Claire Elise Boucher (; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her lyrics often touch on

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

themes. The visuals in her videos are elaborate and sometimes have

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

themes. She has released five studio albums. Born and raised in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, Grimes began releasing music independently after moving to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 2006. She released two albums, ''

Geidi Primes ''Geidi Primes'' ( ) is the debut studio album by Canadian musician Grimes. It was released through Arbutus Records on January 10, 2010. In 2011, the album was released in the United Kingdom through No Pain in Pop Records on CD and LP, contain ...

'' and '' Halfaxa'', in 2010 on

Arbutus Records Arbutus Records is a Montreal based record label and Artist Management, management company founded by Sebastian Cowan in 2009. The label is named after the street by the same name in Vancouver, where Cowan grew up. The label have also begun expand ...

, before signing with

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

and rising to prominence with the release of her 2012 album, '' Visions''. The album received the Canadian music industry

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

for Electronic Album of the Year, and yielded two singles: "

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

" and " Oblivion". Following this, her fourth studio album, ''

Art Angels ''Art Angels'' is the fourth studio album by Canadian musician Grimes. It was digitally released on November 6, 2015, through 4AD, and in physical formats on December 11. Boucher began planning the record in 2013 as the follow-up to her third s ...

'', was released in 2015, and several publications named it the best album of the year. Her fifth studio album, ''

Miss Anthropocene ''Miss Anthropocene'' is the fifth studio album by Canadian musician Grimes. It was released on February 21, 2020, through 4AD. It marked her first album in over four years, after the release of ''Art Angels'' in 2015. The album was officially an ...

'', was released in 2020. Outside of music, Grimes had a voice role in the 2020 action role-playing video game ''

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith's ''Cyberpunk (role-playing game), Cyberpunk'' tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metrop ...

'' and was a judge on the music competition game show ''

Alter Ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...

''. She has three children with

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...

Early life

Grimes was born Claire Elise Boucher in

, British Columbia, on March 17, 1988, the first child of Sandy Garossino, a former Crown prosecutor and arts advocate, and Maurice Boucher, a former banker who works "in the business side of biotech". She is of

French Canadian French Canadians, referred to as Canadiens mainly before the nineteenth century, are an ethnic group descended from French people, French colonists first arriving in Canada (New France), France's colony of Canada in 1608. The vast majority of ...

( Québécois), Ukrainian, and Italian descent. Her grandmother was from

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and immigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Grimes and her younger brother, Mac, were raised

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, and attended Catholic school in Vancouver. She later commented that her religious upbringing had a significant impact on her: "It totally influences everything I do. I think I have serious latent Catholic guilt issues." Her parents divorced when she was 11 years old, after which her mother remarried. Her step-father is an Indo-Canadian man named Ravi Sidhoo, allowing her to experience a multicultural upbringing. Through her mother's remarriage, she has two stepbrothers, one of whom is a member of the hip hop duo LNDN DRGS and performs under the name Jay Worthy. In 2006, Grimes graduated from

Lord Byng Secondary School Lord Byng Secondary School is a Public education, public secondary school located in the West Point Grey neighbourhood on the west side of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It opened in 1925 and was named in honour of the then Governor Gener ...

and relocated from Vancouver to

to attend

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

's joint Bachelor of Arts and Science program. "I was studying general Arts and Science degree, but I was in the electro-acoustics program" she said in early interviews. However, she later claimed to have studied neuroscience. She was expelled in December 2010 for skipping classes.

Career

2009–2011: Career beginnings, ''Geidi Primes'', and ''Halfaxa''

According to the timestamps on her original

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page, she began writing music under the name Grimes in 2007. Her performer name was chosen because at the time, MySpace allowed artists to list three musical genres. She listed "grime" for all three, without knowing what the grime music genre was. Grimes was self-taught in music and visual art. In January 2010, Grimes released her debut album, ''

'', a concept album inspired by the ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

'' series, followed by her second album, '' Halfaxa'', in October of the same year. After the release of ''Halfaxa'', she began to publicly promote her music and tour beyond Montreal. In 2011 Grimes released five songs on her side of the split 12" with

d'Eon D'Eon is a surname. People with the surname include: * d'Eon (musician) Chris d'Eon (born 1985), mononymously known as d'Eon, is a Canadian electronic musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and composer based in Montreal, Quebec. He is know ...

