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Miss Anthropocene is the fifth solo studio album by Grimes, released on February 21, 2020.

It was her last release with 4AD.

Miss Anthropocene (Rave Edition), a remixed version of the album, was released on January 1, 2021.

Background[]

Grimes was initially working on two albums before the release of Miss Anthropocene. She revealed in her Instagram comments section:[1]

[I'm releasing] one final album for my shit label and then my first album on a label of my choosing which im crazy stoked about eeeee. or i might go fully independent, researching options. the second one will be extreme darkness and chaos, the first will be highly collaborative and most glorious light.

Considering the sound, concept, visuals and overall theme of Miss Anthropocene, as well as the standard edition of the album having two collaborations total, it is safe to assume that it is the "extreme darkness and chaos" album, while the "highly collaborative and most glorious light" album remains unreleased and possibly scrapped, or it might be the upcoming sixth studio album, Book 1.[speculated]

Grimes mentioned the possibility of releasing an extended play or “a few more singles of synth-based stuff b4 the album because its mostly ethereal nu metal (ish), and I know a lot of ppl miss the synths and whatnot.“[2]


Miss Anthropocene was announced and supposed to be released in 2019, but, due to the death of her manager, as well as other hindrances, it was delayed until early next year.[3]

The album was leaked two times: first time in 2018 and second time in October 2019. The 2018 leak revealed songs not part of the album such as Darq Souls and Deth Angels, while the 2019 leak leaked unmixed and unmastered, as well as sonically slightly different songs from those that are now part of the album.[4] The 2019 leak also had a different track listing and song names.[4][5]


Inspiration[]

The concept of the album revolves around an anthropomorphic goddess of climate change, who is named Miss Anthropocene. She is a psychedelic, space-dwelling demon/beauty queen composed out of ivory and oil and who “relishes the end of the world”.[2][6]

Grimes explained that the album would be a concept album about an "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" in which "each song will be a different embodiment of human extinction as depicted through a Pop star Demonology". For example, “the first song 'we appreciate power', introduced the pro-AI-propaganda girl group who embody our potential enslavement/destruction at the hands of Artificial General intelligence.“[2][5]

Grimes said that she "loves godly personifications of abstract/horrific concepts", pointing to the Roman God of War Mars as an inspiration, and that by making a personification of climate change, she hoped that it [climate change] would "maybe ... be a bit easier to look at" and not be "just abstract doom".[4]

Grimes explained in a Twitter post:[2]

Climate change is something I'm only ever confronted with in a sad/guilty way.... Reading news and what not... so my goal is to make climate change fun (lol..??).... uhhh... (I mean, everybody loves a good villain... re: the joker, Queen Beryl).. so maybe it'll be a bit easier to look at if it can exist as a character and not just abstract doom.

Grimes said a similar thing in an interview with The Wall Street Journal:

“It’s a concept album, about anthropomorphizing climate change,” she says. Miss Anthropocene is “like, this death god.” But also: “It’s fun. I want to make climate change fun. People don’t care about it, because we’re being guilted. I see the polar bear and want to kill myself. No one wants to look at it, you know? I want to make a reason to look at it. I want to make it beautiful.”

She elaborated to Nnedi Okorafor for Atmos:[7]

(..) I feel like part of the problem right now is the banality of villainy. I can’t name the fucking CEO of any of these oil companies. The villains of our current society, they’re so boring that I just don’t know who the fuck they are. And so I was like, “How do you villainize climate change? How do you make the Joker out of climate change?” Because people care about the Joker, and people care about comic book villains. The villains that we’re dealing with right now have cloaked themselves in anonymity through being exceptionally boring people. People really struggle with abstract concepts, and climate change is so nebulous. You see polar bears dying, and it feels like no specific people are responsible even though there are specific people who are responsible. And so it becomes hard to muster a reaction that is adequate.


In an interview for PitchFork, Grimes compared the album to Shadow of the Colossus videogame, where "(..) you kinda go around and kill these, like, beautiful, giant demons, like, this sort of, like, horror and beauty of, like, killing a whale or something, you know? How it's just, like, wow, it's like this incredible feat of human ingenuity but it's just, like, a devastating act to pursue".[8]

Name[]

mis·an·thrope
/ˈmis(ə)nˌTHrōp,ˈmiz(ə)nˌTHrōp/, noun:
a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society.
An·thro·po·cene
/ˈanTHrəpəˌsēn/, noun:
the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.

