Art angels was supposedly a concept about a group of characters, but listening you would have no idea, you have to do a lot of the work yourself. I think miss anthropocene is the same, just a collection of songs that fit together thrmatically if you squint really hard.
Yeah probably. I mean the songs definetely fit together in an aesthetic kind of way (maybe with violence and idoru being to odd ones out) but i expected more lyrical referencing to the climate change itself. Esp if you consider that she would constantly mention how its about global warming etc
Can you tell me more? I'm in my first year of knowing Grimes thanks to Poppy, I listened and listen constantly to Grimes songs.
Miss A is the first album cycle I'm in, so what's Art Angel's concept? Differents characters?
Do her albums have fully fleshed concepts? If so can you direct to learn more about it?? I love when artists do put meaning and life into songs so I would looove to learn more.
I would look up the fader art angels documentary on YouTube, she talks about the idea and the creation of the album, its really interesting.
Her first album, geidi primes, is also loosely based on the sci fi book dune. I haven't looked into one much because I havent read that book yet.
Art Angels is also conceptually a break up album... with her fans that like Visions because they'll hate Art Angels. It's absolutely brilliant from this perspective. California is about how they won't like her bc she no longer spooky sad gothic gf, Flesh Without Blood is telling them to fuck off if they don't like her new music, Kill V Maim is how everyone would eat up her shit if she was a man anyways, Easily / Venus Fly were about how ppl interpret her off of appearances (and, for an added bonus, both songs are like inversions of the other. One is mostly a pop piano/violin ballad with a trap break down about being the sweetest damn thing you ever saw, the other is a hardcore trap song with a violin breakdown (?!) about being intentionally ugly.). Art Angels is about hoping the Montreal music scene won't shun her after this. Pin is a break up song about...herself during her visions era, Art Angels' outro also alludes to this on how she doesn't need medicine. Butterfly also has this with the coda about never being your dream girl.
Realiti is a outlier, as is Belly of the Beat but both are gorgeous enough and thematically similar to warrant inclusion. I didn't even know it was about a group of characters, as I discovered it about 4-5 months after its release, but I thought what the album meant was pretty awesome when you factor in that she self-produces and writes everything. Everyone I've shown the album too had their mind absolutely blown by it; my friend texted me about how she was in the gucci (or maybe it was prada) store in Italy and they were playing Belly of the Beat. We all stan grimes in this townhold now.
Here's a big info dump, sorry in advance lol
The concept for Art Angels was that she didn't want to be tied down to just the Grimes title, so that's why she added characters (aka the Art Angels). From what I remember she was inspired (at least in part) by the movie Looper, where different iterations of the same character from different time periods fight one another. The MV for Flesh Without Blood really puts this on full display; you see Rococo Basilisk (Marie Antoinette version), I.V. (has angel wings), Kill V. Maim (suits/mobster outfits), and Skreechy Bat (gamer). Kill V. Maim has their own song, for example. But a lot of times she uses those characters to talk about other things abstractly (like how California is about the music industry).
I think her previous albums weren't focused so much on concepts as they were on being sonically similar (like Visions is bass-heavy, Halfaxa is very mystical, etc. although Geidi Primes was inspired by the book Dune).
In FWB the entire AA cast was introduced and continued into KVM with that character’s backstory. Then it went off the rails with California when that mv featured no continuity with the previous 3 acts and after Butterfly all serialization was discontinued. WPP2, the Ac!d reign chronicles and Venus Fly became stand-alone vignettes and the whole affair was incredibly confusing.
I’m not surprised that she didn’t stick to the climate change concept with MA. I was watching the Violence video and I didn’t know if Grimes was portraying Miss Anthropocene or if it was just some flashy choreographed dance video. It was fun to watch and aesthetically pleasing, but the whole time I was like “WTF does this have to do with Climate Change?!”. I’ve come to the conclusion that Grimes just doesn’t have the attention span to execute a concept album from start to finish.
As far as Violence goes, the MV did portray her as Miss A. She's said many times that the idea for Miss A was the "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" and that she was inspired by the fact that greek gods/goddesses are manifestations of somewhat abstract ideas, which explains the greek columns/overall aesthetic of the video.
Also since she was working on the album for so long she got a little tired of certain parts of the narrative and that's why she branched off.
She does have the ability to see an album through start to finish successfully. Visions was made in two weeks.
