Bad Omens and Poppy - 'V.A.N'
Alternative chart-topping four-piece Bad Omens and multi-hyphenate Poppy join forces on new intense single ‘V.A.N’.
The new gripping single, ‘V.A.N’ is the first glimpse of what Bad Omens will be offering on their upcoming album the ‘CONCRETE FOREVER’ project, which is an experimental extension of their hit LP, ‘THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND’ and their soundtrack to their ‘Concrete Jungle’ comic book universe.
Bad Omens are coming off their wildly successful two years with the explosive success of their 2022 breakthrough third studio album ‘The Death of Peace of Mind’ which was hailed as ‘a stunning fusion of dark, Weeknd-esque pop and industrialized metalcore’ from Revolver. This album has racked up over 940 million streams globally and surged Bad Omens to over 1.5 billion streams.
Their hardworking ascension was driven in part by ‘The Death of Peace of Mind’s’ hit single ‘Just Pretend’ which experienced a viral TikTok moment that yielded a growing and dedicated fanbase who had catapulted them into the spotlight. ‘Just Pretend’ became Bad Omens’ first RIAA-certified Gold Single as it reached #1 at US Alternative Radio and smashed multiple Billboard Year-End charts coming in at #1 on Hot Hard Rock Songs, #6 on Alternative Airplay Songs, #11 on Rock and Alternative Airplay Songs and reached many more top charts. Bad Omens continue their climb with the albums seductive title track, ‘The Death of Peace of Mind’ which became RIAA Gold certified in January 2024 and which currently sits at #23 on Mediabase Alternative Radio Charts. The genre-defiers continue to grow as they earned a nomination for Best New Artist at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The new track, ‘V.A.N’ is an industrial metal masterpiece about an artificial intelligence entity that is set out on a course to destroy humanity. This single immediately captivates the listener with Bad Omens’ hypnotic production and Poppy’s angelic vocals as she takes on the role of the Concrete Jungle Universe AI character ‘V.A.N’. As the track goes on it shock-transitions into a powerful onslaught of frantic drums and heavy guitars along with Poppy’s whispering vocals evolving into otherworldly tones to aggro screams.
When asked about the approach to creating ‘V.A.N’ frontman Noah Sebastian explained the song started with just the hook ‘violence against nature’ and then “after saving the project with the acronym and seeing it we realized it could be fun to think of ‘VAN’ as a name. Thus the rabbit hole of ideas began that led us to decide to write lyrics from the perspective of an artificial intelligence gone rogue.”
Playing off the AI concept of ‘V.A.N’ and taking additional visual inspiration from the videogame Portal, the film Ex Machina and Stranger Things, the story of this single is brought to life by a visually stunning sci-fi thriller. In the mini film written by Noah Sebastian, Poppy and Garrett Nicholson, GRAMMY nominated Poppy portrays a synthetic human who is being held captive and is subjected to experiments in a laboratory, where she eventually escapes and embarks on a murderous rampage.
Collaborator Poppy who originated from a dance background, with her first steps in the creative world beginning with performance art video vignettes which evolved and allowed the unique Poppy to dig deep visually and experiment sonically to create something new. After releasing her 2020 album ‘I Disagree’ which tailed in over 100 million streams and track ‘BLOODMONEY’ earned a GRAMMY nomination for the Best Metal Performance, and Poppy was the first ever solo female artist who was nominated in this category.
Poppy’s recent 2023 album ‘Zig’ reflects an artist who has been in the public eye since her late teens coming into her own in her late 20’s as a woman who knows what she wants and who she is. Since Zig’s release, it has earned over 12 million streams globally, which launched Poppy to 663 million streams globally, and reaching #8 on Billboard’s Current Alternative Albums Charts and #9 on Billboard’s Current Rock Album Charts.
Fans will be able to get to experience this outstanding single ‘V.A.N’ for the first time on their Europea leg of the Bad Omens ‘Concrete Forever’ tour with Poppy’. This tour will be kicking off on the 27th of January in Berlin and international fans will be able to tune in to this experience via livestreams of the sold out shows from Cologne on the 28th and 29th of January on VEEPS.
Poppy has also recently concluded their 17-date co headlining Godless/goddess tour and delivered an electric performance at Mexico City’s Hell and Heaven Festival. 2024 is shaping up to be a massive year for Poppy, as after embarking on the Concrete Forever tour with Bad Omens, she will be headlining Zig tour across Europe and then will be supporting Avenged Sevenfold on their month-long run across North America, and Poppy will be following this by opening for Thirty Seconds to Mars on their tour.
Recently, Bad Omens supported Bring Me The Horizon on their massive UK + Ireland arena tour which drew praise from the likes of Rolling Stone UK who said, “frontman Noah Sebastian had 20,000 people bending to his will for the band’s entire set, with his piercing melodies and guttural growls cutting through crazed screams, tears and longing from fans,” in their glowing review.
Words by Bethany Simms
