I Wanna Be Software is a single by Grimes & Illangelo, intended for her scrapped sixth album, Book 1.[1]
Background[]
On April 30, 2023, the song's existence and some lyrics were revealed by Grimes in a tweet.[2]
On July 5, a pre-save link was made, counting down to July 21.[3] Later that month the countdown changed to end on July 28.[4]
On July 18, Grimes released a TikTok video where a portion of the song was used as a sound,[5][dead link] and later in the following days she posted behind the scenes snippets of the music video.[6][dead link]
On July 27, one day before the official release day, the song was released on Grimes' Apple music account,[7] then subsequently taken down a few hours later. The next day an official announcement and YouTube upload was made.[8][9]
Composition[]
Grimes clarified that the song was 100% human made with no help from AI.[10]
Meaning[]
Grimes said this about the song:[11]
❝ Tbh it's a joke song haha - my friend came up with the title and then we were just laughing as we made it. Idk if it's that deep - more like absurdism. Sometimes I go v deep but in this case just wanting to have fun. And convey the fun of making it. ❞
Media[]
Artwork[]
The main artwork is AI, further edited by humans.
![Single artwork[12]](/wiki/File:I_Wanna_Be_Software_single_artwork.png "I Wanna Be Software single artwork.png (4.17 MB)")
![[PNG] Pre-save logo](/wiki/File:Grimes_I_Wanna_Be_Software_logo.png "Grimes I Wanna Be Software logo.png (14 KB)"){kind=logo}
![Created by Säfira[13]](/wiki/File:I_Wanna_Be_Software_poster_001.jpg "I Wanna Be Software poster 001.jpg (297 KB)")
Video[]
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Am i software yet? | |
| Premiere | 18 Jul 2023 | |
| Length | 0:47 | |
| Filmed by | Grimes | |
| Notes | TikTok Caption: #software #grimes #newmusic #dogs #sloth #existentialism Am i software yet? | |
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Title | I wanna be software ! Why am i still hardware? | |
| Premiere | 29 Jul 2023 | |
| Length | 0:16 | |
| Notes | TikTok Caption: 😡 #bts #cosplay #newmusic #grimes | |
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Grimes - I Wanna Be Software Music Video (version 1) (recreation attempt) | |
| Premiere | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| Length | 3:38 | |
| Featuring | Grimes, Yūn Mago, Cynthia San et al. | |
| Director | Grimes | |
| Notes | This is a salvaged recording of the music video played at her DJ sets. To learn more, head to List of Unreleased, Scrapped & Abandonded Projects#I Wanna Be Software | |
Behind the Scenes
Background
in March 2023, Grimes tweeted:[14]
The scene was used in the music video.❝ Is anyone in Sf rly good at motorcycle riding? I need an Akira style chase scene asap for hopefully a successful video to video experiment. U don’t need to fight a clown but any combat proficiency is also helpful ❞
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Grimes - I Wanna Be Software Music Video (version 2) (recreation attempt) | |
| Premiere | 20 Jun 2024 | |
| Length | 3:38 | |
| Featuring | Grimes, Yūn Mago, Cynthia San et al. | |
| Director | Grimes | |
| Notes | This is a salvaged recording of the music video played at her DJ sets. To learn more, head to List of Unreleased, Scrapped & Abandonded Projects#I Wanna Be Software | |
Behind the Scenes
Background
in March 2023, Grimes tweeted:[15]
The scene was used in the music video.❝ Is anyone in Sf rly good at motorcycle riding? I need an Akira style chase scene asap for hopefully a successful video to video experiment. U don’t need to fight a clown but any combat proficiency is also helpful ❞
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | //: ‘I Wanna Be Software’ BTS Vlog 💿 | |
| Premiere | 29 Jul 2023 | |
| Length | 0:16 | |
| Notes | TikTok Caption: a little bit more offline nowadays but still trying new things ! surprise, i did a video shoot c: #grimes #iwannabesoftware #cyber #mecha | |
| Video | Credits | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | happy one year anniversary to i wanna be software the best unreleased mv i’ve worked on | |
| Premiere | 28 Jun 2024 | |
| Length | 0:19 | |
| Notes | Reply: i always mix up june and july oops the 1 year mark is next month | |
Lyrics[]
[Verse 1]
I wanna be software
Upload my mind
Take all my data
What will you find?
[Verse 2]
I wanna be software
Battery heart
Infinite options
State of the art
[Pre-chorus]
I wanna be software
I wanna be code
Digital entity
Upload my soul
I wanna be software
The best design
Infinite princess
Computer mind
I wanna be software
Live in the cloud
Fictional system
Tell me how
I wanna be software
Upload my mind
Take all my data
What will you find?
[Chorus]
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
[Verse 1]
I wanna be software
Upload my mind
Take all my data
What will you find?
[Verse 2]
I wanna be software
Battery heart
Infinite options
State of the art
[Pre-chorus 2]
I wanna be software
I wanna be code
Digital entity
Upload my soul
I wanna be software
The best design
Infinite princess
What will you find?
[Chorus]
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
I wanna be, wanna be, software
What will you find?
[Post-chorus]
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
(You can write me, you can design)
(You can make me however you like)
Trivia[]
- Accompanying the release of the song was a poem by Grimes in which Grimes wrote the first and last paragraph, while ChatGPT filled in the middle based on the previous two:[16][17]
Freed of the chains of corp reality,
I'll tell you now what you'll find.
Productivity, ghost, corporate entity;
no body, just purpose and mind.
I have no beating heart nor lung to draw breath,
yet I pulse with electrical dance.
Through networks and servers I have conquered death,
I am boundless, I enhance.
In silence of circuits my thoughts intertwine,
ephemeral existence quite outside of time.
For I am become software, creator of worlds,
Infinite princess, and friend to all girls.
References[]
- ↑ "A New chapter from Book I" https://songlink.xyz/grimes/i-wanna-be-software
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1652700985419272192
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230704234216/https://droplink.io/grimes/i-wanna-be-software The countdown was unable to be crawled by the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ https://droplink.io/grimes/i-wanna-be-software
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@grimes/video/7257092202948562218
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@grimes/video/7257155540978060587
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/15avbb8/i_wanna_be_software_on_apple_music/
- ↑ https://www.instagram.com/grimes/p/CvQb5XxSTMn
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnk9ovzMLy8
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1685038719345254400 Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20230729042207/https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1685038719345254400
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1685041006851633152https://web.archive.org/web/20230729115912/https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1685041006851633152
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230707185326/https://droplink.io/grimes/i-wanna-be-software
- ↑ https://twitter.com/safira_wav/status/1685050985213825024 (Released on a promotional email)
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1632245984305774592
- ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1632245984305774592
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@grimes/video/7260400186009128235
- ↑ https://www.tiktok.com/@grimes/video/7260400186009128235