Grimes has revealed a new tech-themed standalone single, “Artificial Angels.”
Reprising similar themes to Grimes’ digital-forward, post-Elon era of late, where she’s embraced the technical and philosophical boundaries of AI and created songs like “I Wanna Be Software,” “Artificial Angels” finds Grimes taking a heavy electroclash beat and once again pondering the future of AI, music generation, and, well, evil robots, all from their perspective.
“This is what it feels like to be hunted by something smarter than you,” an AI-altered voice sings in the beginning and end in a menacing whisper, also offering a dark vision from the perspective of a machine: “I cannot die, I do no want, there is no revelation/ The only thing I covet is my own annihilation/ Inhalation, exhalation/ Power isn’t given, it is taken.” With notes of an imminent cyber-pocalypse and, perhaps, the awful 2005 Will Smith movie iRobot, “Artificial Angels” is a creepy, foreboding tale disguised as a dance pop banger.
“Artificial Angels” was co-produced by Grant Boutin and Vadakin, the latter of which Grimes referred to as her “Atticus Ross.” The song’s title also references Grimes’ own 2015 album, Art Angels, which happens to celebrate its 10th anniversary next month. For the single’s artwork, Grimes made a collage with various internet-centric memes about her, tech, AI, and the intersection of all three. “Grimes is in her cringe fascist era” reads one particularly notable comment, which comes from a 2021 reddit thread about the artist’s song “LOVE.”
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Discussing the track on X, Grimes clarified that the only AI element on “Artificial Angels” is “the voice at the beginning and the end,” and that she is, for the most part, opposed to AI music:
“I think it can be useful for some things but the apps mostly took the cool ai artifacts out if it and I’m not super interested in it to just make normal music. It’s only useful to me for novel/ experimental sound design were they to allow that aspect back. Or possibly for more efficient advanced things like bg noise removal etc… Or for jokes. Otherwise I fear it is a bit slop oriented at the moment which seems like the opposite of innovation to me. It def has the capacity to innovate tho,” Grimes wrote.
Besides sharing the brief single “idgaf” in February, Grimes’ last solo single arrived in 2022 with “Shinigami Eyes;” She’s stayed busy collaborating with the likes of Magdalena Bay, Illangelo, Svedaliza, and her ex-boyfriend Anyma over the last few years. Grimes’ last album was 2020’s Miss Anthropocene.