We all know Grimes to be a fan of crafting outlandish and convoluted lore for her music to inhabit — from the bizarre mix of techno-optimism and climate change fatalism that was Miss Anthropocene to the medieval lightsaber battle that graced her most recent music video. Given the mix of fantasy and sci-fi that influences Grimes' work, the copious amounts of backstory shouldn't really come as a surprise, but thats what makes her latest single stick out even more like a sore thumb.
By her own admittance, Grimes latest single "Shinigami Eyes," doesn't exactly fit within the whole universe she had constructed for upcoming album, Book 1 Chapter 1, but she decided to include it anyway. "I love the record, but it’s just like, everyone’s like, what’s the deeper meaning?" Grimes told Zane Lowe in an interview on Apple Music 1. "Illangelo had just watched Death Note and really liked it. Basically, I wrote the whole space opera thing and this is the only song that wasn’t this big narrative plot."
Describing it as "the label executive decision song" which we take to mean is more in line with the type of chart-friendly single a major label would try to push an artist to put out, "Shinigami Eyes" may not slot nicely in with the conceptual framework of the forthcoming project but it does still keep in line with same strain of ravey electro house we heard on "Player of Games." The track sees Grimes take on the roll of a snake charmer with hypnotic vocals and a rolling beat for an entrancing club anthem that draws us in further and further.
The single arrives alongside a new music video directed by Brthr that features cameos from BLACKPINK's Jennie, Dorian Electra and makeup artist Ryon Wu. Bathed in a green-screened deluge of neon lights, Gundam spacecraft and snakeskin bodysuits, the music video plunges the cyber-fantasy world of "Player of Games" even deeper into virtual realm in what feels like a visual cross between Chromatica and The Fifth Element.
Check out the official music for "Shinigami Eyes" below.
Photo via Youtube
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