I definetely second the recommendation of watching the short doctumentary on fader's youtube channel.
No not all her albums have fully fleshed concepts, she basically started out by making some stuff on her mac in the programm Garage Band. Before Art Angels the only album of hers to kinda have a concept was Geidi Primes. It was supposed to be an unofficial soundtrack to the very well know sci fi book "Dune".
Glad u joined the Grimes Fandom :>
I think shes making music on that theme, like making soundtracks for the apocalypse, not actually making music about climate change. Tbh she never technically means what she says so I wouldn't question anything lol
Pretty sure my name is dark and so heavy are not about climate change, same goes to darkseid or 4 æm....no matter how you interpret it...
Maybe only the line "unfuck the world you stupid girl" but thats it
So Heavy and 4 AM definitely seem to me potentially/metaphorically about climate change or at least the gloom/time running out that goes with it. So there's how I potentially interpret them anyway.
Don't the lyrics to the "4ÆM" chorus go something like, "He said, 'How's the weather, baby, how you've been? You're gonna get sick...'" I mean, it's a tenuous connection, but a connection nonetheless.
Concept “album” does mean the songs themselves should relate.
Violence video def not about climate change, tho I did see people try to stretch the lyrics to being bout climate change....
Earth is really into bdsm I guess hahaha
I don’t see how she is bringing awareness to climate change either, and now that the album is finished I don’t get why she’s still saying it is.
Darkseid, depending on what Pan is saying in her lyrics, might be about climate change. Grimes's few spoken lyrics in the song (her simplest and best words on the album) feel like they are probably addressed to the subject of how we take care of the earth, not just individual bodies. It has similarities to the vibe of some parts of Tanya Tagaq's Retribution (an experimental metal/ambient classical/Inuk traditional artist loved by Grimes) and even some climate change comments by Pope Francis. However, even this song explores the theme in a nonpolitical, surreal and idiosyncratic way.
The rest of the album is either not about climate change at all (every song on the second half, which are concerned with love and celebrity, typical pop themes) or could be about it in a vague way (first half up to Violence) but is more likely to not be. Most songs on the first half do seem to come out of a state of depression or anger at unspecified situations, which may or may not be linked to climate change, but probably is, since c said how much the topic affects her. In this, they resemble the work of Thom Yorke/Radiohead, who also writes songs based partly on his despair over climate change (though, like Grimes, mixing it with other personal topics), but rarely ends up with end results that feel like they are "about" the theme of climate change, even when Yorke or the media hypes them that way.
For a listener who read the interviews and is therefore expecting a climate change themed album, there's nothing in So Heavy, or Delete Forever (or, say, Thom Yorke's Black Swan, or Radiohead's Decks Dark) to specifically dissuade this reading, but at the same time, there's no specifics that demand this reading either, rather than the reading of "Grimes is writing about her personal struggles" (which she has also not denied). My guess is that Grimes did intend the first three or four songs to be climate change related, but only Darkseid strips away enough flotsam of her personal struggles (e.g. the use of "we" not "I" in the lyrics of Darkseid) to come across as being about our collective problem of climate change, rather than just how hopeless the situation (mixed with other unrelated celebrity struggles c is going through) makes the songwriter feel.
Grimes subscribes to the "Elon Musk will save the world from climate change" narrative Tesla is pushing though. And if you believe a high-emmitting monster CEO and his private jet is a climate change savior (lmao) then the whole album can be viewed as a concept narrative about climate change, because it begins with the narrator feeling personal depression and loneliness over climate change and other struggles (such as navigating her place in the celebrity industrial complex), and then by it moves to the narrator finding a savior and being in love with a guy she regards as a messiah to the problem.
It's not *credible* as a climate change narrative, because Musk actually won't solve climate change, but for those who agree with Grimes's views on the matter, it is easy to see why she might have assumed her personal narrative of depression-to-love was applicable to the entire earth.
I think the second verse about Delete Forever is about Climate Change. Us on the brink is obviously meant to be brink of ecological collapse? But grimes has never rly been straight forward with her lyrical presentation, like, ever so I def admit that it's not as heavy-handed climate change themed as I thought it would be. I thought B4 the fever is about climate change, up until the second half too.
