4ÆM

Single artwork

**4ÆM** is a single by Grimes. It is the 4th single and 5th track on her fifth studio album, *Miss Anthropocene*.

4ÆM is the Goddess of Simulation.

## Background

The song samples "Deewani Mastani" by Shreya Ghoshal and Ganesh Chandanshive from the 2015 Bollywood film *Bajirao Mastani.* In an interview with Headliner, Grimes explained what inspired her to sample the song:

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> ❝ My step dad is Indian and always exposed me to a lot of Bollywood music. You can hear it in a lot of my work, I think. Some of my favorite artistic moments are when Bollywood gets psychedelic, surreal and avant garde. Like "Satarangi Re" from *Dil De*.
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> It always seemed so cool to me. I really wanted to pursue the ideas that the scene implanted in my mind. That hook from "Deewani Mastani" always stays with me and it seemed more respectful of the art form to sample and interpolate Bollywood. ❞
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On June 5, 2018, Grimes teased the song on her Twitter account, describing the song as an "ethereal chav jam" and "a cyberpunk interpretation of the bajirao mastani movie (..) from mastanis perspective".

A demo version was leaked in November 2018, along with two mixes of a track called Deth Angels and a track called Cryptid, which would later become Darkseid on the final version of *Miss Anthropocene*. This demo had more vocals and less high pitched vocals. It’s also a fair bit longer than the final version of the song, containing a bridge and post-chorus that was not included in the final version. On October 25, 2019, an unfinished version of the song and the other tracks of *Miss Anthropocene* were leaked.

The song was performed at The Game Awards 2019 on December 12th, 2019 during the segment dedicated to the soundtrack of the upcoming video game *Cyberpunk 2077*. She also announced that she is the voice actor for a character in the game named Lizzy Wizzy.

### Meaning

Grimes told Apple Music:

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> ❝ I got really obsessed with this Bollywood movie called *Bajirao Mastani*—it’s about forbidden love. I was like, ‘Man, I feel like the sci-fi version of this movie would just be incredible.’ So I was just sort of making fan art, and I then I really wanted to get kind of crazy and futuristic-sounding. It’s actually the first song I made on the record—I was kind of blocked and not sure of the sonic direction, and then when I made this I was like, ‘Oh, wow, this doesn’t sound like anything—this will be a cool thing to pursue.’ It gave me a bunch of ideas of how I could make things sound super future. That was how it started. ❞
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When asked what's this song about, Grimes said this in response:

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> ❝ it's a sci fi interpretation of my favourite scene from Bajirao Mastani- where the girl seduces the king by being the sickest artist and warrior haha. One of my fave films/scenes ❞
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## Trivia

* 4ÆM was the first song made for *Miss Anthropocene.*
* 4ÆM and My Name is Dark were, according to Grimes, the hardest songs to make for *Miss Anthropocene.*

## Media

### Video

* Cyberpunk 2077 visualizer
* The Game Awards performance

#### Behind the Scenes

Grimes, Elon and Japanese choreographer Natsuki Miya backstageGrimes and the dancers backstageGrimes together with the developers of *Cyberpunk 2077*

## Lyrics

* Single
* Demo

[Intro]

O—

Aphrodite

I wrote your constellation

Into the sky

S-s-s-s-s-sa

Suns at night

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4 AM

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM

I'm out late at 4 AM

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM

[Post-Chorus]

4 AM, 4 AM

Falling down again

Unraveling

[Bridge]

Aphrodite

I wrote your constellation

Into the sky, ooh

S-s-s-s-s-sa

Suns at night

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4 AM

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM

I'm out late at 4 AM

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM

[Post-Chorus]

Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na, ah

Na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na, na-na-na, ah

4 AM, 4 AM

Falling down again

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4 AM (4 AM)

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?" (How you've been?)

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM (Doubt it, 4 AM)

I'm out late at 4 AM (Doubt it)

He says, "How's the weather, baby? How've you been?" (How you've been?)

You're gonna get sick (Falling down again), you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4 AM (4 AM)

[Outro]

4 AM, 4 AM, 4 AM, 4 AM

4 AM, 4 AM, 4 AM, 4 AM

4 AM, 4 AM, falling down again

4 AM, 4 AM, falling down again

I'm out late at 4 AM

4 AM, 4 AM, out late at 4 AM

I'm out late at 4 AM

4 AM, 4 AM, 4 AM

I'm out late at 4 AM, oh, oh

Falling down again

Falling down again

Oh

[Verse 1]

Are you a constellation in the

Constellation in the sky (in the sky)

Trying to be patient

But it makes me all wanna die

S-s-s-s-s-sky

Suns at night

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4am

He says "how’s the weather, baby? How you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4am

I’m out late at 4am

He says "how's the weather, baby? How you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4am

(4am, 4am, 4am, 4am)

I don't give a damn at 4am

[Post-Chorus]

Perfect, too fucked up

Guess it's just my rotten luck

Don't wake me up

[Verse 2]

Are you a constellation in the

Constellation in the sky (constellation in the sky)

Come on notification makes me wanna die

S-s-s-s-s-sky

Suns at night

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4am

He says "how’s the weather, baby? How you been?"

You’re gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4am

I’m out late at 4am

He says "how's the weather, baby? How you been?"

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

I never doubt it at 4am

(4am, 4am, 4am, 4am)

I don't give a damn at 4am

[Post-Chorus]

Perfect, too fucked up

Guess it's just my rotten luck

Don't wake me up

[Bridge]

Say you wanna

Can't be so afraid of

The song now, crazy boy

I'm crazy for

Said it was the waves that crashed

And the boats

Oh, baby where you at?

When the morning comes to

Set fire, and this truth, baby we're so fire

Hey, boy you wanna go

I guess if it's what you want (?) the waves that crashed oh

Hey, boy you wanna go

I guess if it's what you want (?) the waves that crashed oh

Hey, boy you wanna go

I guess if it's what you want (?) the waves that crashed oh

[Chorus]

I'm out late at 4 am (4am)

He says "how's the weather, baby? How you been?"

(How you been?)

You're gonna get sick, you don't know when

And he will doubt it (doubt it) at 4am (4am)

I'm out late at 4 am (how you been?)

He says "how's the weather, baby? How you been?"

(How you been?)

You're gonna get sick (falling down again)

You don't know when

And he will doubt it at 4am (4am)

(Falling down again)

I don't give a damn at 4am

[Post-Chorus]

Perfect, too fucked up

Guess it's just my rotten luck

Don't wake me up

[Outro]

(4am again, 4am again, 4am again, 4am again)

Oh

?

So we're gonna lose

?

? thought I'd

Thought you'd fly(?) away

Thought ?

Thought I'd done it again

Thought I'd ?

Thought I'd ?

## References

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200228203815/https://www.grimesmusic.com/
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1003878639581081601
3. ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/album/miss-anthropocene/1496782284
5. ↑ https://youtu.be/XjwwuOsSMlw?t=242
6. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/fb38tj/comment/fj29359/?context=3