, '' Darkbloom'' (through both

Arbutus ''Arbutus'' is a genus of 12 accepted speciesAct. Bot. Mex no.99 Pátzcuaro abr. 2012.''Arbutus bicolor''/ref> of flowering plants in the family Ericaceae, native to temperate regions of the Mediterranean, western Europe, the Canary Islands a ...

and

Hippos in Tanks Hippos in Tanks was a record label founded in 2010 by Barron Machat and Travis Woolsey. The label specialized in electronic music. It was named the best label of 2011 by ''FACT (United Kingdom magazine), FACT''. Following the death of Machat in 2 ...

). Beginning in May 2011, Grimes opened for

Lykke Li Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson (born 18 March 1986), known as Lykke Li (), is a Swedish singer, songwriter, model and actress. Her music often blends elements of indie pop, dream pop and Electronic music, electronic. Her debut studio album, ''Youth ...

on her North American Tour, and the following August her debut album was re-released through No Pain in Pop Records, in CD and vinyl format for the first time. In 2011, she collaborated with DJ/producer

Blood Diamonds Blood diamonds (also called conflict diamonds, brown diamonds, hot diamonds, or red diamonds) are diamonds Diamond mining, mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity ...

2011–2014: ''Visions''

Following extensive touring and positive reception to her first two albums and ''Darkbloom'' contribution, Grimes signed with record label 4AD in January 2012. Her third studio album, '' Visions'', was released on January 31, 2012, in Canada through Arbutus Records, February 21, 2012 in the United States through 4AD, and various dates in March 2012 elsewhere. appeared on a number of publications' year-end lists and was considered Grimes' breakout album. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' included it on their

500 Greatest Albums of All Time 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

list in 2013. ''Visions'' won the Electronic Album of the Year Award and Grimes was nominated for the Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the

Junos Junos OS (also known as Juniper Junos, Junos and JUNOS) is a FreeBSD-based, and later also Linux-based, network operating system used in Juniper Networks routing, switching and security devices. Versions Junos OS was first made available on 7 ...

. Grimes also won the Artist of the Year Award at the 2013 Webbys. The album's second single, " Oblivion", was named the best song of 2012 by ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' and was produced into a music video co-directed by Emily Kai Bock and Grimes. ''

'' ranked "Oblivion" at number one on their 200 Best Tracks of the Decade So Far list in 2014. In interviews following the album's release, Grimes explained that she was assigned a strict deadline by which to have her third album finished far before it was complete, resulting in her recording the bulk of ''Visions'' while isolated in her Montreal apartment in

Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...

for three consecutive weeks. Notably, this intensive recording session included a period of nine days without sleep or food and with blacked out windows, since she generally could not make music as readily during the day, and doing "tons of

amphetamines Substituted amphetamines, or simply amphetamines, are a chemical class, class of compounds based upon the amphetamine structure; it includes all derivative (chemistry), derivative compounds which are formed by replacing, or substitution reacti ...

" She described the writing process as being "equally enjoyable and tortuous", feeling that its difficulty contributed to its success. Grimes went on the Visions Tour from 2012 to 2014 with supporting acts Born Gold, Myths,

Elite Gymnastics Jaime Brooks (born May 5, 1984) is a Canadian-American songwriter and musician. Career 2009–2013: Elite Gymnastics Elite Gymnastics, self-described as a "multimedia art project", was an electronic music duo from Minneapolis, Minnesota a ...

, and Ami Dang. In March 2012, Grimes collaborated with Cop Car Bonfire's Tim Lafontaine and went under the name, Membrain. They released an EP called, ''Sit Back, Rewind''. In May 2012, Grimes was featured on

's song "Phone Sex". In July 2012, Grimes toured as a supporting act with

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is a co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer; a member of the supergroup LSD (group), ...

and

Skrillex Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...

on the Full Flex Express Canadian Train Tour. In August 2012, Grimes made her American television debut on ''

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the '' Late Night'' franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon,

''. In April 2013, Grimes posted a written statement addressing her experience as a female musician as rife with sexism and expressed disappointment that her feminist stance was often interpreted as anti-male. When speaking about her preference to produce all her studio albums herself, she said, "I don't wanna be just like the face of this thing I built, I want to be the one who built it". In December 2013, Grimes employed the services of

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

's management company,

Roc Nation Roc Nation is an American entertainment company founded by Jay-Z in 2008. Headquartered in New York City, the company is a successor to his previous Roc-A-Fella Records label, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. It serves as a re ...

2014–2017: ''Art Angels''

On June 26, 2014, Grimes premiered the new track "Go", produced by and featuring

. It was a track that had been written for and rejected by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

and was premiered on Zane Lowe's radio 1 show. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' ranked it number fourteen on their Best Songs of 2014 list. In July 2014, Grimes was featured on

Bleachers Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports-fields and at other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step enabling access to a ...