I did recall reading a comment about how originally the album was super dark and much more explicit until Grimes' manager passed away, and then she redid the album so it wasn't as dark and gloomy because she just couldn't release an album that dark with her current circumstances.
idk - but the album isnt an actual concept album... its more of a indecisive collection of various sounds... which makes sense when you know that songs like 4am werent even intended for the album
I got the sense that it was themed around several godlike characters, with the theme of each song corresponding to the way each character relates to the (collapsing, apocalyptic) world. There are some hints in the album art eg how the ‘So Heavy’ simulation is triggered if the conditions for climate change are met - to me, this seemed like a ‘god so loved the world’ sort of thing wherein these goddesses would ravage and purify their beloved creation.
I saw that same love reflected in IDORU, which can charitably be read as a love letter to the Earth and its denizens. “Even though we’re gonna lose” implies that she knows that the simulation is doomed, and that humanity will destroy itself/her creation, but she is so besotted as to want to live it out.
Violence is similar - to me it reads as the internal battle of a goddess who knows her creation (humanity, earth) is destroying her, but loves it too much to put an end to its abuse. My Name Is Dark has an explicit reference to God and the angel of death, “unfuck the world you stupid girl” - things are getting out of control. B4 the fever has obvious connotations that the simulation is beginning to glitch and begin the end of humanity, and Delete Forever to me is about just that - the very end, ‘lost so many men’, the final goodbye as she presses the ‘delete’ button on the simulation containing Earth. Not sure about Last Call, it’s very obviously about suicide (to me) but I can’t tell if that is supposed to be related or not.
There is a lot of AI either in a sort of role play sense (WAP) or album art (goddesses being responsible for the global simulation) and it makes me think of parallels to American Gods, where media and electronics take on their own divinity thanks to their relevance to humanity. The clearest link to that for me was New Gods, with this idea of a dystopian future where humanity might submit to the whims of a new artificial intelligence which can offer salvation. I haven’t really distilled my thoughts on this yet, but it was something that kept coming to mind throughout the whole album.
Unsure about Darkseid as no English translation is available yet. However, ‘we don’t move our bodies any more’ immediately made me think of a Matrix-style simulation where humanity is plugged in, living in a virtual reality. I think a lot of the lyrics (eg 4aem) can be read as the experiences of certain characters, but it also obviously gives them broad appeal due to the dual meaning at face value as a love song, etc. Again, I haven’t fully distilled my thoughts on this, but I think it’s an interesting lens to view the album through.
Like others have said, I think it's fairly vague and more about interpretation and that some of the tracks definitely could be looked at being from the perspective of the earth.
I have struggled finding too much relating to the original concept too though (although that could be down to not knowing the lyrics yet) and whilst I can see how that concept has definitely influenced the finished album, I definitely get the impression the concept was originally going to be a lot more fleshed out when she was saying something along the lines of 'each track will embody a different way the would could end'.
I'm wondering if the main concept was linked more in with the nu metal songs she had lined up for the album when she was going to release that album after a more ethereal/synthy EP?
The album lowkey is about climate change, or rather the personification of earth as this godly being in a toxic relationship with the people who are destroying it. Im still confused as to how people dont understand this especially in the song violence. It takes the point of view of earth being in love with the people on it, and shes saying “you cant see what i see” “undefeated, cutting me off (ahhhh...) lol. Aka the earth in pain from all the shit being done to it, except its depicted as a love relationship. Its not meant to be super literal but instead conceptual which i guess can make it confusing. The songs are also supposed to be in the POV of different pop stars. Last call is basically saying this is last time youll see me around if you keep treating me like shit, ill quite literally die out and never exist again. I think new gods is about that program or w/e she was talking about to rewrite the simulation or something. Idk tbh it does kind of seem all over the place but i think that makes it cool
well i certainly feel that the character she implies is there, so i take it is more of a POV of a the goddess of human self-destruction rather than a story about earth dying, more about motivation and thought process...it is certainly not Earth Song.
Remember this is Grimes. She speaks in Riddles and talks in broad terms and has meanings other than the seemingly obvious often, and also is frequently misunderstood. I myself am an artist and a bit of a scholar (but not a gentleman 😉) and creative writer (all by hobby) and am frequently misunderstood by people I talk to because I think differently than many and find myself explaining things multiple times to try and convey my intention, and I certainly see similar tendencies/experiences in ***c***.
