In April, Grimes told Interview that she had recorded a new AI-themed album with the very Grimesian title of Psy Opera, and that it would include songs called “The Light Ages” and “Eve Is Online.” While we still don’t have a release date, a press release for the just-released lead single, “Accelerando”—a possible reference to the 2005 sci-fi novel of the same name—gives a better picture of what promises to be a predictably bizarre record: “From the AI debate to immoral wars to a bad ex to looksmaxers to the importance of religion, Psy Opera will cover everything Grimes witnessed as a woman of history during her hiatus from pop music.” The new song features lyrics like “American lobotomy ya a a a/Accelerando/Better than a Van Gogh?/Eat me if u wanna ya yayaya.” It also comes with an unsettling music video starring Grimes wrapped up in chains, Grimes burned at the stake, and Grimes wielding a gun in the middle of an android battle. Watch that below.
Grimes is a longtime advocate of AI, particularly concerning its use in music. In 2024, she featured on an episode of the PBS series A Brief History of the Future, where she called AI an “opportunity” for musicians to showcase even more of their skills. “When everyone has the same tools that can make professional quality stuff, then you get to see the actual talent, like, really rise to the top,” she said. The year before, she offered 50 percent royalties to anyone who created a successful AI-generated song using her voice.
In addition to “Accelerando,” Grimes has invited fans to join a channel on Instagram called “Eve Is Online,” and revealed a Psy Opera trailer featuring a dystopian, AI-themed retelling of the Gospel of John in the New Testament. “In the beginning was the word and the word was God. And man made God in his image, and God embraced man’s nature,” she says in the clip. “And Eden was forged in metal and artificial light rivaled the sun.”
Psy Opera is Grimes’ first album in six years, following 2020’s Miss Anthropocene. Her new record will be her first on her own label, Nazgul Recording LLC, which she launched after parting ways with Columbia.
Read Anna Gaca’s new track review of “Accelerando.”
