Grimes is creating her own worlds
The art angel herself, Grimes, is back with yet another new-world tech project. Always being an artist to express her love for AI, Grimes is always trying to challenge what music can be. Late last year she did a collaboration with Endel on an AI lullaby technology to help with sleep. Then, this September she began judging Alter Ego on Fox, the singing competition that shows contestants as dream avatars. Now, the artist debuts a new artificial intelligence project: girl group, NPC.
Who is NPC?
According to a press release, NPC will feature multiple different characters that can be voted in or out. The characters are a result of the endless amount of creative creatures within Grimes’ head. The creation of them is a manifestation of those from her two previous albums. “NPC will hone the concepts of Art Angels and Miss Anthropocene, finally manifesting the endless characters in Grimes’ head. NPC can do all the things humans cannot.” Characters like the WarNymph that appeared throughout her Miss Anthropocene era and an NFT she sold will allegedly be one of the main characters of NPC.
A customizable pop group
Even cooler is that once work is completed on the group, it will be customizable. The announcement said that “NPC will eventually be playable, customizable, and able to cater to each individual listener’s unique desires.” It looks as if the artist is allowing her audience to create their own popstars in a way this is “decentralized.” According to Grimes herself, this is something that she has always desired. As a result of her prevalent anxiety with live shows, Grimes has said that she has sought a way to be able to tour virtually. With NPC it seems that will happen.
Behind A Drug From God
As of now, Grimes is the mastermind behind the music itself. She is the one writing and producing the tracks. This is something that will eventually be done as a result of NPC’s AI makeup. On the group’s first single, she collaborates with London-based house producer Chris Lake for A Drug From God. Previously, she teased the song on Instagram. The caption says “just needed to get this song out cuz it’s been going so hard at festivals!!!!” Indeed, the song is hard. It features buzzing synths and fear-inducing beat drops. An apocalyptic take on sex and drugs leads the lyrics behind the song. Additionally, Grimes sings in her trademark nymph voice and ends lines in the chorus with a cynical “muah.”
Creating NPC is a massive task
Nonetheless, being the maximalist she is, the creation of such visual artists won’t be easy. At this time, only a visualizer for the single and a beta version of the group is available. The tattoo artist that created her alien scars back tattoo, Nusi Quero, is helping Grimes on generating the AI group. Further, in a very grimes neo-utopian way, she announced the group members’ names are Oxytocin, Cortisol, Adrenaline, Dopamine, and Tomorrow. See their looks below.
Grimes isn’t stopping anytime soon
Apart from NPC, Grimes is active on Instagram, showing more potential music. A couple of months ago she posted a snippet of a song called “Tragedy” and later one titled “LOVE”. Undoubtedly, Grimes is busy with creating new music and art. She is an artist that challenges our ideas of how to experience art. Now we can see, for her, that art will be available in multiple different media forms and realms.