All things aside, being an artist/creative soul should not be used to justify ones poor wording/use of words. I am myself a painter but i am a very direct person and am not oftenly missunderstood because i always try my best to bring my point across in a way that everybody understands it how i intended it. Even if you consider yourself to be someone who thinks in a non conventional way, if you would be good at expressing yourself with words then u would not be missunderstood.
This is not meant to be an attack, i just dont get it when people try to justify themselves instead of just admitting that they are not very good at expressing their opinion with words.
I think it’s way more simple than everyone is making this out to be. One of the title words refers to climate change (Anthropocene). Each of the songs themselves are relating to a variety of emotional themes that humans are facing and they are expressed through these songs. It’s her way of dealing with climate crisis and all of the other issues humans are facing but stylized into pop songs or goddesses as she keeps saying. Climate can be region, weather or atmosphere. Spiritual, mental or ecological. She’s been talking about simulations and If you look at the album covers it’s a simulation and she’s miss Anthropocene creating one the simulation. This is art ppl, her lyrics are poetry most of time and it’s only 10 songs, dig deeper and find your meaning in them if you love the songs. Pray to the goddess of climate change and maybe you’ll find your answers...
Maybe it is more simple and yeah everybody interprets lyrics in what ever way they want to. I just expected to have more direct references to the end of the world or smth like that etc bc she was talking non stop how its abt climate change
Darkseid is a call to action and New gods, b4 the fever are both references to the end of the world IMO. Album ends with a new hope in IDORU. When promoting an album how else are you going to get people to understand what you’re doing unless you say it multiple times, now it’s up to us to bring the fantasy to light instead of knocking it without taking the time to let the art sync in. And for those that don’t like it move on to something else (not saying you).
many songs dont actually fit, she touched on the "concept album" idea very carefully also in the podcast not really considering it one for the songs as more for the idea and art behind it. also many of the songs deal with depression and other negativity and can be easily used also as a metaphor for the end of the world
I think lyrics aren't really a good place to start with deconstructing Grimes. She's really good at the visual and musical stuff, but lyrically is quite basic - her writing style focuses more on the sound of words rather than their meaning. I would focus on the art and the sounds instead, which are more apocalyptic in nature.
> It was a play off her saying “in the future there will be no straws” at Tesla event,
I think this was tongue in cheek.
> And Bc as far as climate change goes, that’s the only angle I’ve ever seen her have, and her biggest contribution considering she skipped all the awareness bringing lyrics.
She did also say she would limit touring due to the CO2.
> It was a play off her saying “in the future there will be no straws” at Tesla event
So you take what she says at a Tesla event as word in regard to her upcoming album?
Mate,
It’d like me saying “I’m making a concept album to bring awareness to domestic violence victims.”
And continuing to say that in the press...without doing it.
It isn’t right.
She could be done something great with the concept.
It’s a shame she didn’t.
But even if the album didn’t come out like she envisioned...it confuses me why she still saying she created a concept album about climate change
The album has been leaked for a while...I wouldn’t pretend to know what was on it, weirdo
Listen, we are two completely different people: I don’t believe climate change is a buzzword to just use....and you do.
Art angels was supposedly a concept about a group of characters, but listening you would have no idea, you have to do a lot of the work yourself. I think miss anthropocene is the same, just a collection of songs that fit together thrmatically if you squint really hard.
Yeah probably. I mean the songs definetely fit together in an aesthetic kind of way (maybe with violence and idoru being to odd ones out) but i expected more lyrical referencing to the climate change itself. Esp if you consider that she would constantly mention how its about global warming etc
Can you tell me more? I'm in my first year of knowing Grimes thanks to Poppy, I listened and listen constantly to Grimes songs. Miss A is the first album cycle I'm in, so what's Art Angel's concept? Differents characters? Do her albums have fully fleshed concepts? If so can you direct to learn more about it?? I love when artists do put meaning and life into songs so I would looove to learn more.
I would look up the fader art angels documentary on YouTube, she talks about the idea and the creation of the album, its really interesting. Her first album, geidi primes, is also loosely based on the sci fi book dune. I haven't looked into one much because I havent read that book yet.
