After six years of performing under the name Grimes, Claire Boucher is blasting into the stratosphere of mainstream pop; her intergalactic, out-of-this-world beats and softened sound made more palatable for radio on her fourth studio album, “Art Angels.”
Trading her signature dream-pop with thudding, club beats and more confident sounding operatics, the genre-blending album covers a lot of ground in its 14 songs, and features more live instrumentation than ever before, including piano, guitar, and violin, all played by her. Boucher describes her style as ‘genre-less,’ blurring the lines between all styles of music. While she is broadening her sound, Scream, featuring a charismatic performance from underground Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, verifies Grimes’ weird ethos remains unscathed. Her collaboration with R&B artist Janelle Monáe on the feminist anthem, Venus Fly, soars with a thunderous …show more content…
On her breakthrough album Visions, she had a tendency to hide behind gauzy production and unintelligible lyrics, while on Art Angels her vocals are more audible, showing that she’s ready for confrontation and provocation. The shift from dream-pop to a polished, sharp production may set back some listeners, arguing that Boucher watered down her creativity and uniqueness for exposure and popularity. However like much of Grimes’ work, it takes time to break in.. Comparing the updated version of “REALiTi,” from the demo she shared earlier this year, is the best way to compare her old work to the new. The production is sharper, more poppy, more defined; the songs are more structured, hooky; her vocal are more present. It’s evident that she’s improved as a writer and a singer, giving the album a polished resonance, but still retaining her alien
Trading her signature dream-pop with thudding, club beats and more confident sounding operatics, the genre-blending album covers a lot of ground in its 14 songs, and features more live instrumentation than ever before, including piano, guitar, and violin, all played by her. Boucher describes her style as ‘genre-less,’ blurring the lines between all styles of music. While she is broadening her sound, Scream, featuring a charismatic performance from underground Taiwanese rapper Aristophanes, verifies Grimes’ weird ethos remains unscathed. Her collaboration with R&B artist Janelle Monáe on the feminist anthem, Venus Fly, soars with a thunderous …show more content…
On her breakthrough album Visions, she had a tendency to hide behind gauzy production and unintelligible lyrics, while on Art Angels her vocals are more audible, showing that she’s ready for confrontation and provocation. The shift from dream-pop to a polished, sharp production may set back some listeners, arguing that Boucher watered down her creativity and uniqueness for exposure and popularity. However like much of Grimes’ work, it takes time to break in.. Comparing the updated version of “REALiTi,” from the demo she shared earlier this year, is the best way to compare her old work to the new. The production is sharper, more poppy, more defined; the songs are more structured, hooky; her vocal are more present. It’s evident that she’s improved as a writer and a singer, giving the album a polished resonance, but still retaining her alien