"Forgiveness" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter

Alice Glass Margaret Osborn (born 25 August 1988), known professionally as Alice Glass, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the co-founder and former frontwoman of the electronic band Crystal Castles. In 2014, she embarked on a solo career. She re ...

. It was written by Glass, Jupiter Keyes and

Atticus Ross Atticus Matthew Cowper Ross (born 16 January 1968) is an English musician, record producer, composer, and audio engineer. Along with Trent Reznor, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for ''The Social Network'' in 2010. In 2013, th ...

, with production handled by Keyes and

Matt Rad Matthew Radosevich, also known as Matt Rad, is an American record producer, songwriter, and musician. He has worked with artists such as One Direction, Niall Horan, Martin Garrix, Demi Lovato, Little Mix, Guy Sebastian, Lupe Fiasco, Walk th ...

. The song was released on 11 January 2018 as the second single from Glass' eponymous debut EP, ''

'' (2017).

Composition

According to Alex Robert Ross of ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media ...

'', "Forgiveness" is "a palpitating bit of dark-pop, full of claustrophobic lyrics, built on this line: "Four walls holding me / Cold eyes haunting me."" He later noted, "It's difficult not to read that as a chunk of autobiography and a comment on Ethan Kath, whom Glass has accused of a pattern of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse towards her while the two were in Crystal Castles." ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a bi-monthly British style magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. Dazed is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for producing ...

'' described the song as "an industrial-pop thumper driven by a chugging electronic bassline." Glass stated that the song is about "rejecting the idea of forgiveness," continuing: "Forgiveness isn't always a moral act, the way some religions portray it. Sometimes forgiveness can be exploitative or even predatory, especially when people use it as a means to guilt someone rather than heal them. When forgiveness is used to create a false sense of superiority it is a toxic act."

Music video

The music video for "Forgiveness" was directed by Lindsey Mann. It is a dark,

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

video in which Glass writes the lyrics to the song in lipstick across various mirrors, before smudging the words at the end. Those scenes are interspersed with footage of her playing live with her band, and being mostly submerged in a pool of water. Glass said the video was shot at her house, and that "it was originally just going to be a lyrics video with me writing in lipstick on mirrors but then we drank too much tequila and filmed more fun stuff."

References

{{authority control 2018 singles 2017 songs Alice Glass songs Loma Vista Recordings singles Songs written by Atticus Ross