' song "Take Me Away" from their album, '' Strange Desire''. On August 19, 2014, Grimes was featured in the music for the remix of

Haim Haim can be a first name or surname originating in Hebrew or derived from the Old German name Haimo. Etymology Hebrew Chayyim ( ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim, Hayim, Chayim'', or ''Chaim'' (English pronunciat ...

's '' My Song 5''. On March 8, 2015, Grimes released a self-directed video for a demo version of " Realiti" from an abandoned album. It received critical acclaim from music critics, being named Best New Music by Jenn Pelly from ''Pitchfork'', calling it the "best new Grimes song since ''Visions''". On March 15, 2015, Grimes and

released their collaboration, "Entropy" for the HBO TV show '' Girls''. In the summer of 2015, Grimes toured with

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Lana Del Rey discography, Her music is noted for its melancholic exploration of Glamour (presentation), glamor and Romanc ...

for several of her Endless Summer Tour dates. She then toured in the fall of 2015 as the headliner of her own Rhinestone Cowgirls Tour with opener

Nicole Dollanganger Nicole Ann Bell (born September 8, 1991), known professionally as Nicole Dollanganger, is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Dollanganger's music is characterized by a feminine, high-pitched vocal style, minimalist instrumentation, and lyri ...

. Speaking of her upcoming fourth album, scheduled for a "surprise" release in October, Grimes said that record was recorded with "real instruments", a departure from the primarily synth and sampler driven composing of her prior releases. On October 26, 2015, Grimes released the lead single of the album, " Flesh Without Blood", as well as a two-act music video comprising both "Flesh Without Blood" and "Life in the Vivid Dream", another song from the upcoming album. The album, titled ''

'', was released in November to favourable reviews, garnering an 88 (out of 100) rating on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

and the Best New Music designation from ''Pitchfork''. Jessica Hopper of ''Pitchfork'' described ''Art Angels'' as "evidence of Boucher's labor and an articulation of a pop vision that is incontrovertibly hers... an epic holiday buffet of tendentious feminist fuck-off, with second helpings for anonymous commenters and music industry blood-suckers". ''Art Angels'' was named best album of the year by ''

'', ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'', and ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''. It peaked at number 1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' US Top Alternative Album Chart and number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Top Independent Album chart. Grimes won the 2016 International award at the Socan Annual Awards and the 2016 Harper's Bazaar Musician of the Year Award in October. In the spring of 2016, Grimes toured Asia and Europe with supporting act Hana on the Ac!d Reign Tour. Grimes continued touring through the summer of 2016, performing at various music festivals across North America and opening for

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band formed in London in 2007 by lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, drummer Christopher Lloyd Hayden and harp ...

on select dates of the How Beautiful Tour. Continuing the series of music videos for songs off ''Art Angels'' that began with "Flesh Without Blood" and "Life in the Vivid Dream" ("Act I" and "Act II", respectively), Grimes released the music video for "Kill V. Maim" ("Act III") on January 19, 2016, and the music video for "California" ("Act IV") on May 9, 2016. Grimes crafted a slightly remixed version of "California" for the music video to achieve a less "dissonant" visual/auditory mix. On August 3, 2016, Grimes released the song "Medieval Warfare" as part of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the 2016 superhero film, ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

''. On October 5, 2016, Grimes with friend and collaborator Hana Pestle, more commonly known by stage name Hana, released "The Ac!d Reign Chronicles", a lo-fi series of seven music videos including songs by Grimes ("Butterfly", "World Princess Part II", "Belly of the Beat" and "Scream") and Hana ("Underwater", "Chimera" and "Avalanche"), each starring in their respective segments. Additional appearances include Aristophanes in Scream and two of Grimes' backup dancers, Linda Davis and Alyson Van, throughout the series. "The AC!D Reign Chronicles" were recorded over the course of two weeks during the duo's time touring Europe and were made with minimal production, shot exclusively on iPhones with no crew aside from her brother, Mac Boucher, who assisted with filming. In 2016, Grimes co-wrote the song "

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

" for

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with Universal Music Australia, EMI Australia in 2013 and ...

's album ''

Blue Neighbourhood ''Blue Neighbourhood'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer Troye Sivan. It was released internationally on 4 December 2015 via EMI Music Australia and Capitol Records. The album was preceded by Sivan's fourth extended play '' Wild'', ...

''. On February 2, 2017, Grimes premiered on Tidal the high budget futuristic music video of "Venus Fly", starring herself and

Janelle Monáe Janelle Monáe Robinson ( ; born December 1, 1985) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper and actress. She has received ten Grammy Award nominations, and is the recipient of a Screen Actors Guild Award and a Children's and Family Emmy Award. ...

