搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Vivian

審譯：Lynn Liu

排版：Ryan-Chopin

Art Angels?is Claire Boucher's fourth record as Grimes and her most audacious yet: a gilded coffin nail to outmoded arguments that women in pop are mere frames for male producers' talents. These 14 tracks articulate a pop vision that is incontrovertibly?hers, inviting the wider world in.

《Art Angels》是Claire Boucher以Grimes的身份發(fā)布的第四張專輯，也是她迄今為止最大膽的一張專輯。它完美地把性別成見釘死在了棺材板上，昭告聽眾女流行歌手不是男性制作人的陪襯。這14首歌勾勒出的流行圖景是絕對屬于“她的”，她在邀請外界進(jìn)入她的世界。

"I'll never be your dream girl," sings Claire Boucher on "Butterfly", the final song on?Art Angels, her most audacious album to date. Perhaps she's just being coy, because for many she is exactly that. In the?age?of?the?female?pop?auteur, Boucher's work as Grimes is a glorious addition to the canon, someone who beckons us to the dancefloor with big ideas and bigger beats, and resists simplistic notions of who she can be on a record or a stage.?Art Angels?is a gilded coffin nail to outmoded sexist arguments that women in pop are constructed products, a mere frame for male producers' talents—that because their music is immaculate, they are somehow not authentic. These 14 tracks are evidence of Boucher's labor and an articulation of a pop vision that is incontrovertibly?hers, inviting the wider world in.

“I’ll never be your dream girl” Claire Boucher在歌曲“Butterfly”中唱到，這是這張專輯的最后一首歌曲。也許她只是在故作嬌羞，就像很多人理解的那樣。然而，在女性作者引領(lǐng)的流行音樂潮流中，Boucher創(chuàng)作的Grimes絕對是靚麗的時(shí)代經(jīng)典。她在舞池中把我們領(lǐng)向宏大的主旨和更有力的節(jié)拍，在專輯和舞臺上不斷顛覆自己的固有形象。《Art Angels》完美地釘死了人們對流行樂女歌手抱有的性別成見。她們不是被制造出的產(chǎn)品，更不是男性制作人的陪襯。難道因?yàn)樗齻兊囊魳愤^于完美，所以一切就顯得不真實(shí)了嗎？這14首歌是Boucher勞動的成果，勾勒出的流行圖景也是絕對屬于“她的”。她在邀請外界進(jìn)入她的世界。

Grimes shows that Boucher is the ultimate fangirl study: a D.I.Y. musician whose love of Mariah, Katy Perry, and K-pop has expanded her palette, driven by her fascination with the possibilities of the synthetic and unreal, and ultimately given wings to?Art Angels.?Here, she closes the gap between the pop she's idolized and the pop she is capable of. Boucher has claimed that the record has two halves, and indeed, the songs line up most easily into beginning- and end-of-the-night dancefloor jams. The former is exemplified by the bright, anxious "Kill V. Maim", with its mocking cheerleader chant over blown-out beats and Boucher working both ends of her register in a propulsive celebration of vocal fry.

Grimes是Boucher對追星女孩的最終研究：這個(gè)DIY的音樂家對Mariah, Katy Perry和K-pop的熱愛擴(kuò)展了她的音樂品味。這樣的樂迷基礎(chǔ)，加上她對合成器音樂和虛幻世界的想象和迷戀，最終造就了《Art Angels》。在這種專輯中，她既致敬了自己喜愛的流行樂，又力所能及地?cái)U(kuò)展了流行樂的外延。Boucher曾表示過，專輯里的歌曲可以對半分，聽眾也可以很輕易地把它們分為“蹦迪前奏”和“蹦迪尾聲”。前一種代表是明亮而充滿律動感的“Kill V. Main”。帶著嘲諷意味的拉拉隊(duì)口號呼應(yīng)著勁爆的節(jié)奏，而Boucher在氣泡音的兩極游走，為聽眾帶來了炸裂的聽覺體驗(yàn)。

Same for?"Flesh Without Blood", which is the sweetest fuck-off of 2015, one that highlights that there is much more to Boucher's voice than?Visions?ever had a chance to reveal. The song is Boucher eating the lunch that Miley packed, may it be #blessed with infinite stadium-EDM remixes. Post-Art Angels, it's hard to imagine anyone will reject a Boucher-penned cut: This is an album, but it's also a resume, and someone who made "California" could certainly be making crossover hits for any marquee Nashville name, while "Easily" suggests that Kesha co-writes should be in Boucher's future.

