Book 1

* **Book 1**
* Book 2
* Book 3
* Lore

## Singles

1. Player of Games
Released: 03 Dec 2021
2. Shinigami Eyes
Released: 26 Jan 2022

**Book 1** (stylized **BOOK•I**) is the upcoming sixth studio album by Grimes. The songs on the album are metaphorically referred to as 'chapters'.

It is set in the same universe as *Book 2* and *Book 3* in which the digital girl group NPC reside.

## Background

Grimes started to think about her sixth studio album as early as 2018. During the release cycle of *Miss Anthropocene*, Grimes revealed in an interview with Zane Lowe that she had finished working on it (*Miss Anthropocene*) for some months before its release and had started working on its follow-up, with the techno-pop track Violence being intended for *Book 1* despite ultimately appearing on *Miss Anthropocene*. After the release of Miss Anthropocene, Grimes' contract with the independent record label 4AD ended and a year later she announced the signing to another major label Columbia Records on May 9, 2021.

In December 2021, Grimes released a new song, Player of Games, which serves as the lead single of the album. In January 2022, Grimes released another song, Shinigami Eyes, which is the second single of the album.

In 2021 she confirmed a collaboration with The Weeknd for the song Sci-Fi via a Discord announcement - it's going to be another song on the album.

In 2022, Grimes teased a collaboration with the artist Eartheater, who will be present on a song on *Book 1*.

At the start of 2023 in a since deleted tweet, Grimes teased the development for a music video for the track Utopia, and in it also could be seen a track name "Divinity in Extremis July", which made many to speculate that this will be another album song. She also mentioned that if she had had more time, she would finish and include a song featuring the group Loona on *Book 1*.*[citation needed]*

In a first press release about the album, Grimes had this to say:

[**What else can you tell me about the album? Is it really a space opera?**] We made an album and were like, “Is this a finished album?” And that was before I signed to Columbia Records. Then I signed to Columbia, and we keep debating on the singles and it keeps changing. It’s sort of a concept album, so it does have a narrative. It’s a space opera, and I’m trying to make it air-tight, really pull it together, hone it in. With my last album, I had a lot of big ideas, but I just let it be more impressionistic. With this album, I think I have a lot more to say. I feel very strongly about the material. Also, we’re continually making songs as we go. But I think we’re going to start dropping singles, which I kind of prefer. I prefer not putting too much pressure on the album, and being able to keep adding stuff, because I also like long albums. So I think we’re going to start dropping singles this summer and then just keep dropping singles and then put the album out four, five, six singles in or something. I am a big album person, but I also like to get music out.

In 2022, Grimes stated:

>
> ❝ I made a bunch of stuff and I just want to make a bunch more stuff. [..] There's just more kind of sonic, conceptual ideas that I think need to get done to make everything make more sense. And we kind of have two album covers and it seems like a waste to throw on one of them away. ❞
>
>
>
>

Grimes originally stated that the final song for the album was finished in September 2021. In October 2022 she revealed the album was "done" and was working on two more songs to release a double album, but did not know if she could. Grimes started working on new music in 2023 that's not apart of *Book 1*, but considered including the tracks onto the album.

The album has been delayed several times, being considered for a 2021 release at the earliest. It's currently expected to be "slowly" released, with a song from the album being released every three weeks.. However, after the release of I Wanna Be Software, that plan is now defunct.

Grimes said this about the postponement of the album in an interview with *Forbidden Fruits*:

>
> ❝ So, Okay. I have an album that I'm just really bored of. [..] It's like two years old and I'm just like starting to make new things, so we're just in this debate. Koto is shaking his head at me. We need to put it out. I, I just, I also wanna change as an artist... ❞
>
>
>
>

When presented with the fact that the album is years overdue, Grimes said this:

[**That album is years overdue.**] I can’t say why because I signed an NDA and got myself into a legal situation. This would have come out two years ago. Now I’m making new music. [My managers] say no, but I love the new music. And they’re like, no, no, no.

