Music / Art Angels

At first, I guess there was just Grimes... I don't technically have control over her narrative anymore. You know, she very much exists in pop culture now. Grimes, as one person, cannot represent more than a couple ideas. That's why I started developing some of the other characters, like, really abstract from who I am or how I am. You can start being an actor and like, start adding in more voices and start realizing that you don't just have to, like... not everything has to fully reflect you. The art angels are the face of it.

—Grimes, for The FADER

Welcome to Realiti.

Art Angels (released November 6th, 2015) is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician Grimes. The album was written, engineered, and produced solely by Grimes from 2013—2015. The album was preceded by the singles "Realiti (demo)," "Flesh Without Blood," "SCREAM, and "Kill v. Maim." Unlike her previous album, Visions, which was made entirely on GarageBand, Art Angels was produced with Ableton Live, is considered art pop, electropop, and Alternative Dance. After her breakthrough in 2012, Grimes felt frustrated with being pigeonholed as being just another cutesy indie female artist and being undermined for her gender and age, partially inspiring some of the themes of the album.

Art Angels received critical acclaim upon release, praising Grimes' songwriting and production skills, and is considered to be one of the best pop records of 2015, and of the decade. While on tour, Grimes and her friend/touring musician Hana made an album film titled "The Ac!d Reign Chronicles," containing music videos for every song on the album (and a few of Hana's) barring "Artangels," "Pin," and "Easily."

Preceded by Visions, succeeded by Miss Anthropocene in 2020.

Tracklist

1. "laughing and not being normal"
2. "California"
3. "SCREAM (featuring Pan)"
4. "Flesh without Blood"
5. "Belly of the Beat"
6. "Kill v. Maim"
7. "Artangels"
8. "Easily"
9. "Pin"
10. "Realiti"
11. "World Princess part II"
12. "Venus Fly (featuring Janelle Monae)"
13. "Life in the Vivid Dream"
14. "Butterfly"

You claw, you fight, you trope:

• Album Intro Track: A recurring trope on Grimes' albums.
• Alliterative Title: Art Angels. Also "Belly of the Beat."
• all lowercase letters: "laughing and not being normal."
• Alter-Ego Acting: The basis of the album. The "art angels" are the various personas she would channel when not writing music about herself.
• Bigger Is Better: Very maximalist production-wise, especially compared to her previous albums. Take a listen to any of the instrumentals and just try to pull back all of the layers. She even said that making the track "Artangels" was a "mind fuck puzzle" that nearly broke her computer. Though this seems to happen to her a lot.
• The Cameo: Tei Shi and Matthew E. Duffy (artist and one of Grimes' old friends from Montreal) are in the video for "Kill v. Maim."
• Careful with That Axe: "SCREAM." Funnily enough, one of the promotional pictures for Art Angels features Grimes holding an axe.
• Changed for the Video: The "California" video uses a more subdued, synthier version of the song than the one on the album.
• Costume Porn: Nearly all of the music videos are this.
• Flag Bikini: Wears an American flag mini-dress in the "California" video. Ironic since Grimes is Canadian, justified since the song is about a state in the US.
• Gratuitous French: Sings, "Je comprends, je l'ai dit, c'est la vie," on "Artangels." Justified since the song is a tribute to Montreal, famous for its Canadian-French speakers.
• Location Song: "Artangels" is about Montreal, Grimes' favorite city.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Oh, yeah. Songs like "Flesh Without Blood" and "Pin" sound very bright and upbeat, but the lyrics are pretty tragic once you examine them.
  You had every chance, you destroy everything that you know
  If you don't need me, just let me go
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Defied on "Butterfly."
• Mood Whiplash: Going from "California" to "Scream"; then "Venus Fly" to "Life in the Vivid Dream."
• New Sound Album: Visions was a spacey, moody dream-pop album with mostly indecipherable lyrics and a lonely atmosphere. Art Angels, by comparison, has a brighter, bolder electropop sound, with the lyrics getting a bigger focus. The album also incorporates live guitars, keys, and violins for a broader sound.
• Our Angels Are Different: The multi-eyed alien creature is certainly a different interpretation of an angel.
• Punny Name: "Rococo Basilisk," the name of the Marie Antoinette-type art angel in the "Flesh Without Blood" music video. "Rococo" is an architectural style originating in France in the 1700s, and "Roko's Basilisk" is the idea that a super-intelligent A.I. will retroactively punish any of its doubters once it rises to power.
• Sampling: "Butterfly" samples "Penguin Dancer" by Masayoshi Takanaka.
• Scenery Porn: Many of the music videos for this era were recorded in scenic places in Asia and Europe, like Swiss mountaintops in "Belly of the Beat," Chepstow Castle in Wales and the Millennium Bridge in London for "World Princess part II," and the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore for "Realiti."
• Sdrawkcab Speech: At the start of "Realiti." She says "Get up, this is what I see" in reverse.
• Sell-Out: On "Flesh without Blood:"
  Your voice, it had the perfect flow
  It got lost when you gave it up, though
  'Cause you want money, you want fame
• Self-Empowerment Anthem: "World Princess part II." The song is a tell-off to people who previously doubted her, and "it's mine" refers to own life choices and artistic expression.
• Sequel Song: "World Princess part II." While the first World Princess was gloomy and sorrowful, "Part II" is bright, cheerful, and confident.
• Shout-Out:
  • The "Kill V. Maim" music video contains references to Law & Order and Dark Souls.
  • The "Flesh Without Blood" music video was inspired by Looper.
  • She references A Midsummer Night's Dream on "Pin:"
  I think you are my best friend, gentle, do not reprehend
  I know it hasn't been a dream, but if you pardon, I will mend
• Slasher Smile: Gives one of these in the "Flesh Without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream" music video, covered in blood and brandishing a knife.
• Speaking Simlish: At the end of "World Princess part II."
• Stock Sound Effect: A few:
  • The whip-crack sound effect at the start of "Flesh Without Blood."
  • In the Song Exploder episode where she explains the process behind "Kill v. Maim," she says there's stock crowd noise buried deep in the mix to give the song more energy.
  • Rain sounds on "California" and "Life in the Vivid Dream."
  • Recordings of Grimes' conversations with friends in the background on "Butterfly."
• Surprisingly Gentle Song: "Life in the Vivid Dream" is this for Art Angels in particular.
• Take That, Critics!: "California" is a diss track to Pitchfork.
• Tarred And Feathered: An artsier use of the trope. The "Venus Fly" video sees Grimes with angel-wings in a vat of a black oil-like substance with feathers floating around her, evoking a bird caught in an oil spill.
• Villain Song: "Kill v. Maim," is written from the perspective of (time-traveling vampire) Michael Corleone. The character called "Kill v. Maim" in the "Flesh Without Blood" video dresses in a suit and fedora in homage to this.
• Voodoo Doll: Skreechy Bat (the art angel in the white dress and cowboy hat) uses one in the "Life in the Vivid Dream" music video.
• We Used to Be Friends: "Flesh without Blood" is about the dissolution of a friendship.
• Wings Do Nothing: Wears angel wings in the "Flesh Without Blood," "Kill v. Maim," and "Venus Fly" music videos.