Empires

"Empires" is a song by The Smashing Pumpkins from Act II of their 33-song opera and twelfth studio album, ATUM. The song debuted live at the one-off Metro show on September 20, 2022.

"Empires" is slated to be the third single from ATUM, with a music video directed by Kevin Kerslake – the same director who famously did "Cherub Rock" in 1993, premiering on April 13, 2023.

Synopsis
In the story of ATUM, "Empires" is the song sung by Shiny's "pure personality" as heard through Ruby the robot. Osyraa and Nighthawk are in a field of sunflowers and have set up a live video to broadcast the message from Shiny, knowing it has great significance given the attention it has attracted from the government. The message was projected to the world and specifically the XI. The live stream stays up for only about three minutes before the XI is able to remotely shut it down.