When asked about when the album is going to be released, Grimes had this to say:

>
> ❝ It got held in limbo for a while, and then I started making a new album. My management is killing me because they’re like, “We have a whole album, why won’t you release it?” I have a bunch of stuff coming up that I’m really, really excited about. I went through this process of labels, and there is always a lot of pressure to make the first single the most commercial thing, all this stuff. I’m trying to focus on the singles and the videos. I have my album and an AI album, and I’m going to make them compete. ❞
>
>
>
>

Book 3 is the 'competitor AI album'

### *Fairies Cum First*

According to a 2021 press release and *c'*s interviews, Shinigami Eyes was to appear on an Extended Play called *Fairies Cum First*, which was described as "a prelude" to the forthcoming album.
On February 3, 2022, Grimes officially announced the EP. However, later in September, *c* revealed that she had been suffering from medical and legal issues, resulting in everything being behind schedule.

In January 2023, Grimes tweeted that music is now a 'side quest', due to her personal life.

As she is now independent after leaving Columbia Records, it is not known who owns the rights to the album and extended play. There is speculation that *Fairies Cum First* was only put forward to satisfy the demands of the record label, who pressured Grimes to release new music. With Grimes now independent, the EP may stay only as a bygone idea.

There have been no updates on it since, thus it is safe to say the idea/EP is shelved.

## Composition

On June 11, 2023, in an Instagram comment, Grimes said:

>
> ❝ I love dance music like beyond a rational degree and always have. I understand that it doesn't vibe with a lot of grimes fans haha, (I recently underwent an intervention where loved ones told me no more techno in the am and preferably only on weekends), soooo.. I have a buncha lo fi stuff for y'all coming too. I basically have moved my mental priorities over to babies and ai stuff, however I am so grateful each day to be an artist - and I know that is because of u guys. I have some more ye olde grimey vibes on this album - but unfortunately I couldn't help myself making more techno too omg... it's like producer crack tho. Matteo cassian and carlo r so sick and we nerd so hard. But yes, after the album I will be releasing all varieties of music not just dance. Please forgive me, it's just where my soul resides. Like I listened to enough techno to the point where ppl expressed concern. I am working to overcome this, but I rly do recommend listening on a big system w a good clear stream not social media and going to a rave haha ❞
>
>
>
>

## Album Visuals

On December 3, 2021, Grimes first premiered album visuals by Bryan Huynh with the caption: "And so the BOOK 1 era begins", however, a few weeks later she posted alternate artwork by Chen Man.
On January 4, 2022, Grimes asked fans to vote on which cover they would prefer: "Which of these is my album cover? 1 @chenman @chkltk 2 @bryanhuynh @rodolfo.olf ??? Will prob figure out sum kinda vote".

Grimes went on to continue to work with Bryan Huynh, as he has been her co-creative director for several other photoshoots during the promotional campaign, and Chen Man would go on to use his photos for an NFT collection, but, on May 31, 2023, Grimes tweeted in response to a fan account that she probably won't pick any of the album covers she originally proposed, and that the album cover should be "fluid and ever changing".

## Release and Promotion

### Singles

03 Dec 2021
 Player of Games26 Jan 2022
 Shinigami Eyes
## Tracklist

On March 24, 2023, "Book 1.txt" was uploaded to Grimes' website elf.tech. A month later on April 30, an updated tracklist called "Book 1-2.txt" replaced the file, however, it was online only for a single day before being replaced with lyrics for *MUSIC 4 MACHINES*. Parts of the tracklist repeat.

Most of the X's in the tracklist do not match with the letters of confirmed song names. That could either mean that the encoded tracklist does not hold significant meaning or that Grimes has spelt some songs differently, or the album has a different tracklist from her earlier vision.

