Art Angels

<noinclude>
Album
Critical Reception
Physical Release
Art Angels is the fourth studio album by Grimes, released digitally on November 6, 2015 via 4AD and in physical formats on December 11 the same year. 
The songs on the album are metaphorically referred to as 'acts'.https://youtu.be/Tv9YoYCKNoE?t=9
==Background==
Grimes began planning the record in 2012 as the follow-up to her third studio album Visions,https://www.undertheradar.co.nz/utr/interviewMore/CID/451/N/Grimes.utr however, she scrapped most of the material from those sessions and began a new set of recordings in 2014 due to the original subject matter being "depressing."https://web.archive.org/web/20160518073518/http://www.stereogum.com/1787656/grimes-says-that-she-isnt-scrapping-music-because-of-negative-reactions/news/
She told The FADER:https://web.archive.org/web/20160609125543/http://www.thefader.com/2015/07/28/grimes-cover-story-interview
The track REALiTi, which came from the earlier recordings, was released as a demo in early 2015, and Grimes made a decision to include a reworked and finished version in Art Angels due to critical acclaim and overall positive reception of the song.https://ew.com/article/2015/08/26/grimes-new-album/
Grimes' constant touring for her 2012 album Visions, almost led to a physical collapse, bringing her to a point where she recalled "putting a hand up and grabbing a piece of [her] hair, and [she] could just pull [her] hair out". She also became tired of how the music industry ignored her technical abilities and would focus on her being a "female musician" and having a "girly voice"; she responded to these generalizations with "yeah, but I'm a producer and I spend all day looking at f***ing graphs and EQs and doing really technical work".
===Inspiration===
====Name====
In an interview with Hans Ulrich for Buffalo Zine, Grimes talked about the inspiration for the album name:Buffalo Zine/Interview
The album went through working titles of Fairy, Avalon, and Queen of the Night (after Mozart's supernatural anti-heroine from The Magic Flute).
==Composition==
Art Angels was a shift from her previous works, explaining in an interview:https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/26282/1/grimes-weird-science 
===Writing===
She told Dazed:
=== Production ===
Grimes wrote, recorded, produced and engineered all of the tracks on the album alone after having a lack of control over production while collaborating with other artists. She began using Ableton after recording Visions entirely in GarageBand and also learned how to play the guitar, drums, keys, ukulele, and violin to explore new musical directions on Art Angels. Realizing it was "too much pressure" to pay per hour to work in a professional studio, the album was recorded by Boucher in her home studio in Los Angeles, California.http://www.thefader.com/2015/10/28/grimes-recording-process-future-music-magazine
==Release and Promotion==
On March 8, 2015, Grimes released a music video for the demo version of her song REALiTi as a gift to her fans. REALiTi was produced during the scrapped recording sessions for an early rendition of her fourth album and not intended to be included on the final version of Art Angels. Grimes stated that the demo version which she released was "not mixed or mastered" as she had "lost the [song's] Ableton file".http://pitchfork.com/news/58769-grimes-shares-video-for-previously-unheard-track-realiti/ Despite Grimes regarding the demo as "a bit of a mess", REALiTi was well received by critics and fans, which led her to consider including a new version of the song on the final release of Art Angels. When the track listing for Art Angels was announced, a new version of the song appeared on the digital release and the demo version was included as a bonus track in the CD version only.http://www.spin.com/2015/10/grimes-flesh-without-blood-life-in-the-vivid-dream-video/
Grimes shared the title and cover artwork for Art Angels on social media networks on October 19, 2015 and announced that a new music video would be released the following week.http://pitchfork.com/news/61479-grimes-announces-art-angels-lp-shares-cover/ On October 26, 2015, Grimes revealed that her new album would be available digitally on November 6, 2015, with releases in physical formats on December 11 in the same year. To accompany the announcement, Grimes released her Flesh without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream music video, a digital single for Flesh without Blood and individual artwork for each track on Art Angels.http://pitchfork.com/news/61760-grimes-releases-flesh-without-bloodlife-in-the-vivid-dream-video-announces-art-angels-details/ SCREAM was released as the first promotional single from Art Angels on October 29, 2015,https://pitchfork.com/news/61866-grimes-drops-scream-featuring-aristophanes/ with laughing and not being normal seeing a promotional release on November 4, 2015.https://pitchfork.com/news/61955-grimes-shares-laughing-and-not-being-normal/ Kill V. Maim was released as the third promotional single on March 25, 2016,https://www.discogs.com/release/9865548-Grimes-Kill-V-Maim with a music video released on January 19, 2016. California followed on July 1, 2016,https://www.discogs.com/release/8955960-Grimes-California with the release of a music video earlier on May 9, 2016.http://pitchfork.com/news/65327-grimes-shares-california-video-watch/ On October 5, 2016, Grimes and her friend and singer HANA released seven videos called AC!D Reign Chronicles.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOwhuTlxE54https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqp3Ic8iwWE The film includes Grimes' Butterfly,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADPk5PpkjMg Belly of the Beat,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpAsOEsamA0 World Princess part II,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLvqvLvUIY SCREAM,http://www.factmag.com/2016/10/05/grimes-acid-reign-chronicles-butterfly-scream-belly-beast-videos/
 and HANA's Underwater,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6VUa8z1pQw Chimera,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHNb1k7YxeA and Avalanche.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw-NQGmXUBE The final music video for the album was for Venus Fly and was released on February 2, 2017 exclusively on TIDAL, with a release on YouTube on February 9, 2017.https://www.facebook.com/Grimes/videos/watch-the-venus-fly-video-now-featuring-janelle-mon%C3%A1e-and-directed-edited-by-gri/1397121650329795https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/34573/1/grimes-releases-venus-fly-video
==Album Visuals==
<tabber>
|-|Album artwork=
Cover ArtAngels.png|Standard version
R-7831245-1582679823-7028.jpg|Japanese version
Facebook Cover photos (19 Oct 2015) 001.jpg|Extended version
AA_BTS1.jpg|Work in progress
AA_BTS2.jpg|Work in progress
AA_BTS3.jpg|Work in progress
AA_BTS4.jpg|Work in progress
Art Angels discarded sketch.jpg|Discarded artwork
Art Angels Album Art.jpg
Art Angels Album Art 2.jpeg
Facebook Videos 11 Dec 2015 001|Stop-motion preview
|-|Song Artwork=
On Tumblr, Grimes posted the artwork she had created for every single song on the album.https://diymag.com/2015/10/27/grimes-has-shared-artwork-for-the-tracks-on-art-angels
Cover laughingandnotbeingnormal.png|Laughing and not being normal
Cover California.png|California
Cover SCREAM.png|SCREAM
Cover_FleshwithoutBlood.png|Flesh without Blood
Cover BellyoftheBeat.png|Belly of the Beat
Cover KillVMaim.png|Kill V. Maim
Cover Easily.png|Easily
Cover Pin.png|Pin
Cover Realiti.png|Realiti
Cover WorldPrincesspartII.jpeg|World Princess part II
Cover VenusFly.png|Venus Fly
Cover LifeintheVividDream.png|Life in the Vivid Dream
Cover Butterfly.png|Butterfly
|-|Miscellaneous=
Facebook Cover photos (26 Oct 2015) 001.jpg
Facebook Cover photos (06 Nov 2015) 001.jpg
Facebook Cover photos (14 Dec 2015) 001.jpg
</tabber>
==Tracklist==
<tabber>
|-|Tracklist=
|-|Scrapped Tracklist=
On February 28, 2015, an early tracklist was shared by Grimes on her Instagram and then quickly deleted.https://vk.com/photo-9986050_358797348
# forever fuck up
# World Princess part II
# Venus Fly
# Flesh without Blood
# SCREAM
# LSS
# Miami Bolero
# Evangelion
# California
# Life in the Vivid Dream
# 4 oh
</tabber>
===Outtakes===
*forever(?) fuck up
*LSS
*Miami Bolero
*Evangelion
* 4 oh
*Medieval Warfare https://itunes.apple.com/us/post/idsa.b41516e2-599c-11e6-9cab-10198ba63a1f
==Credits==
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Art Angels.
*Grimes – vocals, production, engineering
*Aristophanes - vocals (track 3)
*Janelle Monaé - vocals (track 12)
*Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing
*Geoff Swan – mixing assistance
*Tom Coyne – mastering
*Randy Merrill – mastering
==Trivia== 
*Art Angels is the only Grimes album with a title track.
*Grimes described the album's sound as "orchestral emo production" in an interview for Pitchfork, when asked to describe it in three words.https://youtu.be/umoqd0VbRI4?si=sL-p2-UCkHQs25jB&t=427
*Jay-Z helped Grimes pick the songs to put on Art Angels.https://youtu.be/dv5UUH4cZeU?si=WxM2NWLDQCwme3XM&t=64
==References==
Category:Discography
Category:Albums
Category:2015