The Message of Grimes’s Dark Masterpiece
The singer’s new album, <em>Miss Anthropocene</em>, combines angsty music styles with a supposedly environmental purpose—but mostly to indulge the thrill of submission.
There was a time—the 1990s—when the word meant a lot in music. But what? The term came to encompass not only the conscientious angst of Nirvana but also that band’s corporate knockoffs; not only the paranoia of Radiohead but also the treacle of Goo Goo Dolls; not only the quiet of Tori Amos but also the thunder of Deftones. Eventually the distinction between and or became clear. While proclaiming to rage against the machine, alt built its own machine—one as roomy and pleasure-focused as the mainstream’s, but grumpier, and
