Singer, songwriter and producer, Grimes premiered a brand new song from her upcoming album just for our listening pleasure. The new song, titled “Delete Forever,” takes a different melody than what we are used to by Grimes, but it has good reasons for it. Let us explore the lyrics and meaning behind this track.
“Delete Forever” is the third track on Grimes’ upcoming fifth studio album ‘Miss Anthropocene.’ Grimes released this song and music video following an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music.
In this interview, Grimes explained the inspiration behind this track;
It’s a pretty bummer song. I guess it’s kind of about the opioid epidemic. I’ve had quite a few friends pass away, in particular, one friend when I was 18 passed away from complications related to opioid addiction. Artists keep dying and stuff so I wrote this song on the night Lil Peep died because I just got super triggered. Lil Peep and Juice WRLD were both artists I really liked. The artists its happening to specifically feels… a little too on the nose. I think, people, who in my opinion were best expressing issues of mental health. So to have them die specifically just feels like a weird hopelessness.
The song details the singer’s issues of dealing with these untimely losses around her.
Watch “Delete Forever” Music Video by Grimes
Verse 1
Grimes states how restless she gets upon hearing this news of people that she admires dying very untimely. Even when she catches some sleep, she finds her inner demons awake in her thoughts.
In the next lines, Grimes mentions the ‘heroin’ drug as being causes of deaths of many people she knows. She tries to understand the thoughts of the people and celebrities who abuse these drugs. She tries to justify their actions, but she fails.
Pre-chorus
These deaths around her have her feeling down and gloomy all the time. There have been continuous deaths of artists since late 2018 due to substance abuse and gun violence. Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Jahseh Onfroy, Nipsey Hussle and Juice WRLD are to name a few.
Chorus
In the chorus of the song, we hear Grimes settling into the mind of an artist abusing drugs. They say that they tried everything else to get them out of their downward spiraling mental situation. But nothing had worked so far and we better not tell them otherwise when the deed is done!
“White lines on a mirror” resemble a person inhaling cocaine.
Verse 2
Grimes may be alluding to the general idea among people that celebrities lead ‘perfect’ lives. They have the money and the fame, and what else do they need, right? Maybe a friend or two is what is lacking for them which is a must-have need.
“All the ghosts turned into reasons and excuses” lyric could allude to the thought process of a substance abuser. ‘Ghosts’ are what taunts our mentality day in and out. They could summon due to many reasons. When you cannot get a handle of these ghosts anymore, they become the reasons and excuses to opt for drugs. Drugs will give the user a temporary fix to their ghosts and demons. But they inevitably walk down a spiral from which they barely come out. This downward spiral often ends with their lives.
Let us hear what you think about “Delete Forever” track by Grimes by dropping a comment below. Can you relate to this song?
Check out the complete lyrics and further meaning breakdown on Genius.