On May 31, 2023, Grimes tweeted, then deleted, a list of songs that would be on the album. However, she soon clarified that the titles were "incorrect", i.e likely spelled differently and not in tracklist order, and *Darq Souls* would not be present for the album, but rather would be released independently due to fan requests. The list was as follows:

* I wanna be software
* MUSIC 4 MACHINES
* Enjoy the angels on earth
* The Infinite Assassin
* 100% Tragedy
* Riot Song
* Afterlife
* Digital Calypso
* The Light Ages
* Utopia (Intended to be the opening track.)
* Player of Games
* Shinigami Eyes
* Sci-Fi (featuring The Weeknd)

### Previously Confirmed

* LOVE (matches the amount of characters on track 13.)
* Marie Antoinette 2077 (matches the amount of characters on track 3.)
* *Title unknown* (features the lyric "Despite all my rage / I am still just a doll in a cage".)
* *Title unknown* (featuring Eartheater)

### Unconfirmed

* A Letter for S
* Discord (registered on ASCAP with Illangelo, the song has 7 characters, the same as track 10 on the encoded tracklist.)
* Divinity in Extremis (Initially intended for Miss Anthropocene, seen in the sidebar of Grimes working on Utopia's music video)
* Passage (out)

### Other

Songs teased and released throughout the Book 1 era that are not apart of the album:

* A Drug From God
* Welcome to the Opera

### Outtakes

* Violence (used on Miss Anthropocene).
* 4ÆM (used on Miss Anthropocene).

## References

1. ↑ https://youtu.be/ADHFwabVJec?t=29
2. ↑ https://youtu.be/ADHFwabVJec?t=29
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 https://www.nylon.com/life/grimes-space-opera-album
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://music.apple.com/us/post/1478980334
5. ↑ https://www.thefader.com/2021/03/08/grimes-has-signed-to-columbia-records
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2022/03/grimes-cover-story-on-music-and-mars
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/latest-news/grimes-says-new-music-with-eartheater-is-coming-soon
8. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/10n3xox/new\_music\_video\_utopia\_soon/
9. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/pro/grimes-interview-discord-new-album-futurism/
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 https://pitchfork.com/news/grimes-shares-video-for-new-song-shinigami-eyes-watch/
11. ↑ https://youtu.be/\_oC1gYOnJrg?t=197
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1573303238320857089
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1650316102579175426
14. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1610608453327659008
Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20230430101417/https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1610608453327659008
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1664083781081497600
16. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/episode/75xYu6SDuiCEOObcYjifGF
17. ↑ https://www.wired.com/story/grimes-big-interview/
18. ↑ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/grimes-aespa-k-pop-media-ai-music-1234853710/
19. ↑ https://twitter.com/grimezsz/status/1489340998509637641?lang=en
20. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1571587450216103941
21. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/grimes-calls-music-her-side-quest-new-album-update-1235193964/
22. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/news/grimes-and-columbia-records-part-ways/
23. ↑ https://twitter.com/grimesfeed/status/1667911726707212290
24. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CXAiG74sUgV/
25. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CYCWYVWFwLu/
26. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CYUUtWDFwld/?img\_index=1
27. ↑ https://opensea.io/collection/chen-man-silentnoise-episode-01
28. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20230708175234/https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1664114762727460864
29. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/120oqy8/book\_1\_censored\_track\_list\_from\_elftech/
30. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/133ncod/huge\_elftech\_update/?utm\_source=embedv2&utm\_medium=post\_embed&utm\_content=action\_bar
31. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/13x46if/release\_schedule\_album\_tracklist/ Grimes had stated that they were already behind schedule so the dates are not to be taken seriously
32. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1664082745063247874
33. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1664111738286112768
34. ↑ https://elf.tech/
35. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1571581146152210432
36. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1571210710272581634
37. ↑ https://twitter.com/azinakii/status/1569534049038770178
38. ↑ https://youtu.be/uCg0rp13Vp0?t=1437 as said in the Discord chat
39. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWeeknd/comments/rr5yn0/grimes\_just\_confirmed\_a\_collab\_with\_the\_weeknd/
40. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Grimes/comments/xcjn9c/who\_do\_we\_think\_s\_is\_deleted\_tweet/
41. ↑ https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/911956916
42. ↑ https://twitter.com/GRIMESBRAZIL/status/1619290136117915648
43. ↑ https://twitter.com/Grimezsz/status/1058442374467076096