. The video was uploaded on YouTube on February 9, 2017. She won Best Dance Video for "Venus Fly" at the Much Music Video Awards. In 2017, Grimes won a JUNO Award for Video of the Year, featuring "Kill V. Maim". On October 19, 2017, Grimes released a cover of

Tegan and Sara Tegan and Sara () are a Canadian indie pop duo formed in 1998 in Calgary, Alberta. The band is led by identical twin sisters, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both musicians are songwriters and multi-instrumentali ...

's "Dark Come Soon" with Hana. The cover is a part of Tegan and Sara's '' The Con X: Covers album''.

2018–2021: ''Miss Anthropocene'' and collaborations

In February 2018, Grimes wrote on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, "welp no music any time soon after all". It was later revealed that this was due to a clash with her label, 4AD. She later revealed on an Instagram post that she would eventually be releasing two albums, and that "they would be separated by a period of time", with the first being released with 4AD, and the second with an undisclosed label. Grimes stated that this first album would be "highly collaborative and haracterized bymost glorious light", with the second highlighting themes of "pure darkness and chaos". On April 10, 2018, Grimes was featured on " Pynk", the third single from

's album, '' Dirty Computer''. On May 30, 2018, Grimes was featured on "Love4Eva" by

Loona yyxy Loona yyxy (an abbreviation for ''Youth youth by young'') is the third sub-unit of the South Korean girl group Loona, formed through a pre-debut project titled ''"Girl of the Month"''. The unit consisted of 4 members, Yves, Go Won, Chuu and Hye ...

, the lead single from South Korean girl group

Loona Loona (stylized in all caps or as LOOΠΔ; ; , ) is a South Korean girl group created by Blockberry Creative. The group is composed of eleven members: Heejin, Hyunjin, Haseul, Vivi, Yeojin, Kim Lip, Jinsoul, Choerry, Yves (singer), Yves, Go Won ...

's third sub-unit's debut EP '' Beauty & the Beat''. On June 15, 2018, she was featured in a video for

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

's Behind the Mac series on their YouTube channel, with a preview of a song from her upcoming album titled "That's What the Drugs Are For", later released as " My Name Is Dark". On the same day, she posted two Twitter videos previewing two songs from her upcoming album, "adore u (beautiful game)" and "4ÆM". In 2018, Grimes composed the theme music for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

's animated series '' Hilda''. On October 19, 2018, Grimes was featured on

Jimmy Urine James Euringer (born September 7, 1969), better known as Jimmy Urine, is an American musician. He is the lead singer, programmer, and primary songwriter of the electropunk band Mindless Self Indulgence, which he co-founded in 1997. Early life Ja ...

's "The Medicine Does Not Control Me" from the album, ''Euringer''. On October 31, 2018, Grimes was featured on "

Play Destroy "Play Destroy" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Poppy featuring Canadian musician Grimes from the former's second studio album '' Am I a Girl?'' (2018). Background The collaboration was first teased in a series of pictures on b ...

" by

Poppy A poppy is a flowering plant in the subfamily Papaveroideae of the family Papaveraceae. Poppies are herbaceous plants, often grown for their colourful flowers. One species of poppy, '' Papaver somniferum'', is the source of the narcotic drug ...

on her album ''

Am I a Girl? ''Am I a Girl?'' is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Poppy. It was released on October 31, 2018, by Mad Decent. Musically, it is primarily a dance-pop record, with some songs incorporating elements of the nu metal genre. ...

'' Shortly after the release of "Play Destroy", Poppy accused Grimes of bullying during the making of "Play Destroy" stating: Grimes responded by saying: On November 29, 2018, Grimes released the single, " We Appreciate Power" featuring Hana, which was described as an

industrial rock Industrial rock is a fusion genre that fuses industrial music and rock music. It initially originated in the 1970s, and drew influence from early experimental and industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten and Chrom ...

and

nu metal Nu metal (sometimes stylized as nü-metal, with a metal umlaut) is a subgenre of that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop music, hip hop, funk, industrial music, industrial, and grunge. Nu ...

song. On December 11, 2018, Grimes performed the song on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by actor and comedian Jimmy Fallon that airs on NBC. The show premiered on February 17, 2014, and is produced by Broadway Video and Universal Television. It i ...

''. Grimes also appeared on

Bring Me the Horizon Bring Me the Horizon are a British Rock music, rock band, formed in Sheffield, England in 2004. The group currently consists of lead vocalist Oli Sykes, drummer Matt Nicholls, guitarist Lee Malia and bassist Matt Kean (musician), Matt Kean. T ...

