Grimes - Miss Anthropocene


Grimes
Miss Anthropocene
2020
Spotify

It almost seemed like Grimes would never make music again. As her celebrity rose from dating tech billionaire Elon Musk her production output completely dropped out. Since 2015's stellar Art Angels she put out one song in 2018 with longtime collaborator HANA called "We Appreciate Power". It was a prelude to what Miss Anthropocene would become, a self described "ethereal nu metal climate change album". "So Heavy I Fell to the Earth" sets the stage slowly bringing you to the bottomless pit of what Earth is. Eventually it falls into the second track "Darksided" where Grimes declares "We don't Love our bodies anymore". She effortlessly bounces from EDM, to Nu Metal and back to the earnest acoustic driven "Delete Forever". On "Delete Forever" we get a rare glimpse of Grime's soulful spirit. She shows she is more than tech driven production, she can write a fucking killer song regardless of the genre. I mean did you ever expect Grimes to be singing over a beautifully set acoustic guitar and saying "Woop!" before the hummed chorus? I think not. That is what makes her such a compelling artist, whatever she tries to do, she finds a way to make it work. "Violence" is the song that sounds the most like classic Grimes, but the music video shows her taking on a new style where doing choreographed dancing with post apocalyptic women. It's Grimes transitioning into a pop star, but in her own way.

Since it took so long for this record to come out it really felt like Grimes might be out of idea but that could not be further from the truth. This record is full of the new ideas that have been so absent from pop music lately. "You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around" feels like one of those great 90s Alt songs a la Third Eye Blind, just the right amount of mental strife and emotional intelligence when writing a song about killing yourself. Despite the darkness swirling around this album, and don't get it twisted Grimes thinks the only way things get better is if they get darker, there is still something incredibly fun about it. Grimes wanted to make Climate Change fun with this album and, I think she has kind of done it, by not trying to preach and just allowing her emotion to lead the way. Miss Anthropocene has some of Grimes' most complete and detailed songs to date, it was worth the wait.

8.8 out of 10

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