Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante Pretends to Be Poppy During Grammys Interview Mix-Up

Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante has expertly rolled with a red carpet mix-up at the Grammys this year, adopting the guise of fellow nominee Poppy after an interviewer confused the two artists.

The high-profile case of mistaken identity occurred on LaPlante’s way into the ceremony, where she was nominated for Best Metal Performance with the rest of Spiritbox for their track “Cellar Door”. 

The category was ultimately won by French band Gojira, whose performance of “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)” (as heard at the 2024 Olympics opening ceremony) was a collaboration with Swiss soprano Marina Viotti and Victor Le Masne. Elsewhere in the nominations was Metallica’s “Screaming Suicide”, Judas Priest’s “Crown of Horns”, and Knocked Loose’s collaboration with Poppy, “Suffocation”.

However, confusion reigned during LaPlante’s appearance on the red carpet where she took part in an interview, only to be introduced as Poppy. Offering a slightly confused look to the off-camera interviewer, LaPlante decided instead to roll with it and continued the conversation as her fellow nominee.

“I am Poppy, and I am really happy to be here, nominated with Knocked Loose,” LaPlante replied slyly. “I really hope we win.”

Noting she had just finished chatting to Judas Priest, the interviewer goes on to mention it’s not Poppy’s first time being nominated, referencing her nod for “Bloodmoney” in 2021.

“Really happy to be here again, would love to take home the Grammy for Knocked Loose and myself because I would be the first woman to win this award,” LaPlante added. “I actually haven’t looked at [how many women have been nominated previously] but I just always know that it’s time for one of us to win. I hope it’s me, or Spiritbox and Courtney.”

LaPlante then answered further questions under Poppy’s guise, referring to Knocked Loose’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a “huge moment for our scene”, and reflected on the lack of female representation in the metal category at the Grammys before handing back the microphone without incident.

Spiritbox formed in Canada in 2017 and released their debut album, Eternal Blue, four years later, with the record peaking at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and topping the Top Rock Albums chart. 

In 2023, they issued their fourth EP, The Fear of Fear, with opening track “Jaded” giving them their first Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance in 2024. Their recently-nominated track, “Cellar Door”, was also lifted from the same EP. The band are currently slated to release their second full-length album, Tsunami Sea, in March.