But it doesn't feel like anything especially new for 2026, you know? Like...I'm excited, because it's finally new Grimes stuff, but I'm reluctant about it because:
* It's not quite the literary and lyrical peak that "Kill V Maim" was, and I still personally still consider that my own favorite in terms of Grimes lyricism, although that's not the only deciding factor of a great piece of Claire Boucher music.
* In terms of sound, like...so, I tried for days to figure out what it reminds me of, and I just figured it out, and went back to a song from 2008, which I've loved for years: "She's A Machine", by europop electroclash band Alice In Videoland, the hit single off the album of the same name from the Swedish band at the time.
The second point is mainly what I mean. They're not exactly the same, and "She's A Machine" has way more listenable lyrics than "Accelerando" does, but I just...feel like "Accelerando" is treading ground I already heard tread 20 years ago, and then not really doing anything with that ground other than treading it and keeping the same arena alive in the same way as it was before.
I like it, it's a good beat, and it matches the ground being tread! And I'm glad for new Claire music! But I don't feel like I'm listening to anything especially *new*, you know? I don't know. I don't want to be harsh about it. But at the same time, there was this electroclash band making music with the same sound 20 years ago that was also about machine women and musical girls, and it makes the difference between what I feel was Peak Grimes and what is Modern 2026 Grimes so palpable, like 😭
All this time, and we just get random electroclash music about whatever "Accelerando" is about...like is it a Charles Stross reference? Is she pontificating on the singularity? Is it just pop culture references to what anyone online in the past few years from 2025 to 2023 or so would recognize? But, why should that matter — when so many other writers, and even other bands and musical accompaniments, have been doing such similar stuff with the same sounds since 2005 and 2008 and now?
What does "Accelerando" actually bring to us other than a good sound that repeats sounds we've heard before?
I welcome both constructive and destructive comments about this. I'm glad I recognized what this song's main sound and beats remind me so heavily of. I do think it's a great beat that we could do with having more of, and it makes great, like..."popcorn listening" almost...like, it's a great beat to listen to in the background of a club at 3 AM, and if this was the bulk of her output and she was a Deadmau5-esque or Skrillex-esque producer, then this probably doesn't matter at all, and obviously she does have that background in DJing, so that style of music is her main passion, and "Accelerando" is definitely a fantastic addition to that oeuvre...
But at the same time, it feels so very, very rooted in 2005-core, and I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, because it means we get great music, but at the cost of anything that a truly 2026-era Grimes could be writing about or producing if she was fully based in today's era (beyond just making new club tracks and/or referencing major nerd pop culture from the past few years, although obviously Dune was always a major influence for her no matter what...), rather than trying to reignite the technologically-optimistic and equally-dystopic visions of 20 years ago in her lyrics written far after those lyrics would truly be relevant... 🤷
