California

California
Single artwork
General Information
Title	California
Written	2 Nov 2014 (demo)
Recorded	2014
Released	06 Nov 2015
Album	Art Angels
Type	Promotional single
Length	3:18
Key + BPM	F# Major • 102
Format	CD • Vinyl • Digital download • Streaming
Credits
Artist	Grimes
Writer(s)	Grimes
Producer(s)	Grimes
Label	4AD
Art Angels Tracklist
laughing and not being normal
California
SCREAM

California is a promotional single by Grimes. It is the second track on her fourth studio album, Art Angels, and was released as the fifth promotional single.

Background and composition

In a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, she explained that California came about on a night when, feeling depressed, she took a number of tequila shots. In the midst of the haze, she wrote the song’s hook.

Meaning

As stated on her SiriusXM takeover, California is a hate track towards the music website Pitchfork. This hate may be the result of various misinterpretations of her words, to which Grimes has expressed her discontent about in several of her tweets. More generally, It's about "the bad side of music journalism".

Part of the lyrics confess Grimes' "ambivalence about lofty expectations for her own success".

In a retrospective thought about the song, Grimes said this:

❝ “California,” I think I was just doing Taylor Swift cosplay, but it’s also vaguely about how the media is obsessed with portraying you as this troubled soul or something. ❞

Media

Artwork

The artwork for the song depicts many phrases throughout the drawing: "words Fallin' out of my head"; "song: "California" "; "Grimes"; "in the Style of FUTURE PASTORAL"; "fairy cemetery" - referencing a term Grimes often calls herself (that being "faery", or "fairy") and "born: year of the dragon", which directly concerns Grimes as she was born in 1988, the year of the Dragon on the Chinese zodiac calendar. Thus, it is safe to say that this is a self depiction, as Grimes has even done the same eye makeup as here.

Video

Video	Credits
	Title	California
	Premiere	09 May 2016
	Length	3:26
	Location	Science & Industry Museum, Paris
	Director	Grimes, Mac Boucher

Behind the Scenes

Background

The track used for the first verses and chorus of the song differs from the version on Art Angels; having a more "chilled back, dreamy and stripped" instrumental. After the release of the video, Grimes took to her Twitter to explain the reason for the alternate rendition of the song featured in the music video, saying it was "dissonant" with the original track and failed to elicit visuals in her mind: "had to re do track because when I looked at the footage it was dissonant w the original song, song elicits no visuals in my mind naturally".

Lyrics

[Intro]
[Vocalization]

[Verse 1]
This, this music makes me cry
It sounds just like my soul, oh
Oh I'm not ready to win
Oh lord 'cause I don't wanna know what they say
'Cause I get carried away
Commodifying all the pain

[Pre-Chorus]
The things they see in me, I cannot see myself
When you get bored of me, I'll be back on the shelf
And when the ocean rises up above the ground
Baby, I'll drown, in...

[Chorus]
...California
You only like me when you think I'm looking sad
California
I didn't think you'd end up treating me so bad

[Vocalization]

[Verse 2]
Oh, I, I, I
Come Monday, it's a dream
Oh, I, I, I
Broken my own heart again
Chasing something beautiful
Oh, but I don't understand what they say
Cause I get carried away
Commodifying all the pain

[Pre-Chorus]
The things they see in me, I cannot see myself
When you get bored of me, I'll be back on the shelf
And when the ocean rises up above the ground
Baby, I'll drown, in...

[Chorus]
...California
You only like me when you think I'm looking sad
California
I didn't think you'd end up treating me so bad
California
You only like me when you think I'm looking sad
California
I didn't think you'd end up treating me so bad

Oh, I, oh, I
Oh na, na, na, ne

[Outro]
[Vocalization]

Trivia

• An unleaked demo from November 2, 2014, was 3:55, 37 seconds longer than the final.
• Many publications and reviews have wrongfully stated that California samples Pon de Replay by Rihanna.
• A remix by HANA of this song is included in the official NBA 2K17 tracklist.
• It is the fourth act of Art Angels.
• 'California' is the name of the 31st state of the United States of America.