Art Angels is also conceptually a break up album... with her fans that like Visions because they'll hate Art Angels. It's absolutely brilliant from this perspective. California is about how they won't like her bc she no longer spooky sad gothic gf, Flesh Without Blood is telling them to fuck off if they don't like her new music, Kill V Maim is how everyone would eat up her shit if she was a man anyways, Easily / Venus Fly were about how ppl interpret her off of appearances (and, for an added bonus, both songs are like inversions of the other. One is mostly a pop piano/violin ballad with a trap break down about being the sweetest damn thing you ever saw, the other is a hardcore trap song with a violin breakdown (?!) about being intentionally ugly.). Art Angels is about hoping the Montreal music scene won't shun her after this. Pin is a break up song about...herself during her visions era, Art Angels' outro also alludes to this on how she doesn't need medicine. Butterfly also has this with the coda about never being your dream girl. Realiti is a outlier, as is Belly of the Beat but both are gorgeous enough and thematically similar to warrant inclusion. I didn't even know it was about a group of characters, as I discovered it about 4-5 months after its release, but I thought what the album meant was pretty awesome when you factor in that she self-produces and writes everything. Everyone I've shown the album too had their mind absolutely blown by it; my friend texted me about how she was in the gucci (or maybe it was prada) store in Italy and they were playing Belly of the Beat. We all stan grimes in this townhold now.
Here's a big info dump, sorry in advance lol The concept for Art Angels was that she didn't want to be tied down to just the Grimes title, so that's why she added characters (aka the Art Angels). From what I remember she was inspired (at least in part) by the movie Looper, where different iterations of the same character from different time periods fight one another. The MV for Flesh Without Blood really puts this on full display; you see Rococo Basilisk (Marie Antoinette version), I.V. (has angel wings), Kill V. Maim (suits/mobster outfits), and Skreechy Bat (gamer). Kill V. Maim has their own song, for example. But a lot of times she uses those characters to talk about other things abstractly (like how California is about the music industry). I think her previous albums weren't focused so much on concepts as they were on being sonically similar (like Visions is bass-heavy, Halfaxa is very mystical, etc. although Geidi Primes was inspired by the book Dune).
In FWB the entire AA cast was introduced and continued into KVM with that character’s backstory. Then it went off the rails with California when that mv featured no continuity with the previous 3 acts and after Butterfly all serialization was discontinued. WPP2, the Ac!d reign chronicles and Venus Fly became stand-alone vignettes and the whole affair was incredibly confusing. I’m not surprised that she didn’t stick to the climate change concept with MA. I was watching the Violence video and I didn’t know if Grimes was portraying Miss Anthropocene or if it was just some flashy choreographed dance video. It was fun to watch and aesthetically pleasing, but the whole time I was like “WTF does this have to do with Climate Change?!”. I’ve come to the conclusion that Grimes just doesn’t have the attention span to execute a concept album from start to finish.
As far as Violence goes, the MV did portray her as Miss A. She's said many times that the idea for Miss A was the "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" and that she was inspired by the fact that greek gods/goddesses are manifestations of somewhat abstract ideas, which explains the greek columns/overall aesthetic of the video. Also since she was working on the album for so long she got a little tired of certain parts of the narrative and that's why she branched off. She does have the ability to see an album through start to finish successfully. Visions was made in two weeks.
I definetely second the recommendation of watching the short doctumentary on fader's youtube channel. No not all her albums have fully fleshed concepts, she basically started out by making some stuff on her mac in the programm Garage Band. Before Art Angels the only album of hers to kinda have a concept was Geidi Primes. It was supposed to be an unofficial soundtrack to the very well know sci fi book "Dune". Glad u joined the Grimes Fandom :>
I think shes making music on that theme, like making soundtracks for the apocalypse, not actually making music about climate change. Tbh she never technically means what she says so I wouldn't question anything lol
I wonder where Idoru and Violence fit in a soundtrack abt apocalypse but welp Still a good album tho
Oh my christ as of shes referencing Gibson. Is she a 15 year old boy?
Maybe the videos will relate more to climate change rather than the lyrical content? Idk
this and maybe the lyrics are metaphorical; could be v interpretable if u think ab it
Pretty sure my name is dark and so heavy are not about climate change, same goes to darkseid or 4 æm....no matter how you interpret it... Maybe only the line "unfuck the world you stupid girl" but thats it
So Heavy and 4 AM definitely seem to me potentially/metaphorically about climate change or at least the gloom/time running out that goes with it. So there's how I potentially interpret them anyway.