's " Nihilist Blues" from their sixth album, '' Amo''. On August 13, 2019, Grimes posted an advertisement for the

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

Stella McCartney Stella Nina McCartney (born 13 September 1971) is an English fashion designer. She is a daughter of English singer-songwriter Paul McCartney and American photographer and animals rights activist Linda McCartney. Like her parents, McCartney is ...

Fall 2019 collection on Instagram, stating that she would release the first single off her upcoming album, ''

'', on September 13, 2019. She released the music video for "

Violence Violence is characterized as the use of physical force by humans to cause harm to other living beings, or property, such as pain, injury, disablement, death, damage and destruction. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines violence a ...

", featuring i_o, on September 5, 2019. On October 25, 2019, an unfinished version of the album was leaked online. On November 15, 2019, she released two versions of the single "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" and performed "4ÆM" at the 2019 Video Game Awards in order to introduce herself as Lizzy Wizzy, a voiced character in the game

. On November 29, 2019, Grimes released the single "My Name Is Dark". On December 13, 2019, Grimes released the single "4ÆM". ''Miss Anthropocene'' was released on February 21, 2020. On February 12, 2020, she released the single "

Delete Forever "Delete Forever" is a single recorded by Canadian musician Grimes. It was released on February 12, 2020, under the label 4AD as the fifth and final single off of her fifth studio album, ''Miss Anthropocene''. The song is a folk and dance composit ...

", which was partly inspired by the death of

Lil Peep Gustav Elijah Åhr (; November 1, 1996 – November 15, 2017), known professionally as Lil Peep, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. He was a member of the hip-hop collective GothBoiClique, and is credited as being a leading figure of ...

and the ongoing opioid crisis. On February 27, 2020, Grimes released a music video for the song "Idoru". On April 1, 2020, Grimes released a music video for the song "You'll Miss Me When I'm Not Around" and asked fans to finish the video because it only features Grimes and a green screen. On June 17, 2020, Grimes was featured on

Ashnikko Ashton Nicole Casey (born February 19, 1996), known professionally as Ashnikko ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Her 2019 single "Stupid (Ashnikko song), Stupid" featuring Yung Baby Tate gained viral popularity on the video-sha ...

's song, " Cry" from her mixtape, '' Demidevil''. Grimes made an appearance on the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

show, ''

The Eric Andre Show ''The Eric Andre Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created and hosted by comedian Eric André. A parody of late night talk shows, it premiered on Cartoon Network's night-time programming block Adult Swim on May 20, 2012. The ...

''. Her collaboration with

, " Pynk", was featured on episode 5 of the television series, ''

I May Destroy You ''I May Destroy You'' is a British black comedy-drama television series created, written, co-directed, and executive produced by Michaela Coel for BBC One and HBO. The series is set in London with a predominantly Black British cast. Coel stars ...

''. Her song " Oblivion" was featured on episode 9 of the same series. Grimes collaborated with

Benee Stella Rose Bennett (born 30 January 2000), better known as Benee (stylised in all caps; pronounced ) and formerly Bene, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter from Auckland. In both 2019 and 2020, she consecutively won Single of the Year, Bes ...

on the dance-style song "Sheesh" on the latter's debut album, ''

Hey U X ''Hey U X'' is the debut studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Benee, released on 13 November 2020 by Republic Records. ''Hey U X'' was primarily written by Benee and frequent collaborator Josh Fountain, who also executive produced the ...

'', released on November 11, 2020. Her song, "Kill V Maim" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2020 film, ''

Mainstream Mainstream may refer to: Film * ''Mainstream'' (film), a 2020 American film Literature * ''Mainstream'' (fanzine), a science fiction fanzine * Mainstream Publishing, a Scottish publisher * ''Mainstream'', a 1943 book by Hamilton Basso * ...

''. On December 11, 2020, Grimes and other associated artists, all using aliases, released a ''Cyberpunk 2077''-themed DJ mix album on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

, titled ''This story is dedicated to all those cyberpunks who fight against injustice and corruption every day of their lives!''. It contains two new songs by Grimes, "Samana" and "Delicate Weapon". On December 18, 2020, nine months after the release of her fifth studio album, ''Miss Anthropocene'', Grimes changed the cover art for the album on all streaming platforms. The new cover art is a painting by Rupid Leejm that Grimes commissioned to use. In discussing the process of choosing the cover art originally, "I polled a bunch of ppl and everyone said not to use it (??) but I wish I trusted my gut. I fucking LOVE this painting." On January 1, 2021, Grimes released ''Miss Anthropocene: Rave Edition'', a

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

featuring new versions of songs on the album by artists including

BloodPop Michael Tucker (born August 15, 1990), known professionally as BloodPop (stylized as BloodPop®), is an American musician, record producer, songwriter, and gaming executive. Life and early career Tucker was born in Kansas City, Missouri, Uni ...

