Grimes told fans that she was deep in a realm of “pure unadulterated creativity” back in August, working on a much-anticipated follow-up to the gift she gave to the world Art Angels from 2015. As she continues to explore new sonic landscapes, the musician has created a new playlist of artists she’s collating into a genre of her own: Faé.
She detailed on Instagram that the playlist will be updated ‘semi-regularly’, with ‘recentish’ music by artists who write or produce themselves – “artists I feel a kinship towards in some capacity,” she says. Check that playlist here, as well as one the artist did for our 25th anniversary here.
Grimes then shared the first paragraph of her genre’s manifesto: “The fae are the children living at the end of the world, who make art that reflects what it's like to live knowing the earth may not sustain humanity much longer.
“We live knowing that environmentally driven genocide is nigh, that the least equipped are to be struck down by the very earth itself. Repentance by the innocent for the sins of the rich. This does not mean that all fae art is directly about this, but that the influence of this reality is inescapable for the fae.”
Grimes’ original playlist included the likes of SZA, Cardi B, Purity Ring and Lil Uzi Vert. Here, we attempt to delve into the mystical, expansive genre of Faé, shouting out artists with a personal vision, and an output that’s tapped into our complicated, weird world. There’s Rina Sawayama, whose digi-pop soundtracks online life, love and anxiety, and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s wondrous, galaxy-spanning electronics. We’ve also popped in an avant-R&B banger from Kelela, and the melodic black girl magic union of Jamila Woods and Noname.
Check out Dazed’s take on Grimes’ Faé playlist below.
