When she pressed Play, the sound that emerged was—Jay Z might have been relieved to hear—not obviously indebted to Enya. There was an easygoing hip-hop beat, intensified by snare rolls sampled from a marching band, and a playful keyboard line, the kind that you might pick out with one finger. Boucher’s vocals were pitched up, to make the song easier to sing onstage, where she often finds herself floating into her upper register. The song was “World Princess Part II,” a sequel of sorts to an old song of hers, a ghostly elegy called “World ♡ Princess.” Like many Grimes songs, this one is deceptive. The lyrics, which can be hard to decipher, slowly reveal themselves to be meaner than they first sound, taking aim at someone—maybe someone in Montreal—who underestimated her:

Another song, more punkish, sounded like a pop manifesto set to music: “Something you’re dismissive of is the reason I wake up.” But this recording was ineligible for the album, because Boucher didn’t write it: it was a cover of a track by Default Genders, Brooks’s current project. “The vocals are maybe kind of embarrassing,” Boucher said. “But they really liked it in the session.”

The new songs were playful and pungent, and they seemed to change based on one’s frame of mind, like aural illusions. A number of them were as catchy as anything on the radio; one evoked the zippy charm of “Since U Been Gone,” by Kelly Clarkson. But they also sounded slightly alien, as if Boucher had resolved to obey the letter of pop-music law while declining to obey its spirit. The most lyric-driven song she played was her idea of a pop ballad—enlivened by an effervescent dancehall reggae beat. “It’s sonically as uncool as I could make it,” she said, proudly. “Kind of a hoedown vibe.” She pressed Pause. “And also Nine Inch Nails.” She pressed Play again, trying not to flinch as she heard her own voice: “The things they see in me, I cannot see myself / When you get bored of me, I’ll be back on the shelf.” Boucher likes to challenge—and sometimes torment—herself by resolving to do things she finds uncomfortable, like singing. For this song, which didn’t yet have a title, she had relied on non-technological assistance. “I took a couple of shots of tequila and did it—and ended up crying, alone, later in the night,” she said, then paused to listen. “I feel like this song needs Auto-Tune. Or maybe it would be better without alcohol.”

One plan is to try to get a song onto rock stations this fall and then, next year, to launch a song into the pop mainstream. Boucher acknowledges that she is a long shot, and says that she would be satisfied if her new record were merely “a successful indie album.” But it would be slightly deflating if Boucher, after years of pop obsession, didn’t find a way to become part of the thing that has captivated her.

Originally posted by Diarrhoea

She lost the final file () so I think it's unlikely. It'd probably sound out of place anyway from what we've heard.

Great song, though.

Originally posted by Nate

I think Realiti will be included. X X

(Grimes follows GrimezszDaily and they DM I believe, so I think it's a credible source.)

Originally posted by Badger

The demo is good enough tbh