Public Domain Lyrics & Meaning: Poppy’s Fierce Rebellion Against Commodification, Identity, and Modern Disillusionment

Public Domain Lyrics


[Verse 1]
Oh, I beg to differ
Lie to get to something bigger
What if there's nothing better than this?
It's all in your condition
F*ck your ignorant opinions
Maybe you ain't got a reason to live

[Pre-Chorus]
Can you bottle it?
Will you sell it for food?
Would you sleep with it?
Tell me who's using who?
Isn't it peculiar how the chatter fails to offer
Any solace in the light of the truth

[Chorus]
Ooh, don't need to know you to know you
I've seen you twice today
Tell me is no one ever even safe?
A sycophant will kill your will
Pacify her
It gives me chills
Where do we begin to fix the mess
That you began

[Verse 2]
I'm watching from the ledges
Keep a distance on the fences
Where the masochists and nihilists are
See them salivating
While their faces lose their shape and
All that's real is getting way too bizarre

[Pre-Chorus]
Can you bottle it?
Will you sell it for food?
Would you sleep with it?
Tell me who's using who?
Isn't it peculiar how the chatter fails to offer
Any solace in the light of the truth

[Chorus]
Ooh, don't need to know you to know you
I've seen you twice today
Tell me is no one ever even safe?
A sycophant will kill your will
Pacify her
It gives me chills
Where do we begin to fix the mess
That you began

[Post-Chorus]
Evil's working over time
In spite of it I'm doing fine
Where do we begin to fix the mess
That you began?

[Bridge]
The biting dogs have got the itch
The future is a seething b!tch
Maybe I'll be used by it
So maybe, just maybe
I've seen your face, and face again
In the horrors of the present tense
Believe only half of what you see
And none of what they said

[Instrumental Outro]
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Public Domain Song Meaning [Poppy]

Poppy’s "Public Domain" opens Empty Hands, the artist’s seventh studio album released January 23, 2026 via Sumerian Records. Produced and co-written with Jordan Fish, known for his work with Bring Me the Horizon, this track sets the tone for an album that blends industrial textures, metalcore aggression, and sardonic lyrical energy into something defiantly her own. As the opening cut, "Public Domain" introduces listeners to a world where authenticity, ownership, and the chaos of contemporary life collide, reflecting a creative evolution that sees Poppy leaning further into raw, confrontational rock while expanding beyond genre confines.

Song Meaning:

From the outset, "Public Domain" confronts the listener with sharp challenges to complacency and superficial judgments. The opening lines — delivered with mechanical intensity and a hint of mockery — suggest a rupture with conventional expectations, probing what it means to believe in something deeper than surface-level validation. This isn’t a song that fetches easy comfort; it tests the listener’s readiness to question their own assumptions and the external narratives that shape perception.

As the track builds, it morphs into a critique of transactional relationships and reductionist thinking. The imagery of commodification — whether of ideas, identity, or trust — unfolds against jagged, industrial-colored instrumentation. Here, Poppy seems to ask who truly holds influence and who is being used by the very systems they laud. The chorus neither romanticizes connection nor retreats into isolation; instead, it reflects a dizzying awareness of how intertwined human interactions have become with performance, surveillance, and the hunger for visibility.

In its next movement, the song shifts perspective to an observant, almost detached vantage point on societal fringes. Poppy positions herself as an onlooker to extremes — where nihilism, masochism, and spectacle blur into the bizarre. This sense of watching from the ledges underscores a theme that recurs throughout the album: a pursuit of meaning in an environment that increasingly feels disorienting and unpredictable.

The bridge of Public Domain intensifies the song’s internal logic. It invokes paradox and contradiction — the future as both alluring and hostile, memory as a place where faces repeatedly appear and dissolve. By urging listeners to trust selectively, Poppy heightens the song’s anxiety about authenticity and truth in an era dominated by noise, imitation, and fleeting impressions.

Emotional Core and Themes:

At its heart, "Public Domain" is driven by defiance and scrutiny. It channels frustration with a culture that reduces depth to sound bites and employs cynicism as a defense against sincerity. The emotional core is both combative and reflective: a refusal to accept easy answers, and a relentless interrogation of how value — personal, artistic, or cultural — is assigned and manipulated. This theme resonates across Empty Hands as a whole, which critics note pairs industrial grit with visceral confrontation, portraying Poppy at her most unfiltered and provocative.

Connection with Listeners:

"Public Domain" doesn’t ask for passive listeners; it invites active engagement. By rejecting platitudes and provoking questions about authenticity and ownership, the track taps into a broader cultural unease — from social media performance to the erosion of private versus public selfhood. Its bold stance resonates with listeners who feel alienated by surface-level discourse and crave music that reflects emotional complexity rather than easy categorization. Whether interpreted as a critique of algorithmic validation, commercial exchange, or interpersonal superficiality, the song thrives on ambiguity and sparks introspection.

Conclusion:

As the opening salvo of "Empty Hands", "Public Domain" marks a return to Poppy’s most daring impulses: abrasive, intelligent, and unafraid to confront the listener with uncomfortable truths. Its fusion of industrial textures and incisive lyricism works not just as a musical statement, but as a philosophical one — challenging listeners to rethink what is genuinely personal in a world where everything is instantly shared, dissected, and repurposed. Bold and confrontational, the song anchors the album’s exploration of truth, connection, and the fragments of self that persist through noise and spectacle.
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Music Video


Song Details

Song Name: Public Domain
Artist: Poppy
Album: Empty Hands (2026)
Lyricist: Poppy & Jordan Fish
Producers: Jordan Fish
Genre: Rock
Language: English
Label: Sumerian Records
Released: January 23, 2026

[Disclaimer: Lyrics are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All rights belong to the original owners.]