Channel Tres Sheldon Jerome Young (born May 26, 1991), known professionally as Channel Tres, is an American rapper, DJ, singer and record producer from Compton, California. Tres is best known for his singles "Controller" and "Topdown". Early life and edu ...

Richie Hawtin Richard "Richie" Hawtin (born June 4, 1970) is a British-Canadian electronic musician and DJ. He became involved with Detroit techno's second wave in the early 1990s, and has been a leading exponent of minimal techno since the mid-1990s. He becam ...

, and

Modeselektor Modeselektor is a German electronic music duo consisting of Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary. History The group members met in 1992 in Berlin with group member Szary performing live acid house music at illegal underground parties, under th ...

, along with two remixes from her ''

DJ mix A DJ mix or DJ mixset is a sequence of musical tracks typically beatmixing, mixed together by a Disc jockey, DJ to appear as one continuous track. DJ mixes are usually performed using a DJ mixer and multiple sounds sources, such as Phonograph, tur ...

2021–present: ''Alter Ego'', collaborations, ''Fairies Cum First'', ''Book 1'' and ''Book 2''

On March 5, 2021, Grimes signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. On May 8, Grimes appeared on a ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' sketch as

Princess Peach is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise. She was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and introduced in the 1985 original ''Super Mario Bros.'' game as Princess Toadstool. She is the Queen regnant, princess regnant and hea ...

alongside the host,

, as

Wario is a character in Nintendo's Mario (franchise), ''Mario'' franchise that was designed as an Archenemy, archnemesis to Mario. Wario first appeared as the main antagonist and final Boss (video games), boss in the 1992 Game Boy game ''Super Mar ...

. Her song "California" was featured in the animated film '' The Mitchells vs. the Machines''. In June, she appeared in

Doja Cat Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini (born October 21, 1995), known professionally as Doja Cat (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she began making and releasing music on SoundCl ...

's music video "

Need to Know The term "need to know" (alternatively spelled need-to-know), when used by governments and other organizations (particularly those related to military or intelligence), describes the restriction of data which is considered very confidential and ...

". Later in June, Grimes started a new partnered

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

server called "Grimes Metaverse Super Beta" and a new podcast "Homo Techno", co-hosted with science communicator

Liv Boeree Olivia "Liv" Boeree (born 18 July 1984) is a British science communicator, television presenter, host of the ''Win-Win'' podcast, and professional poker player. Dubbed "The Poker Queen", Boeree is a World Series of Poker (WSOP) and European Pok ...

. She used the Discord server to tease new music frequently, and released a snippet of a song called "Shinigami Eyes" which she continued to promote in subsequent social media posts, as well as an upcoming collaboration with British DJ

Chris Lake Chris Lake (born 8 August 1982) is an English electronic dance music producer and DJ. He rose to fame in 2006 with his hit single, "Changes", featuring Laura V. He is a member of Under Construction with FISHER, and also a member of Anti Up wit ...

. Grimes spoke about an upcoming concept album with Billboard, describing it as a "space opera". In July 2021, Grimes, alongside

will.i.am William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he ...

Alanis Morissette Alanis Nadine Morissette ( ; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, and actress. Known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting, she became a cultural phenomenon during the mid 199 ...

Nick Lachey Nicholas Scott Lachey ( ; born November 9, 1973) is an American actor, singer-songwriter, producer, TV personality and host. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling boyband 98 Degrees and later starred in the reality ser ...

, and

Rocsi Diaz Raquel Roxanne "Rocsi" Diaz (born November 17, 1981, also known simply as Rocsi) is a Honduran-born American television host, radio personality, model and actress. She is best known from her time spent as a co-host on BET’s music video countdo ...

were revealed as judges on ''

'', a new singing competition series in which the contestants make the use of motion capture technology to portray themselves as "dream avatars". She also made a cameo appearance in the short film ''Discord: The Movie'', alongside

Awkwafina Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known professionally as Awkwafina (), is an American actress, comedian and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, ''Yellow Ra ...

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

, and

J Balvin José Álvaro Osorio Balvín (born 7 May 1985), known professionally as J Balvin, is a Colombian singer. He is one of the best-selling Latin artists, with 35 million records sold worldwide. Balvin was born in Medellín. At age 17, he moved to th ...

