"Realiti" (stylized as "REALiTi") is a song by Canadian singer

Grimes Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her early work has been described as extending from "lo-fi R&B" to futuristic dance-pop, and has in ...

. Originally slated for release on her scrapped fourth studio album, it was released as a

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video on March 8, 2015, as a thank you to her fans in Asia. The song was later included on her 2015 album ''

Art Angels ''Art Angels'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician Grimes, pseudonym of Claire Elise Boucher. It was digitally released on November 6, 2015, through 4AD, and in physical formats on December 11. Boucher began planning the record in 20 ...

''. The demo version was included as a bonus track on the CD release of the album.

Composition

Grimes originally intended the song to be released on her abandoned fourth studio album. She claims it to only be a demo that was recorded in early 2013, and that she has lost the original

Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...

file, so it was never mixed and mastered. The version from the video was taken from an

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

file that she tried to doctor into what she considered to be "a listenable state". Musically, the song is described as

EDM EDM or E-DM may refer to: Music * Electronic dance music * Early Day Miners, American band Science and technology * Electric dipole moment * Electrical discharge machining * Electronic distance measurement *Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...

and

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

Music video

The video for the demo version of the song was shot by Mac Boucher during shows of her tour in Asia.

Critical reception

Despite being initially only a demo, "Realiti" received critical acclaim.

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

says that after listening to the song, "you'll be wondering why Grimes left the track off her album". ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

'' agreed, saying that "REALiTi" was "a very good new song" and that "if she's willing to toss great songs like these into the ether, then when is she coming with something official?". ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'' notes that the song "is as good as anything on the radio" and goes on to claim that "the song is fabulous" and adds that the recording-quality issues don't prevent the song from sounding better than anything on the radio.

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

claims the song is the best new Grimes release since ''

Visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

'' and calls it a "compelling step forth", which "absorbs EDM and trance in Boucher's seemingly infinite palette of sound". The reaction to the song online was so positive that Grimes said she would consider adding it to her new album, although she believes she has "better". The announcement of the track listing to ''

'' revealed that she ultimately complied and added the song to the album. ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' named "Realiti" the fifth best song of 2015.

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2015 songs Electronic dance music songs Grimes songs