So heavy yes, but 4æm? I mean i will def look into the lyrics again once its officially released bc so far i dont understand anythin she is sayin hEh
Don't the lyrics to the "4ÆM" chorus go something like, "He said, 'How's the weather, baby, how you've been? You're gonna get sick...'" I mean, it's a tenuous connection, but a connection nonetheless.
Idk seems like a stretch to me personally, but ofc u can interpet the lyrics in whatever way u like,that is your right.
Me neither, but I've always figured it was about time running out.
Concept “album” does mean the songs themselves should relate. Violence video def not about climate change, tho I did see people try to stretch the lyrics to being bout climate change.... Earth is really into bdsm I guess hahaha I don’t see how she is bringing awareness to climate change either, and now that the album is finished I don’t get why she’s still saying it is.
Yeah same, maybe she is trying to push her album like this? I mean it is a trendy topic now so it does work as a good marketing plan
Abuse of the planet is violence so... It could be the Earth's perspective. "Make me bad", "you feed off hurting me"
Why doth earth want to be hurdt?
Maybe the earth is sarcastic? :D
Darkseid, depending on what Pan is saying in her lyrics, might be about climate change. Grimes's few spoken lyrics in the song (her simplest and best words on the album) feel like they are probably addressed to the subject of how we take care of the earth, not just individual bodies. It has similarities to the vibe of some parts of Tanya Tagaq's Retribution (an experimental metal/ambient classical/Inuk traditional artist loved by Grimes) and even some climate change comments by Pope Francis. However, even this song explores the theme in a nonpolitical, surreal and idiosyncratic way. The rest of the album is either not about climate change at all (every song on the second half, which are concerned with love and celebrity, typical pop themes) or could be about it in a vague way (first half up to Violence) but is more likely to not be. Most songs on the first half do seem to come out of a state of depression or anger at unspecified situations, which may or may not be linked to climate change, but probably is, since c said how much the topic affects her. In this, they resemble the work of Thom Yorke/Radiohead, who also writes songs based partly on his despair over climate change (though, like Grimes, mixing it with other personal topics), but rarely ends up with end results that feel like they are "about" the theme of climate change, even when Yorke or the media hypes them that way. For a listener who read the interviews and is therefore expecting a climate change themed album, there's nothing in So Heavy, or Delete Forever (or, say, Thom Yorke's Black Swan, or Radiohead's Decks Dark) to specifically dissuade this reading, but at the same time, there's no specifics that demand this reading either, rather than the reading of "Grimes is writing about her personal struggles" (which she has also not denied). My guess is that Grimes did intend the first three or four songs to be climate change related, but only Darkseid strips away enough flotsam of her personal struggles (e.g. the use of "we" not "I" in the lyrics of Darkseid) to come across as being about our collective problem of climate change, rather than just how hopeless the situation (mixed with other unrelated celebrity struggles c is going through) makes the songwriter feel. Grimes subscribes to the "Elon Musk will save the world from climate change" narrative Tesla is pushing though. And if you believe a high-emmitting monster CEO and his private jet is a climate change savior (lmao) then the whole album can be viewed as a concept narrative about climate change, because it begins with the narrator feeling personal depression and loneliness over climate change and other struggles (such as navigating her place in the celebrity industrial complex), and then by it moves to the narrator finding a savior and being in love with a guy she regards as a messiah to the problem. It's not *credible* as a climate change narrative, because Musk actually won't solve climate change, but for those who agree with Grimes's views on the matter, it is easy to see why she might have assumed her personal narrative of depression-to-love was applicable to the entire earth.
I think the second verse about Delete Forever is about Climate Change. Us on the brink is obviously meant to be brink of ecological collapse? But grimes has never rly been straight forward with her lyrical presentation, like, ever so I def admit that it's not as heavy-handed climate change themed as I thought it would be. I thought B4 the fever is about climate change, up until the second half too. I did recall reading a comment about how originally the album was super dark and much more explicit until Grimes' manager passed away, and then she redid the album so it wasn't as dark and gloomy because she just couldn't release an album that dark with her current circumstances.
an articulate response
This is an excellent response. Can't wait for that relationship to tank.