. On September 30, Grimes released a new song titled "Love" recorded in response to her separation from Elon Musk and its subsequent media attention. On December 3, Grimes announced the title of her sixth studio album, ''Book 1'', and released a new single titled "Player of Games". In December, Grimes teased a collaboration with

the Weeknd Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (; born February 16, 1990), known professionally as the Weeknd, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is best known for adding Pop music, pop, electronic music, electronic and hip-hop stylings ...

on Discord, saying it would be released in 2022. In January 2022, Grimes partnered with the video game

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a 2015 vehicular Association football, soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's ''Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars'', ''Rocket League ...

for the Neon Nights event. The event ran from January 26 to February 8, and featured Grimes-themed items and her songs "Shinigami Eyes" and "Player of Games". In January, Grimes announced a 10th anniversary vinyl of her album ''Visions''. On January 26, she released "Shinigami Eyes". A week later, on February 3, 2022, Grimes announced her forthcoming EP titled ''Fairies Cum First''. In April, Grimes was featured on the song, "Last Day" by the Russian band IC3PEAK from the album ''Kiss of Death''. Grimes was featured in the music video for

Bella Poarch Denarie Bautista Taylor (born Belinda Marie Macadengdeng Batumbakal; February 9, 1997), known professionally as Bella Poarch ( ), is an American social media influencer and singer. On August 17, 2020, she created the most liked video on TikTok ...

's "Dolls" which was released on July 15. Grimes was an opening act on select dates for

Swedish House Mafia Swedish House Mafia (SHM) are a Swedish house music, house Supergroup (music), supergroup consisting of Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso. The group officially formed in late 2008, were placed at number ten on the ''DJ Mag'' Top 100 D ...

's "Paradise Again Tour" alongside

Kaytranada Louis Kevin Celestin (born August 25, 1992), known professionally as Kaytranada (stylized as KAYTRANADA, shortened as KAYTRA), is a Haitian-Canadian music producer, rapper, singer and DJ. Celestin rose to prominence after releasing a series of m ...

, ZHU, and

Alesso Alessandro Renato Rodolfo Lindblad (born 7 July 1991), better known by his stage name Alesso (), is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He has worked with numerous artists, including Tove Lo, Theo Hutchcraft, Ryan Tedder, Hailee Steinfeld, Ca ...

. The tour ran from July 29 to November 13 Grimes appeared on Bella Poarch's song, "No Man's Land" from the ''Dolls'' EP, which was released on August 12. In August 2022, Grimes was featured on the cover of '' Vogue Plus China'', in which she did an interview and further discussed her upcoming collaboration with The Weeknd. She confirmed that the song is called "Sci Fi" and is set for release in mid-2022. She also provided more details about her upcoming studio album and EP, stating, "all these projects

ill ILL, or Ill, or ill may refer to: Places * Ill (France), a river in Alsace, France, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Vorarlberg), a river in Vorarlberg, Austria, tributary of the Rhine * Ill (Saarland), a river of Saarland, Germany, tributary o ...

come together and merge into one project at the end." On September 17, she revealed that she has twenty songs for her upcoming album and teased that the album might be divided into two albums. She also confirmed that the album was in the process of being mixed. In January 2023, Grimes gave an update on her delayed sixth album, ''Book 1'', announcing that her career was a 'side quest' now and that her children, friends and family were her priorities. On January 31, was announced that Grimes would feature on

Caroline Polachek Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer, and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek cofounded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...

's song "Fly to You", alongside

Dido Dido ( ; , ), also known as Elissa ( , ), was the legendary founder and first queen of the Phoenician city-state of Carthage (located in Tunisia), in 814 BC. In most accounts, she was the queen of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre (located ...

. The song is from Polachek's fourth studio album, '' Desire, I Want to Turn Into You'', which released on February 14. In April 2023, Grimes invited people to use her voice in AI generated songs, stating that she likes the idea of 'killing copyright'. On June 8, Grimes released "Welcome to the Opera", along with Anyma, also known as Matteo Milleri of the Italian duo Tale of Us. On July 28, Grimes released "I Wanna Be Software", with Canadian record producer,

Illangelo Carlo Montagnese (born July 29, 1987), known professionally as Illangelo, is a Canadian record producer, songwriter and mixing engineer who came to attention as long-time collaborator of The Weeknd. Having executive produced his 2011 mixtapes c ...

