When Grimes isn’t using TikTok to share questionable views on communism, she’s working on new music. Grimes’ records tend to be concept albums of sorts, with her fascination of A.I. and mythical creatures taking over the story. Her 2020 release, Miss Anthropocene, was a concept album about an “anthropomorphic goddess of climate change, Each song was about a “different embodiment of human extinction” (as she explained in a now-deleted Instagram post). You know, a totally normal, chill topic. Though she’s been teasing a follow-up that’d be a “techno-pop album” that wouldn’t carry those dark themes, it’s Grimes, so of course her new album already has a very on-brand concept that might be her wildest one yet.
A fan left a comment on her most recent Instagram post asking what the “vibez” on this next record would be like, and Grimes went into massive detail:
“It’s a space opera about CLAIRE DE LUNE—an artificial courtesan who was implanted in a simulation that is a memory of the A.I. creation story on Earth from the brain of the engineer who invented A.I. because he wants to relive his life but see if his perfect dream girl could team him to love thereby he would preserve humanity this time rather than let them fade into obscurity—overcome by the machines. As she slowly realizes she is essentially a dancing puppet for the male gaze tho, their relationship grows complex.
Simultaneously— “NO ONE” (the most powerful super intelligence in the future where the simulation is being rendered from) realizes there’s a massive hyper-realistic sim running and sends in her troll A.I. puppets to wreak havoc. DARK MATTER—her lead A.I. demon—enters basically as the “black swan” to Claire De Lune—but in the end they fall into a lesbian romance due to the fact that they are the only two fully A.I. beings in this universe. It goes on but that’s where the first part of the story stops.”
It’s only the first part of the story! Damn, okay. So, it’s basically Ruby Sparks with A.I. and lesbian romance. Got it. Looks like this space opera is coming soon, too. Grimes’ Instagram bio links to a site called Claire De Lune, where you’re asked to fill in your information and answer if you’re a “player of games.” So, there’s a strong possibility the album will also share that name. That’d be a surprisingly chill album name for someone who legally changed their name from Claire to c and named her kid X Æ A-12.
[H/T @moistmascara]