The Globalist (song)

"The Globalist"
"The Globalist" cover
Song by Muse from the album Drones
Released	8 June 2015
Format	Digital download
Recorded	The Warehouse Studio (Vancouver, British Columbia)[1]
Genre	Symphonic rock new prog progressive metal art rock
Length	10:07
Label	Warner Bros. Helium-3
Writer(s)	Matthew Bellamy
Producer(s)	Robert John "Mutt" Lange Muse
Drones track listing
"Aftermath" (10) "The Globalist" (11) "Drones" (12)
Drones track listing 12 tracks "Dead Inside" "[Drill Sergeant]" "Psycho" "Mercy" "Reapers" "The Handler" "[JFK]" "Defector" "Revolt" "Aftermath" "The Globalist" "Drones"

"The Globalist" is a song by English rock band Muse, and the eleventh track from the band's seventh studio album Drones. An apocalyptic song, it serves as a sequel to "Citizen Erased".^[2] Part of this song contains music based on "Nimrod" from Enigma Variations, composed by Edward Elgar. The song follows "Aftermath", which centers on the album's protagonist discovering love. Matt Bellamy has said that the album's negative stories, "The Globalist" and "Drones", serve as epilogue.^[3] At ten minutes and seven seconds, it is the longest song in Muse's discography.^[1]

Concept

The Globalist tells the story of the protagonists' decision to become a dictator intent on destroying everything and everyone by using drones. The song consist is divided into three parts. The first part details the protagonist's origin, as he begins to revolt against the system that didn't raise him with love and made him want to "transform the Earth to his desire". After the protagonist receives a code, which Muse word-for-word had hid in the song, he began World War Three. A backwards code has fragments from the first seven songs on the album and consists this lines:

• Dead inside
• A fucking psycho (From Psycho)
• The world just disavows (From Mercy)
• Kill by remote control (From Reapers)
• Programmed to obey (From The Handler)
• I'm a Defector (From Defector)
• I can see you're trapped in a maze (from Revolt)

In the second part, the protagonist becomes insane and destroys the world via nuclear weapons transferred through drones. The third part of The Globalist deals with the aftermath of the protagonists' decision, as he bemoans there is "nothing left to love".^[3][4][5]

Reception

The Globalist has received mixed to positive reviews. Rolling Stone described the song as "a grand hymn of despair with a hot jam in the center", praising the song's message.^[6]

References

1. Drones (album liner notes). Muse. Warner Bros. Records / Helium-3. 2015.
2. Andrew Trendell (27 March 2015). "MUSE DISCUSS 'PROG NIGHTMARE' SEQUEL TO 'CITIZEN ERASED'" (in English). Gigwise. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
3. "INTERVIEW: Muse on their new album, Drones". X-Posure (Interview) (in English). Interview with John Kennedy. London: Radio X. 23 December 2015. Archived from the original on 9 April 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
4. "Muse Interview". RDS (Italy) (Interview) (in English). 3 June 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
5. "Muse Interview". BBC Radio 6 (Interview) (in English). Interview with Steve Lamacq. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
6. Fricke, David. "Muse: Drones". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 30 August 2016.