GRIMES IN HER PRIME
Musician talks art, politics, boyfriend Elon Musk and how pregnancy is affecting her creativity
Grimes has perhaps become more famous for her controversial remarks and being in a relationship with billionaire
Elon Musk than her music, and if that’s indeed the case, that’s a real shame because Claire Boucher — who originally hails from Vancouver and got her indie music career going while living in Montreal — makes some of the most unique music on the planet.
Her 2012 album, Visions, got the global ball rolling, but it was 2015’s Art Angels that really set the Grimes template of somehow mixing an extreme alt-culture sensibility with surprisingly accessible sounds. At the start, it was easy to describe Grimes’s work as electronic, but with her latest album, Miss Anthropocene, it’s become impossible to define her sound. In a recent interview from her home in Los Angeles, she said that’s exactly the way she likes it.
Q How are you?
A Not bad. Well, actually, I’m very pregnant. I’m very slow and very tired. I’m slow as f--- so do not judge. My brain is like 10 per cent down.
Q How is being pregnant impacting you?
A It’s just the last little bit. Mostly it’s been OK. At the beginning it was hard. I feel much more sympathy for my mom now.
Q How many weeks pregnant are you?
A 31.
Q What has it meant for your music?
A Productivity is down but ideas are up, which is interesting. I have tons and tons of ideas but I’m just not executing them very well. But I’m getting a lot of sh-- on paper, which is great. It’s just a stamina issue really and singing is hard.
Q Will you become one of these artists who writes endless songs about being a parent?
A No. I don’t know if that’s artistically compelling to people. It’s not even compelling to me.
Q How has the process of making music changed for you in recent years?
A In a lot of ways it is the same. Music for me is kind of like this weird meditative state/chill state. I typically work alone. I lock myself in a room and it’s a chill zone. But as you become increasingly in the public eye, it becomes more intense obviously. But the actual function of making music retains this nice quality for me like it was in the beginning. And it’s important for me to preserve that. I think the main difference is I’d probably drop a lot more music if the pressure wasn’t so high.
Q Do you think about the balance between making music that is commercial and following your creative urges?
A I feel like I’m luckily in a weird position where people don’t expect me to be making radio hits. I’m thinking “How do I become Radiohead?” not “How do I become Taylor Swift?” The thing I’m aiming at personally is just great immortal art, if I can get there. I kind of love that goal. I don’t presume that I’m ever getting there. Especially with Miss Anthropocene, I was just like — I want to make something f---ing crazy. The main goal is to make something really different from anything else. That’s like jarring and emotional as opposed to making a hit, which one day I hope to do.
Q Did your years in Montreal have a big influence on you?
A I think Montreal was incredibly essential to my development as an artist. I can’t speak to the vibe there currently but when I was coming up, the scene was thriving like crazy. A lot of people were showing me how to do things. I was playing a lot of shows. I played so many shows locally before I got on the road. Most artists when they break, they haven’t played a lot of shows ... Montreal, you can play 100 shows before you go play in other cities. There’s such a focus on creativity and experimentalism. I think that scenes can be really important and helpful and amazing. It’s a really cool thing.
Q What was your reaction when some of your fans objected to your relationship with Elon Musk?
A I understand it. It’s just part of the thing. I respect people’s opinions and I get where people are coming from. I respectfully disagree. There’s been a lot of sensationalistic stories that paint things in a different light than they actually are, but people are mad because they care about the world being better and they misunderstand what my boyfriend does. I respect that the impulse is coming from a good place. They’re mad because they believe in certain things and I can’t really criticize that. I think my boyfriend works really f---ing hard to fix a lot of our environmental issues, but I totally get that some people don’t approve of how he’s doing that.
The main goal is to make something really different from anything else. That’s like jarring and emotional as opposed to making a hit.
Q What’s your take on U.S. politics as a Canadian in L.A.?
A I really appreciated growing up having access to good health care, and I didn’t go into major debt by going to college. And I think those things make Canada better. Canadians tend to be, on average, compared to Americans, a lot less angry and in a lot less pain. I don’t know any Canadians who’re $400,000 in debt because of a medical problem or school. And that makes life better when there isn’t some sh-- hanging over your head. It leads to a better mental state in society in general. There’s just a lot less hatred and a lot less anger. So I think it’s cool that certain candidates are proposing more Canadian-like ways of living. A lot of Americans say it’s impossible but I say, “Look at Canada.” Obviously it’s not perfect, but it does seem to be a better living standard than in America and I think it leads to a more peaceful society.