另一首單曲“Flesh Without Blood”也同樣是如此，是2015年最甜美的一聲“滾開”。這首歌強(qiáng)調(diào)了Boucher的音色，這是聽眾在她前一張專輯《Visions》中體會不到的。這首歌是Boucher在享用Miley準(zhǔn)備的午餐，在經(jīng)過無數(shù)電子混音處理和“禱告”后，這也許會是一頓“圣餐”。在《Art Angels》之后，很難想象會再有人拒絕Bouche創(chuàng)作的任何音樂。這是一張專輯，也是一張漂亮的簡歷。能寫出“California”的人當(dāng)然可以寫出帶Nashville風(fēng)味的鄉(xiāng)村流行跨界金曲，而“Easily”暗示著Boucher應(yīng)該在未來考慮和Kesha一起寫歌。

The late-night closers and their arrangements are where Boucher shows her mastery and discipline as a producer.?"Realiti",?"Venus Fly"?with?Janelle Monáe, and "Butterfly" give her a new set of peers: Sure, she's there with collaborator Monáe?and?Annie Clark?as an auteur, but purely as a pop producer she's as deft and clever as anyone we consider a master of Top 40 craft—be it Greg Kurstin or?Diplo. The songs are graced with small details: curious skeets of beats, buried samples that only appear once, toxically cute '90s pop guitar. The songs build in unexpected ways, but explode and gratify in the way we hope pop always will. "Butterfly" is a let-tonight-last-forever mutant bruiser with roiling sub-bass, the chorus's side-chained pulse making it like an uncanny valley version of?Kylie Minogue's?"Can't Get You Out of My Head".

專輯中的最后幾首歌和它們編曲顯示了她作為制作人的專業(yè)和才能。單曲“Realiti”，“Venus Fly”（與Janelle Monáe合唱）和“Butterflies”創(chuàng)造了她與同僚們合作的契機(jī)。沒錯(cuò)，當(dāng)她與Monáe和Annie Clark合作時(shí)，她是創(chuàng)作者。但作為制作人的她絲毫不比我們心目中前40的明星制作人遜色——她和Greg Kurstin或是Diplo一樣機(jī)敏。歌曲中的細(xì)節(jié)非常用心：奇特的節(jié)拍飛碟，不重樣的埋入式采樣，令人陶醉的90年代流行吉他。歌曲間的過渡和漸進(jìn)出人意料，卻總能宣泄或滿足我們對流行歌曲的期待?！癇utterfly”是一個(gè)醉生夢死的斗士在低音吉他伴奏下的抒情，合唱的律動讓歌曲像是Kyle Minogue“Can’t Get You Out of My Head”的通俗翻唱版。

All of this might seem as if Boucher has fashioned a whole-cloth reinvention and is gunning for the Top 40, but neither of these things feel true.?Art Angels?is a natural progression from?Visions; if you strained out some of the processing and murk of the?latter, you would find these structures lurking. Boucher's voice is recognizable and familiar, but it's bigger and has more range and depth than on?"Oblivion". This album foregrounds her, samples her, piles tracks of her half a dozen high to form melodies and countermelodies.

這一切都暗示著Boucher的自我革新，她似乎是鉚足了勁要成為那頂尖的前 40。然而，這兩個(gè)猜測都顯得不真實(shí)?！禔rt Angels》是前一張專輯《Visions》的進(jìn)一步演化。如果你理解了后者的隱晦和對音樂的處理方式，你就能找到這張專輯背后隱秘的結(jié)構(gòu)。Boucher的聲音熟悉并同樣充滿辨識度，但聲音的廣度和深度已經(jīng)超越了她對“Oblivion”的演繹。這張專輯凸顯出她的特色，對她進(jìn)行采樣，在前六首單曲的疊加下形成了旋律和復(fù)調(diào)旋律。

One of the most notable and striking differences between?Art Angels?and its Top 40 kin is that these are?not?love songs. The album is an epic holiday buffet of tendentious feminist fuck-off, with second helpings for anonymous commenters and music industry blood-suckers. Her conflicted, vertiginous relationship with the fast fame that followed?Visions?seems to have led her to a place of DGAF liberation. Some songs, like "Kill V. Maim", course with a thrilling rage, even a casual misandry. ("I'm only a man/ I do what I can," she sings on the hook). Yet, what's most exciting within?Art Angels?is the sheer will and fearlessness of Boucher's fight to be heard and seen on her own terms. She's not a human Tumblr, as we called her (somewhat humiliatingly) in 2012; she's a human zeitgeist, redrawing all the binaries and boundaries by which we define pop music and forcing us to come along.

《Art Angels》和排行榜前40最大的區(qū)別是，這些歌沒有一首是情歌。這張專輯是豪華的假日盛筵，桌上擺滿了帶有女權(quán)傾向的“滾蛋”宣言，但也給匿名評論者和音樂產(chǎn)業(yè)寄生蟲們留了口飯吃?！禫isions》給她帶來了矛盾和令人暈眩的一夜成名，這才讓她有底氣在這張專輯里宣誓“老娘不在乎”。“Kill V. Main”之類的單曲帶著憤怒爆發(fā)，甚至充滿了對男性的輕佻和厭惡。（她在副歌部分唱到：“I’m only a man / I do what I can.”）然而，《Art Angels》最激動人心的還是Boucher主動而無畏的自我宣言：她要讓樂迷看到和聽到她想呈現(xiàn)出的作品。她不是我們在2012年調(diào)侃的“人形Tumblr”，她是我們時(shí)代的精神家。她重新繪制了我們用二元對立和邊界定義的流行樂，她在逼迫我們走向新的世界。