In Fader’s most recent cover story, both Grimes and the feature’s author, Emilie Friedlander, reveal some key information about the artist’s anticipated upcoming album, including the fact that Grimes taught herself to play at least five instruments for it.
One song is supposedly a diss track about a male producer. Grimes described the inspiration for the song, saying, “It’s about a guy who acts like he knows everything and then comes back crawling on his knees, which has happened to me so many times.”
Regarding feeling the gleeful disdain needed for a diss, Grimes emphasizes how, in opposition to Visions, the new album’s songs predominantly originated from a sense of assertion and autonomy rather than melancholy:
They’re not all diss tracks, but there’s a lot of diss tracks. … I think all my other albums were, like, sad. And this time it’s more happy and angry. I live in my own house that I pay for. I bought all this equipment myself. I control my own life now. No one has any say over what I do or where I go or when I do it.
Her creative freedom will surely be audible in the fact that, as referenced earlier, she had time to teach herself to play violin, drums, guitar, keys, and ukulele; indeed, she plays every instrument on the LP. She also taught herself to “mic her own vocals,” and takes pride in the notion that “she used the very same tube condenser mic that Taylor Swift did to record Red.”
The empowerment also extends, she suggests, to a song about “being too scary to be objectified,” which will feature verses from three female MCs. The album will be out in October.