Grimes (née Clarie Boucher) has spent her fair share of time in the spotlight. Controversy surrounding her relationship with Elon Musk and bizarre views on the direction of the music industry has allowed an unlikely alternative maven to become... well... a pop star. On her latest album, “Miss Anthropocene,” Grimes crafts the future of pop music by pairing her own unique sound with lyrical themes of human decay.
The album is far from instrumentally consistent — made up of ambient techno bangers (“So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth”), drum and bass (“IDORU”) and dreamy folk tracks (“Delete Forever”). However, it maintains sensory stimulation throughout its 44 minute run time while employing timely, on-trend elements like synths and Asian-speaking artist features.
On “Delete Forever,” written on the night of rapper Lil Peep’s death, she laments the destructive consequences of substance abuse; whereas, “Violence” creates a love song centered on the abusive relationship between humans and the Earth. These dystopian themes run rampant on “Miss Anthropocene,” creating an atmosphere of Grimes’ depressive yet prophetic vision throughout.
Grimes teased the track “4ÆM” on Twitter in Summer 2018 as a “cyberpunk interpretation” of Bollywood film “Bajirao Mastani,” evident by her use of the film’s song “Diwani Mastani” as a sample throughout. When it was released as a single, this track felt bizarre and hard to listen to — but within the context of the full album, has since become my favorite song on the album. The blend of techno bass, Bollywood influence, and Grimes’ unique high-pitched almost-whisper creates an expertly layered piece of futuristic dance music.
Grimes has stated that “Miss Anthropocene” is named after a fictional goddess of climate change (and a clear word play on misanthropy). She has made it clear in interviews that she wants to use her newfound controversy for good, telling Crack Magazine: “I wanted to make climate change fun.” This oxymoron certainly necessitates themes of apocalyptic decline that are evident upon the record’s initial listen. However, any specific environmental focus is vastly overshadowed by the overwhelming sonic and lyrical nihilism.
“Miss Anthropocene” expertly creates the visceral feeling of the Earth’s decline. And yet, it does so without seeming to address any of the overt controversies of such a regretfully divisive political issue. This can come across, at times, as a somewhat cringey attempt at fitting into P.C. culture. Especially given the intense controversy that she has recently received over her tendency to adamantly excuse her boyfriend’s infamously controversial behavior. In a series of since deleted tweets, she claimed that donating to the GOP is merely “the cost of doing business” and generally excused Musk’s decision to disdain unions and work with Trump in the past. Quite simply, Grimes’ decision to tackle such a vastly political topic within her already complex music feels ill-timed . Especially since she rose to elite success after her last LP and became closely associated with Musk who is worth roughly $42 billion. Addressing the climate crisis without really addressing it makes it even harder to separate Grimes the artist from the controversy that has made Claire Boucher a bonafide celebrity.
And yet, Grimes’ music is no less poignant. While the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla may have compromised her liberal street cred, he has certainly added to the ambience of futurism that Grimes executes so well. “Miss Anthropocene” is 2020’s looking glass into what pop music might look like when it chooses to diverge from classic song-chorus structures and love-centered lyrics — opting instead for subjects much darker and oftentimes more disturbing in a pessimistic reflection of reality.