The title is a pun of the feminine title 'miss' and the words 'misanthrope' and 'anthropocene'.[4] Grimes said she came up with this combination while saying words randomly in hopes of a good sounding name.[citation needed]

New Gods[]

On Grimes' website each song was either a Demon or a Goddess,[9] with the song New Gods being the "album's thesis".[4]

Goddesses Demons
Climate Crisis Miss Anthropocene Addiction Delete Forever
I.D and Social Media WarNymph A.I We Appreciate Power
Gaming Violence Political Apathy My Name is Dark
Simulation 4ÆM Suicide You'll miss me
Digital Lust IDORU Sexual Assault Darkseid
Gender Roles So Heavy Ego Death Before The Fever

Album Visuals[]

Album Artwork[]

Designed by Rupid Leejm[]

On September 3, 2019, Grimes first teased the artwork for Miss Anthropocene,[10] however she was "talked out" of using this version:[11]

This was the original Miss Anthropocene album cover which I commissioned from one of my *favourite* artists @rupid79m 🤍🤍 I polled a bunch of ppl and everyone said not to use it (??) but I wish I trusted my gut. I fucking LOVE this painting. Maybe there’s a way to utilize it still (very open to ideas if u guys have ideas). I also love commissioning and/ or buying prints and art. It’s something I just got into this year. It’s a great way to support visual artists during the quarantine. Some Artists I dig are @wlop @ya.hime @vickisigh @belgeist

Normally I draw the covers myself I just wasn’t feeling it for miss A after like ten failed album covers.

Ps I love what we did w Ryder and Gmunk. Not hating on that just wish I’d even kept this as the illustration in the program maybe instead of my drawing which.. is fine but not blowing my mind haha

Designed by GMUNK, Peiter Hergert and JOJX.[]

The album was instead released with artwork designed by GMUNK, Peiter Hergert and JOJX.[12] However in December 2020, digital versions of the album were changed to feature the original artwork commissioned by Rupid Leejm.[13]

The cover is a digital drawing of Grimes painting her breast while taking a picture of the act, situated in a "(..) computer program that the new gods use to build the simulation that we live in.[14]

Designed by Grimes[]

Some failed album covers were included in the eBay and Maccarone Gallery collection "A Decade of Grimes".[15]


The Wall Street Journal reported the following in an interview with c in regards to unrealized visual ideas:

She has this idea, though she thinks it’s likely too expensive to pull off: She’s sitting naked at a table like it’s The Last Supper, only she’s surrounded by endangered-animal corpses, and she—Grimes/Miss Anthropocene—is eating the bloodied bits of raw flesh. “Like, I’m eating an elephant head.” She’s got bigger plans even than that. “What I really want to do are these pro-apocalypse PSAs, where I light a tree on fire and I’m like—” she snaps her fingers, does jazz hands, “Climate change! Yeah. Or, I’m there eating zebras and elephants...all this terrible stuff.” Ideally, she’d like to see these PSAs on MSNBC.

It's possible that the public service announcements were redeveloped into the following images below:[speculated]

Miscellaneous[]


Tracklist[]

Although Miss Anthropocene was intended to be a double album, in a Q&A Grimes explained:[17]

[What happened to blaze forever and Nymphs At Versailles?] Honestly just like, I don’t know. Had a crazy year, kind of stopped working on music, kind of stopped caring about music. As you know my manager passed away and then when I finally got in with my new manager and stuff, we were kind of "let’s just choose to finish songs and put out the album," like fuck it like stop working you know.

Miss Anthropocene
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1.So Heavy I Fell Through the EarthGrimesGrimes6:08
2.Darkseid (ft. 潘PAN)Grimes • 潘PANGrimes3:44
3.Delete ForeverGrimesGrimes3:57
4.Violence & i_oGrimes • i_oi_o • Grimes3:40
5.4ÆmGrimesGrimes4:30
6.New GodsGrimesGrimes3:15
7.My Name is DarkGrimesGrimes5:56
8.You'll miss me when I'm not aroundGrimesGrimes2:41
9.Before the FeverGrimesGrimes3:37
10.IDORUGrimesGrimes7:12
11.We Appreciate Power (ft. HANA) (Japan CD)Grimes • HANA • Chris GreattiGrimes • Greatti • HANA5:35
Total length:50:15
Miss Anthropocene (Deluxe Edition)
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
12.So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth (Algorithm Mix)GrimesGrimes3:52
13.Violence & i_o (Club Mix)GrimesGrimes4:12
14.My Name is Dark (Algorithm Mix)GrimesGrimes4:03
15.IDORU (Algorithm Mix)GrimesGrimes4:46
Total length:67:08

