Grimes, “We Appreciate Power” | Wacky Wednesday 💎

Grimes makes Wacky Wednesday truly wacky and quite compelling with “We Appreciate Power” from her 2020 album, Miss Anthropocene. 

Wacky Wednesday is reserved for an intriguing song or piece of music that’s out of the ordinary – definitely ear catching.  What better way to celebrate hump day, right?  Let’s get wacky on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 with “We Appreciate Power” courtesy of Grimes who’s assisted by HANA.

“What will it take to make you capitulate?” “We Appreciate Power” appears as the 11^th track off of the deluxe edition of Miss Anthropocene. It should go without saying that Grimes exemplifies the characterization ‘one of a kind’ artist.  She enlists HANA for the assist on the chorus and bridge sections (HANA sings the excepted lyrics, FYI). “We Appreciate Power” could be described as a mix of pop, metal, and industrial – now that’s wacky if I do say so myself! Billboard described the record, upon its release in 2018, as “a dystopian, aggressive dive into a more rock-leaning sound.” The sound of the record yields no shortage of power, with its hard-hitting drums, aggressive guitars, and colorful keyboards/synths/programming.

If the actual sound of the record weren’t enough to set it apart from almost everything else, what about the concepts, themes, and the lyrics?  That “dystopian” characterization? The bridge is particularly key:

“And if you long to never die
Baby, plug in, upload your mind
Come on, you’re not even alive
If you’re not backed up on a drive.”

Certainly, compelling to say the least. Here’s another interesting observation about “We Appreciate Power.” Grimes delivers a much subtler performance against a more powerful, hardnosed backdrop.  On the first verse for example, she sings in a whisper, which is both weird yet totally intriguing (“God’s creation, so misunderstood / Pray to the divinity, the keeper of the key / One day everyone will believe”).  Comparatively, HANA is more aggressive, popping out more, quite obvious when she assists Grimes on the second half of the bridge. Honestly, one could write an entire essay about this powerful record, previously featured on the playlist, 11 Energetic, Powerful and/or Strong Songs.

Grimes • Miss Anthropocene • 4AD Ltd • 2020

Wacky Wednesday No. 4: Grimes, “We Appreciate Power” [Photo Credits: 4AD, alehidalgo, Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, Pixabay, taniarose]