darker sides. Emotionally charged lyrics like “There’s no hope to come for you, there’s no one left to get close to”, followed up with “The only way to cope, Is to see you as a disease” highlights the equal parts of defiance and vulnerability that Poppy is seeking to conjure up for us. The overall themes are of conflict and uncertainty, while also putting into words how easy it is for us flawed humans to feel isolated and spiral into oblivion while seeking a renewal or rebirth.
The accompanying music video, directed by Orie McGuinness, demonstrates a dystopian, post-apocalyptic, Angels vs. Demons scenario. We found some interesting parallels with some of our favourite scenes from the Star Wars franchise in the video, particularly the iconic showdown between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. We feel that the music video visualises the themes of “Bruised Sky” really effectively, demonstrating the conflict and struggle of the lyrics.
We absolutely loved this new single from Poppy; we think that it really demonstrates the journey Poppy is looking to take us on with her next chapter, and how much darker and heavier she might aspire to be in comparison to “Negative Spaces”. The creativity on display with the lyrics is impressive, as is Poppy’s vocal talent. It’s admirable how unafraid Poppy is to open up a more vulnerable side, tackling head on some of the, in our opinion, undeserved criticism she continues to get from some segments of the rock and metal communities. We are seriously looking forward to the release of “Empty Hands” in January!