“Delete Forever” by Grimes

Grimes has stated that “Delete Forever” centers around illegal drugs epidemic blowing across America. More specifically she wrote it on the night that hip-hop artist Lil Peep passed away from an accidental drug overdose. And when talking about the origins of this song she also gave a shoutout to Juice WRLD, another popular rapper who died more recently due to ingesting too many illegal drugs. So these would obviously be amongst the “many men” who have been “lost” that she references in the second verse. 

Additionally she has pointed that at least one close friend of hers died at a young age due to this issue. But this song does not read as an anti-drug PSA as much as it is speaking to the realities of addiction. For instance, the singer insinuates that just the stress of losing these individuals she looked up to is a ‘reason and excuse’ to get high. Indeed at certain points, it may be challenging for some listeners to ascertain if this is indeed an anti-drug track or if it is advocating partaking of “white lines on a mirror”. Perhaps that’s what Grimes meant when she made that statement that is quoted in the first line of this paragraph, that there is a certain amount of ambiguity on this track. 

But at the end of the day, based on her own explanation we know the general point she is getting to. And that is substance abuse amongst people in her generation and younger has reached the point of alarm, of which this song is apparently intended to serve as such.

Writing Credits

The multi-talented Grimes wrote and produced this song.

Release Date of “Delete Forever”

This track was released by a British label called 4AD on 12 February 2020. The label issued it as the sixth single from Grime’s 2020 album, which is entitled “Miss Anthropocene”.