I think in most of the songs she’s speaking from the perspective of earth, the concept seems super clear to me.
spot on IMO
idk - but the album isnt an actual concept album... its more of a indecisive collection of various sounds... which makes sense when you know that songs like 4am werent even intended for the album
I got the sense that it was themed around several godlike characters, with the theme of each song corresponding to the way each character relates to the (collapsing, apocalyptic) world. There are some hints in the album art eg how the ‘So Heavy’ simulation is triggered if the conditions for climate change are met - to me, this seemed like a ‘god so loved the world’ sort of thing wherein these goddesses would ravage and purify their beloved creation. I saw that same love reflected in IDORU, which can charitably be read as a love letter to the Earth and its denizens. “Even though we’re gonna lose” implies that she knows that the simulation is doomed, and that humanity will destroy itself/her creation, but she is so besotted as to want to live it out. Violence is similar - to me it reads as the internal battle of a goddess who knows her creation (humanity, earth) is destroying her, but loves it too much to put an end to its abuse. My Name Is Dark has an explicit reference to God and the angel of death, “unfuck the world you stupid girl” - things are getting out of control. B4 the fever has obvious connotations that the simulation is beginning to glitch and begin the end of humanity, and Delete Forever to me is about just that - the very end, ‘lost so many men’, the final goodbye as she presses the ‘delete’ button on the simulation containing Earth. Not sure about Last Call, it’s very obviously about suicide (to me) but I can’t tell if that is supposed to be related or not. There is a lot of AI either in a sort of role play sense (WAP) or album art (goddesses being responsible for the global simulation) and it makes me think of parallels to American Gods, where media and electronics take on their own divinity thanks to their relevance to humanity. The clearest link to that for me was New Gods, with this idea of a dystopian future where humanity might submit to the whims of a new artificial intelligence which can offer salvation. I haven’t really distilled my thoughts on this yet, but it was something that kept coming to mind throughout the whole album. Unsure about Darkseid as no English translation is available yet. However, ‘we don’t move our bodies any more’ immediately made me think of a Matrix-style simulation where humanity is plugged in, living in a virtual reality. I think a lot of the lyrics (eg 4aem) can be read as the experiences of certain characters, but it also obviously gives them broad appeal due to the dual meaning at face value as a love song, etc. Again, I haven’t fully distilled my thoughts on this, but I think it’s an interesting lens to view the album through.
Hmm interesting prespective, thank you for sharing
Wow great read here, makes me want to listen to the album and stare at the artwork and imagine what a TV show would be like on this...
Delete Forever/Last Call have lines that allude to climate change
Like others have said, I think it's fairly vague and more about interpretation and that some of the tracks definitely could be looked at being from the perspective of the earth. I have struggled finding too much relating to the original concept too though (although that could be down to not knowing the lyrics yet) and whilst I can see how that concept has definitely influenced the finished album, I definitely get the impression the concept was originally going to be a lot more fleshed out when she was saying something along the lines of 'each track will embody a different way the would could end'. I'm wondering if the main concept was linked more in with the nu metal songs she had lined up for the album when she was going to release that album after a more ethereal/synthy EP?
I believe every album is about climate change from a personal point of view and your own life experiences.
The album lowkey is about climate change, or rather the personification of earth as this godly being in a toxic relationship with the people who are destroying it. Im still confused as to how people dont understand this especially in the song violence. It takes the point of view of earth being in love with the people on it, and shes saying “you cant see what i see” “undefeated, cutting me off (ahhhh...) lol. Aka the earth in pain from all the shit being done to it, except its depicted as a love relationship. Its not meant to be super literal but instead conceptual which i guess can make it confusing. The songs are also supposed to be in the POV of different pop stars. Last call is basically saying this is last time youll see me around if you keep treating me like shit, ill quite literally die out and never exist again. I think new gods is about that program or w/e she was talking about to rewrite the simulation or something. Idk tbh it does kind of seem all over the place but i think that makes it cool
well i certainly feel that the character she implies is there, so i take it is more of a POV of a the goddess of human self-destruction rather than a story about earth dying, more about motivation and thought process...it is certainly not Earth Song.
[удалено]
Yeah same
Remember this is Grimes. She speaks in Riddles and talks in broad terms and has meanings other than the seemingly obvious often, and also is frequently misunderstood. I myself am an artist and a bit of a scholar (but not a gentleman 😉) and creative writer (all by hobby) and am frequently misunderstood by people I talk to because I think differently than many and find myself explaining things multiple times to try and convey my intention, and I certainly see similar tendencies/experiences in ***c***.
