Oh, you're all I know
But what can I do if I can't see you? It's too bright
Broken glass that shines like Northern Lights
So I pray, but the world burns
And still, you need to come first
So I don't know where you stand
[Pre-Chorus]
Are you a man?
Are you something I can't stand?
[Chorus]
Hands reaching out for new gods
You can't give me what I want
[Verse 2]
But what do I know? Oh
What do I know?
I wanna let go, I
I wanna, wanna, wanna let go
[Pre-Chorus]
I wear black eyeliner, black attire, yeah
So take me higher and higher and higher
But the world is a sad place, baby
Only brand new gods can save me
Only brand new gods can save me
Only brand new gods
[Chorus]
Hands reaching out for new gods
You can't give me what I want
Hands reaching out for new gods
You can't give me what I want
About
A track from Grimes' fifth album Miss Anthropocene. It is a slow, dramatic piano ballad where Grimes' voice is the main feature.
Grimes spoke about the song during her Live Podcast with Sean Carroll:
It makes more sense … Yeah, the stories are great. And it’s just … I was like, “Well, who are the new gods?” Because we have all this new stuff. We have plastic and pollution and plastic surgery and social media. The new gods sound sick. They sound like … like the Sailor Scouts, like these sick demons. So that’s kind of where my weird imagination has been going."
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
I really wish I started the record with this song. I just wanted to write the thesis down: It’s about how the old gods sucked—well, I don’t want to say they sucked, but how the old gods have definitely let people down a bit. If you look at old polytheistic religions, they’re sort of pre-technology. I figured it would be a good creative exercise to try to think like, ‘If we were making these gods now, what would they be like?’ So it’s sort of about the desire for new gods. And with this one, I was trying to give it a movie soundtrack energy.
– Grimes, Apple Music
