Forever the techno iconoclast, alt popstar Grimes has come out in support of the AI digital revolution a number of times already, but it’s with her latest single that we finally understand why: she envies computer programs.
In a world where a person’s consciousness may soon be able to be uploaded to the cloud (unless the cloud is able to develop its own consciousness first), ‘I Wanna Be Software’ is the anthem to this changing tech, Grimes finding endless appeal in a ‘battery heart’ and being ‘state of the art.’ Processed to the extremes, her voice almost sounds like it was born of the software she desires to become, robotic and almost synth-like in texture. The song itself is riddled with electronics as well, reflecting the eccentric electropop sound that Grimes has been toying with for most of her entire career.
As reported by Pitchfork, the song features production from collaborator Illangelo and was previewed via Tik Tok few weeks ago during a livestream where Grimes interacted with fans, which included naming four pigs and answering what ‘the pain that resides in the soul of mankind’ is.
Another preview featured a video entirely stitched together by AI-generated images, which featured a Grimes-like figure dancing. Grimes’ embrace of artificial intelligence runs deep—in April, she said that she’d split royalties 50/50 with any successful song that used an AI-generated voice made to sound like the singer. More recently, she has collaborated with electronic music producer Anyma for their song ‘Welcome to the Opera,’ which uses AI software Elf.tech for the final effect of Grimes’ voice.
Billed as ‘a new chapter from Book I,’ it’s clear there’s more on the way for Grimes. Whether or not the robots will have taken over by then, we’ll just have to wait and see.
Listen to ‘I Wanna Be Software’ by Grimes below.
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