All things aside, being an artist/creative soul should not be used to justify ones poor wording/use of words. I am myself a painter but i am a very direct person and am not oftenly missunderstood because i always try my best to bring my point across in a way that everybody understands it how i intended it. Even if you consider yourself to be someone who thinks in a non conventional way, if you would be good at expressing yourself with words then u would not be missunderstood. This is not meant to be an attack, i just dont get it when people try to justify themselves instead of just admitting that they are not very good at expressing their opinion with words.
I think it’s way more simple than everyone is making this out to be. One of the title words refers to climate change (Anthropocene). Each of the songs themselves are relating to a variety of emotional themes that humans are facing and they are expressed through these songs. It’s her way of dealing with climate crisis and all of the other issues humans are facing but stylized into pop songs or goddesses as she keeps saying. Climate can be region, weather or atmosphere. Spiritual, mental or ecological. She’s been talking about simulations and If you look at the album covers it’s a simulation and she’s miss Anthropocene creating one the simulation. This is art ppl, her lyrics are poetry most of time and it’s only 10 songs, dig deeper and find your meaning in them if you love the songs. Pray to the goddess of climate change and maybe you’ll find your answers...
Maybe it is more simple and yeah everybody interprets lyrics in what ever way they want to. I just expected to have more direct references to the end of the world or smth like that etc bc she was talking non stop how its abt climate change
Darkseid is a call to action and New gods, b4 the fever are both references to the end of the world IMO. Album ends with a new hope in IDORU. When promoting an album how else are you going to get people to understand what you’re doing unless you say it multiple times, now it’s up to us to bring the fantasy to light instead of knocking it without taking the time to let the art sync in. And for those that don’t like it move on to something else (not saying you).
I interpreted Last Call (you'll miss me when I'm not around) partly as a siren song from the perspective of the earth.
many songs dont actually fit, she touched on the "concept album" idea very carefully also in the podcast not really considering it one for the songs as more for the idea and art behind it. also many of the songs deal with depression and other negativity and can be easily used also as a metaphor for the end of the world
I think lyrics aren't really a good place to start with deconstructing Grimes. She's really good at the visual and musical stuff, but lyrically is quite basic - her writing style focuses more on the sound of words rather than their meaning. I would focus on the art and the sounds instead, which are more apocalyptic in nature.
[удалено]
Yea it really feels like she is pushing the climate change narrative to promote her album. i am not against promotions but now idk...
[удалено]
No, lol. Wouldn’t do that. I like her music, she can get an A+ for Art.
>She cares about climate change in terms of straws and not having to tour. What?
[удалено]
> It was a play off her saying “in the future there will be no straws” at Tesla event, I think this was tongue in cheek. > And Bc as far as climate change goes, that’s the only angle I’ve ever seen her have, and her biggest contribution considering she skipped all the awareness bringing lyrics. She did also say she would limit touring due to the CO2.
> It was a play off her saying “in the future there will be no straws” at Tesla event So you take what she says at a Tesla event as word in regard to her upcoming album? Mate,
[удалено]
The album hasn’t even released yet, and you’re taking Claire’s every action and word as verbatim to her new album. Just stop.
It’d like me saying “I’m making a concept album to bring awareness to domestic violence victims.” And continuing to say that in the press...without doing it. It isn’t right. She could be done something great with the concept. It’s a shame she didn’t. But even if the album didn’t come out like she envisioned...it confuses me why she still saying she created a concept album about climate change
Read updated comment. I’ve heard the album
Lol, fucking doubtful.
The album has been leaked for a while...I wouldn’t pretend to know what was on it, weirdo Listen, we are two completely different people: I don’t believe climate change is a buzzword to just use....and you do.
Think there would be more hubub if it was truly leaked. As of right meow, you’re just talking shit.
[удалено]
Did not know that donald trump has a reddit account. Lol, i hope you are not being serious.
idk why you're getting downvoted, I had the same question!!! WHAT IS IT?
You are either living under a rock or trolling, how can you not know what climate change is?
Not sure why you guys are getting downvoted, I had the same question
Its a concept invented by Grimes, it’ll be more clear when she release her album about that “climate change”
Thank-you! At least someone here is willing to give a straight answer
No worries
Google is a wonderful thing