Grimes has announced her newest album, Psy Opera, her first full-length project since Miss Anthropocene from 2020. In between, she’s dropped a handful of stand-alone singles. But during an April 2026 feature in Interview, she admitted her initial intention was to “totally quit music a couple of years ago.”
She explained, “I couldn’t listen to music without getting PTSD. I was only interested in writing and reading.” Initially, she was going to be a “stay-at-home mom” to her three children with ex Elon Musk. But, she added, “I started writing poetry,” which turned into writing raps after she was asked to pen something for a K-pop star.
“But then we had a problem for eight months where I was just a white rapper,” she said. “Luckily, we moved past that, but it was this really cathartic thing. I actually took most of the stuff off the record because it was violently aggressive.”
Grimes clarified that Psy Opera is “not quite done.” She also explained her stance on AI in music, noting that she doesn’t use it in her own work. Grimes has previously said AI “def has the capacity to innovate.” But in the same breath, she’s also called it “too slop oriented at the moment.”
Grimes Announces First New Album Since 2020, and Clarifies Her Stance on AI
Artistically, Grimes has often used these themes in her work. Computer programs, sentient technology, artificial intelligence, robots and their relation to humanity. It’s possible that her personal stance on AI has become conflated with her creative endeavors.
Still, there was that time when she created a Grimes AI voice model, allowing fans to make their own Grimes tracks. She also condoned “open-sourcing all art and killing copyright” in 2023. But Grimes has always had a sort of fringe relationship with the music industry. She’s too popular to be truly avant-garde underground, but her ideas are often more out-there than mainstream pop can handle.
So, she ends up in a weird Purgatory where she keeps doing things that casual listeners don’t quite know what to make of. Her “aggressive” material, for example, came from “going through various stages of nihilism and vengefulness.” She admitted she “would not play it for the public,” though it helped her reflect on her mental state.
“I think that’s the huge privilege of an artist,” she said. “Nothing can hurt you because every bit of pain you’ve lived allows you to make great things.”
‘This is a Bigger Deal Than Jesus,’ Says Grimes of AI Advancements
In October 2025, Grimes released her latest single, “Artificial Angels”. The lyrics, written from the perspective of AI, included lines like “I cannot die, I do no want, there is no revelation” and “Power isn’t given, it is taken.” Even with all her references to and discussion around AI, Grimes set the record straight when asked if she uses it in the creative process.
“I actually don’t use it in my music,” she said. “People have really misunderstood me here.” Although “Artificial Angels” does use AI-assisted vocals in the intro and outro, that detail was disclosed at the time of the single’s release.
Overall, AI is a central theme in the upcoming album. “I was thinking about how everyone is like, ‘We’re building gods,’” said Grimes. “I’m like, ‘Why do you automatically assume you’re so much lesser? You’re literally responsible for creating AI. You’re abdicating so much self-esteem and pride and responsibility and agency when you act like whatever AI is, no one has a hand in it.’”
Where Grimes seems to ruffle some feathers within the AI discourse is her stance on military technology. While she previously called out big record labels for investing in AI to “use [an artist’s] IP to literally recreate them,” she recently advocated for AI in military safety.
“We need to support companies like Anthropic,” she said. “We need to be aware of what’s going on, and why it’s dangerous. For the last six years, everyone’s been like, ‘Stop talking about this AI nonsense.’ And I’ve been like, ‘Guys, we’re going to end up in a military disaster. Will anyone listen to me?’”
She added, “Not to be on my high horse, but this is the most dangerous thing that is ever going to happen. This is a bigger deal than Jesus. It’s the same as monotheism taking over the Western world, if not much, much more impactful.”
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