Miss_Anthropocene (Rave Edition)
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1.So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth (ANNA remix)GrimesGrimes6:46
2.Darkseid (Richie Hawtin remix) (ft. 潘PAN)Grimes • 潘PANGrimes10:37
3.Delete Forever (Channel Tres remix)GrimesGrimes3:01
4.Violence (REZZ remix) (& I_o)Grimes • i_oi_o • Grimes3:15
5.4ÆmGrimesGrimes4:31
6.New Gods (Tale of Us & Âme remix)GrimesGrimes7:30
7.My Name is Dark (Julien Bracht remix)GrimesGrimes10:23
8.You'll miss me when I'm not around (Things You Say remix)GrimesGrimes5:11
9.Before the FeverGrimesGrimes3:37
10.IDORU (Modeselektor remix)GrimesGrimes6:06
11.We Appreciate Power (BloodPop remix)Grimes • Hana • Chris GreattiGrimes • Greatti • Hana6:11
Total length:67:08

Outtakes[]

Title Notes
Darq Souls On the 2018 tracklist,[18] meant as the 4th track of the album instead of Violence;[19] then registered in August 2020 with 8 other songs[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene,[21] though it is likely that the audio file is corrupted and lost.[22]
blaze forever like a useless star (Unleaked) On the 2018 tracklist.[18]
Favourite Psycho (Unleaked) On the 2018 tracklist,[18] then registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Deth Angels On the 2018 tracklist,[18] a instrumental demo was leaked alongside a demo instrumental of Darkseid and an early version of 4ÆM.
Nymphs At Versailles (Unleaked) On the 2018 tracklist.[18]
Dopamine (fairy hardcore) (Unleaked) On June 4, 2018, Grimes posted a video previewing the then unreleased track IDORU (then known as "Adore u") on her Twitter.[23] In the video her iTunes library could be seen, including two possible outtakes.[24]
Serf in USA (Unleaked) ^
Divinity in Extremis (Unleaked) Registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Wanna Cry (Unleaked) Registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Princessa Published on SoundCloud under the name Dark,[25] registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Forever (Unleaked) The inspiration for Delete Forever. Registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Sanoma Jam Registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene,[21] it was reused as "Samana (Levant Mix)" on her DJ mix for Cyberpunk 2077.
Shall I Compare Thee (Snippet) Revealed in an interview with Flaunt,[26] it also appeared on the demo tracklist,[27] then was registered in August, 2020 with 8 other songs;[20] potentially for the second part of Miss Anthropocene.[21]
Anhedonia (Demo) (Snippet) Released in the promotional video for Grimes's WarNymph NFT.[28]
Ærythe (Snippet) ^
Mars Theme (Snippet) ^

Other songs known to have been worked on the same time as the Miss Anthropocene tracks:

Credits[]



Credits adapted from the liner notes of Miss Anthropocene:[31]

A1 So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth (Algorithm Mix) Mixed By - Carlo Montagnese, Grimes |3:52

A2 Darkseid Featuring, Written-By - Pan Wei-Ju, Tom Norris , Grimes |3:44

A3 Delete Forever Mixed By - Jimmy Douglass, Grimes |3:57

A4 Violence Featuring, Written-By, Producer, Recorded By, Engineer - i_o , Tom Norris , Grimes |3:41

A5 4ÆM Mixed By - Tom Norris , Ganesh Chandanshive, Nasir Faraaz, Sanjay Bhansali, Siddharth Garima, Grimes |4:31

B1 New Gods Producer [Additional Production], Mixed By - Dan Carey, Grimes |3:16

B2 My Name Is Dark (Algorithm Mix) Mixed By - Andy Wallace, Grimes |4:02

B3 You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around Mixed By - Tom Norris , Grimes |2:42

B4 Before The Fever Mixed By - Nosaj Thing, Grimes |3:37

B5 IDORU (Algorithm Mix) Written-By, Producer, Recorded By, Engineer, Mixed By, Instruments, Performer - Grimes |4:46

Phonographic Copyright (p) - 4AD Ltd.
Copyright (c) - 4AD Ltd.
Published By - Nazgul Publishing LLC
Published By - Sony ATV
Published By - Aristophanes Productions
Published By - Copyright Control
Published By - Tenyor Music Publishing
Recorded At - Media Empire HQ
Mastered At - The Mastering Palace
Pressed By - Independent Record Pressing

Artwork - Bradley G Munkowitz
Artwork - Popovy Sisters
Artwork, Creative Director - Mac Boucher
Artwork, Creative Director - Ryder Ripps
Executive-Producer, Artwork, Creative Director - Grimes
Lacquer Cut By - Mark Santangelo
Legal - Edward Shapiro
Legal - Nneka Witter
Management [Business] - Cat L. Marcasciano
Management [Business] - Phil Sarna
Management [Business] - Tara Beaudine-Moore
Management [Creative] - Bloodpop
Management [Creative] - Daouda Leonard
Mastered By - Dave Kutch
Production Manager - concierge@createsafe.io

