“Oblivion” by Grimes

"Oblivion" comes off Visions, the 2012 album that was Grimes' third, and 4AD sent it out as a promotional single that year. On the surface it's pure candy: a skittering futurepop beat and a synth-pop sparkle, drifting somewhere between electropop, dream pop and something stranger.

Underneath, it's about a violent assault. Grimes has said the attack left her paranoid and unsafe walking around at night for a few years, and that the song was her way of feeling physically strong again in the face of male power, taking a frightening experience and deliberately making it sound light and happy. That gap between the sound and the subject is exactly what gives it its charge.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.