Poppy released “the cost of giving up” on October 15, 2024, alongside “crystallized.” The two songs previewed different sides of her sixth studio album, Negative Spaces, placing the heavier “the cost of giving up” beside a track built around synthpop. Both emerged from her collaboration with producer Jordan Fish and songwriter Stephen Harrison.
Poppy, Fish and Harrison shared writing credits on “the cost of giving up,” with Fish producing and Harrison credited as production assistant. The partnership had gained momentum earlier in 2024. Poppy recalled in a November interview with Kerrang! that the three had written “new way out” around February and continued working together afterward.
Those sessions followed friendships that had developed over several years. Poppy had met Fish in a Los Angeles studio, crossed paths with him on tour and stayed in touch. She knew Harrison through earlier work on “Scary Mask,” and their friendship included meeting up outside music. Getting the three of them into a room was an opportunity to see what those relationships could produce.
Fish’s familiarity with different styles suited the way she wanted to work. Poppy described their sessions as friends challenging one another, with room to follow different musical impulses. The simultaneous release of “the cost of giving up” and “crystallized” made that range particularly clear before listeners had the full album.
“I love pop music, but I like doing it on my own terms,” she told Kerrang!, explaining that lighter, catchy material helped balance the record’s intensity.
That balance also shaped how she discussed Negative Spaces after its release. In a separate Kerrang! interview published in 2025, Poppy described the album as a combination of sounds she enjoyed rather than something governed by a strict set of genre rules. She also resisted reducing its writing to a single story about escaping her past. Reflection was part of the record, but she said individual songs could contain several themes.
Negative Spaces arrived through Sumerian Records on November 15, 2024, with “the cost of giving up” positioned second in its 15-song sequence. “Crystallized” appeared later in the same opening stretch, preserving the contrast introduced by their shared release.
The song continued into the album’s live promotion. On March 10, 2025, Poppy performed it with her band on Jimmy Kimmel Live, returning to the program after appearing with Knocked Loose for “Suffocate” the previous November. Four days later, she released the official “the cost of giving up” visualizer, directed by Sam Cannon.