Standard black pressing. Includes color, die-cut printed inner sleeve and fold-out production credits insert/poster. Recorded and Engineered: A1, A5 at Media Empire HQ; A2 in Siberian bomb shelter; A3 in the Green-house; A4 in the Burger King Parking lot; B6 in bedroom; B7 in tv-room; B8 in trash-pile; B9 in spatial awareness chamber; B10 in The Walk-In Closet. Executive Produced ... for [l1771512]. Creative Management ... for genpop Projects. Legal Representation ... for [a3869872]. Business Management ... for [a2633225]. All songs published by Nazgul Publishing LLC/Sony/ATV except A2 (Nazgul Publishing LLC/Sony/ATV, Aristophanes Productions ASCAP), A4 (Nazgul Publishing LLC/Sony/ATV, Copyright Control) and A5 (Tenyor Music Publishing) A5 contains a sample from "Deewan Mastani" performed by [a6098753], [a1826198], [a7540432] and [a7540433] owned by Roynet Music, owned by Tenyor Music Publishing. B7 drums inspired by "SGL" used with permission from [a2665829]. P 2020 4AD Ltd C 2020 4AD Ltd

B6, B7, B8, B9 and B10 refer to B1, B2, B3, B4, B5 respectively.

Trivia[]

  • Miss Anthropocene is currently imprisoned on the astral plane for attempting to seek infinity stones.[32]
  • The album was originally announced as "Miss_Anthrop0cene".[33]
  • On April 30, 2023, Grimes released the stems of all the songs from Miss Anthropocene on WeTransfer; as well as the stems of Delicate Weapon (which were later removed) and the acapella of Oblivion.[34]
  • Grimes described the album's sound as "ethereal heavy" in her interview for Pitchfork, when asked to describe it in three words.[35]
  • Grimes considers this her best album that she wanted to make her whole life, but "(..) needed to get there, like, emotionally and, like, technically".[36][37]

References[]

  1. https://exclaim.ca/music/article/grimes_says_she_has_two_new_albums_including_one_for_her_shit_label
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1108202117813043200
  3. https://youtu.be/6d7K9aFvDns
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 https://youtu.be/IdWSTpcVV8I?si=-eQU7BF5sg4cJWSA&t=21
  5. 5.0 5.1 https://hasitleaked.com/2019/grimes-miss_anthropocene/
  6. https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/grimes-is-ready-to-play-the-villain/
  7. https://atmos.earth/beyond-grimes-nnedi-okorafor-book-one-interview/
  8. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=OSb621bJSqLCEZOD&t=508
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20200228203815/https://www.grimesmusic.com/
  10. https://www.instagram.com/p/B18SKOQlgMn/
  11. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_gM11GHSQq/
  12. https://gmunk.com/Grimes-Miss-Anthropocene
  13. https://pitchfork.com/news/grimes-changes-miss-anthropocene-album-cover/
  14. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=EXaoA2VyVWM9sFBh&t=532
  15. https://web.archive.org/web/20221220072558/https://www.maccaroneshop.net/collections/grimes
  16. 16.0 16.1 https://twitter.com/grimezszcharts/status/1266481821631602688
  17. https://youtu.be/qQXdDvs0cVc?t=1712
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 https://www.nme.com/news/music/grimes-releases-track-list-progress-new-album-2314018
  19. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?t=10m13s
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 https://twitter.com/GrimezszCharts/status/1292896497546264584?lang=en-GB
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 https://www.nme.com/news/music/grimes-reveals-miss_anthropocene-was-originally-a-double-album-i-really-do-need-to-release-a-second-disc-because-its-very-strong-2613234
  22. Grimes Tik Tok comment 28
  23. https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1003875361224945666
  24. https://preview.redd.it/5fyl9t3s29j51.png?width=1080&format=png&auto=webp&s=d35d908a6609195bd7517ec326dbbdbb162c1d3a
  25. https://soundcloud.com/user-709404175-360600573/printsessa
  26. https://flaunt.com/content/grimes
  27. https://grimes.fandom.com/wiki/File:Miss_anthropocene_out_now.jpg
  28. https://www.nme.com/news/music/grimes-auctioning-warnymph-collection-vol-1-crypto-art-2890534
  29. https://www.instagram.com/p/CI71iNkFCG-/
  30. https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1656063582914883584
  31. https://plates.lv/grimes-miss-anthropocene-lp-vinila-plate-12-vinyl-record-71490?filter_name=Grimes
  32. https://ourladyofperpetualchaos.substack.com/p/chaos-manual-v1
  33. https://www.spin.com/2019/03/grimes-new-album-miss_anthropocene/
  34. https://grimes.wetransfer.com/downloads/1b4883ec82ff19258a4ade94ce9cc80520230430024331/39493d
  35. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=qmHPwIf-zHFLUeJr&t=498
  36. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=wXse3zlxamteBonw&t=494
  37. https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=WjyjnbttTtFl0XHS&t=678
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