In her newest album, “Miss Anthropocene,” Claire Boucher, who is known as Grimes, unfolds a future in which humans have eradicated themselves from existence.
In her fifth studio album, Grimes, creates on a universe tropes to illuminate mythology that celebrates human indulgence in our deepest innate vices. Grimes creates a universe that introduces her audience to a mythology and created a god who encourages humans to indulge in their deepest vices.
Sonically, Grimes can easily be compared to contemporary pop musicians such as Charli XCX and Caroline Peck. However, Grimes’ music carves out a distinct brand by remaining raw and unpolished, with a clear vision of a conceptual artistic universe. With this album, Grimes has evolved into a new beast of audio and visual storytelling.
In an interview with Apple Music’s Beats 1, Grimes said that the album was meant to be constructed from the perspective of a demon. Throughout the album, the lyrics and accompanying music videos comb out ideologies that explore the destructible forces such as drug use or climate change.
Compared to her previous albums, Grimes has evolved into a new beast of auditory and visual storytelling.
Thematically, this work of pop-culture commentary hits hard, even though the promotion leading up to the release was like seeing a movie that gave away all the best parts in the trailer.
With only 15 slots available on the full album, a variety of unreleased music would have been ideal. However, five spots were taken by remixes that hardly add any new elements to the album’s themes.
Grimes revealed that the record was intended to be a double album with more songs, but its premature release could be due to events in the artist’s personal life.
Upon the release of the album, she stated on her Instagram, “At seven months pregnant, I sent my avatar to represent me for the cover of The Face magazine!” An elfish doe-eyed humanoid figure clad in Balenciaga’s newest threads graced the cover of The Face magazine, taking Grimes’ place. In allowing a digital being to take over, the artist fuels the themes of digital romanticism present in “Miss Anthropocene.”
While there are slight qualms with the variety of new material, the dystopian concepts, which were hinted at during its promotion, do not disappoint. The artist’s interest in futuristic dystopias may be due to her personal conversations within her inner circle, as well as her romantic involvement with tech billionaire, Elon Musk.
In the opening song, “So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth,” the deep synth and electric percussion are reminiscent of the soundtrack to the 2018 film “Annihilation,” which features Natalie Portman slaying biologically modified creatures. In the song, Grimes’ banshee vocals set the tone as they drift through the synthetic melody, enticing listeners into the dismal universe she created.
The music videos that accompany the album utilize visuals that draw the listener into an apocalyptic world that resembles the film “Blade Runner.” The first single, “We Appreciate Power,” featuring the artist Hana, was released in November 2018. The lyrics declare allegiance to artificial intelligence in the face of its impending consumption of the human race.
Placed over reverberating electric guitars and cacophonous percussion, Grimes’ vocals are delivered like a lieutenant: “Pledge allegiance to the world’s most powerful computer / Simulation is the future.”
This initial release sets up the bleak matrix world that Grimes portrays in her newest body of work. However, there is always time for a cheeky video game reference. In the music video, Grimes and Hana’s aesthetics as futuristic bounty hunters are a nod to Zero Suit Samus from the video game “Metroid.”.
At the end of the track, Grimes repeats the word submit, almost urging and commanding the listener to allow technology to creep into the human consciousness.
The tone and theme of the album underscore the innate human urge to give in. It’s an exercise in speculating about what would happen if humans were to submit to the symbolic evils that are a common point of commentary in popular culture.
Other tracks on the album include “Delete Forever,” which is a lament for lives lost to opioid addiction, and “4ÆM,” which explores the increasing popularity of simulated experiences, as well as the allure of rapidly evolving technologies.
Villainous archetypes are embodied in contemporary culture’s most provocative subjects. The album’s central character, Miss Anthropocene, is the goddess of climate change who entices humans to continue on their destructive paths.
In a recent attempt to promote “Miss Anthropocene,” Grimes released a graphic on social media, and put up billboards and guerilla street art in the streets of New York. The ads showed a letter written by the fictional goddess Miss Anthropocene, which featured lines such as “Global warming is good” and “Embrace your demise.”
— ?GRIMES? ? (@Grimezsz) February 10, 2020
The ads functioned as a satirical and irreverent work of performance art intended to provoke thought and challenge personal ethics. But, in our divisive times of highly polarized ideologies, this nuanced concept received some backlash in the digital sphere.
While Grimes used this album to create both an satirical dialogue and a cynical dystopian universe, the artist also stated that there is importance in shedding light on the possibility of a future utopia.
In an interview with Apple music’s Beats 1, Grimes said, “I just feel that utopianism is actually very important. A lot of people disagree with this. It’s important to call out the bad things, which it is, but it’s also very important to suggest positive futures.”
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