. On November 3, Grimes collaborated with Iranian-Dutch singer, Sevdaliza, on the song, "Nothing Lasts Forever". In December, it was announced that Grimes would be partnering with the toy Curio company to launch an interactive AI toy named "Grok" that she provided the voice for. In April 2024, Grimes DJed at

Coachella Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music festival, music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valle ...

which was cut short due to technical problems. Grimes restarted songs several times, punctuated by loud yelps and screeches of frustration, telling the crowd she was experiencing speed issues with her tracks which were playing double their normal tempo and she was having trouble “doing the math”. Grimes claimed the problems came from her having outsourced preparation work to third parties due to time constraints. Media referred to it as the "worst performance in the history of Coachella". On September 20, 2024, Grimes released a remix of a song called "

Supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

", originally by

K-pop K-pop (; an abbreviation of "Korean popular music") is a form of popular music originating in South Korea. It emerged in the 1990s as a form of youth subculture, with Korean musicians taking influence from Western Electronic dance music, danc ...

group

Aespa Aespa ( ; , stylized in Letter case#All lowercase, all lowercase or as æspa) is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group consists of four members: Karina (South Korean singer), Karina, Giselle (singer), Giselle, Winter ...

as part of "iScreaM Vol.33 : Supernova / Armageddon Remixes", the 33rd EP in a series of K-pop remixes by

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

sub-label "

ScreaM Records ScreaM Records () is a Dance Musichttps://www.smentertainment.com/en/company/lic/ label established in 2016 by South Korean record label SM Entertainment. History In 2016, SM Entertainment executive producer Lee Soo-man introduced the EDM la ...

". On October 29, 2024, Grimes released a remix of

Magdalena Bay Magdalena Bay () is a long bay in Comondú Municipality along the western coast of the Mexico, Mexican States of Mexico, state of Baja California Sur. It is protected from the Pacific Ocean by the unpopulated sandy barrier islands of Isla Magda ...

's "

Image An image or picture is a visual representation. An image can be Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional, such as a drawing, painting, or photograph, or Three-dimensional space, three-dimensional, such as a carving or sculpture. Images may be di ...

". Magdalena Bay had previously credited Grimes as an inspiration for their work. On February 24, 2025, two

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * Plural for Demo (computer programming ...

had been uploaded to Grimes'

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

: "The Fool" and "I Don't Give a Fuck, I'm Insane". The latter appeared on other streaming sites a few hours later. Grimes co-produced

Adéla Adéla Jergová (born November 27, 2003), known mononymously as Adéla (stylized in all caps), is a Slovak singer and songwriter. She began her solo music career in 2024 with the release of her first two singles, "Homewrecked" and "Superscar". ...

's song, "Machine Girl", which was released on February 28, 2025. Grimes also made a cameo in the song's music video alongside Sofia Wylie.

Artistry

Musical style

Grimes' music has been described with a number of labels, including

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

art pop Art pop (also typeset art-pop or artpop) is a loosely defined style of pop music influenced by art theory, art theories as well as ideas from other art mediums, such as fashion, fine art, film, cinema, and avant-garde literature. The genre dra ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

experimental pop Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental music, experimental techniques such as m ...

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

avant-garde pop Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...

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 stylistic ch ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

witch house ''Witch House'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Evangeline Walton. It was published in 1945 by Arkham House in an edition of 3,000 copies. It was the first full-length novel to be published by Arkham House and was listed as the initial ...

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

glo-fi Psychedelic music (sometimes called psychedelia) is a wide range of popular music styles and genres influenced by 1960s psychedelia, a subculture of people who used psychedelic drugs such as DMT, LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin mushrooms, to exp ...

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

, and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

with elements of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, R&B,

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

drum and bass Drum and bass (commonly abbreviated as DnB, D&B, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterised by fast Break (music)#Breakbeat (element of music), breakbeats (typically 165–185 Tempo, beats per minute) with heavy Bass (music) ...

, and classical. According to ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'', " rimes moved awayfrom the creepy, lo-fi R&B of her early releases to the futuristic

of her...

hird The hird (also named "De Håndgangne Menn" in Norwegian), in Scandinavian history, was originally an informal retinue of personal armed companions, hirdmen or housecarls. Over time, it came to mean not only the nucleus ('Guards') of the royal arm ...

album, '' Visions''." For her fourth studio, ''

'', Grimes learned how to play guitar and violin. She stated "I didn't want to play the keys, 'cause I don't want to be considered synth-pop." ''

'' described the album as a move away from her "hazy synth-pop toward an off-kilter guitars-and-beats sound", and "uses rock sounds in a really different context". Grimes described her fifth studio album ''

'' as "mostly ethereal

". ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' summarised her musical style: "By sounding a little like everything you've ever heard, the whole sounds like nothing you've ever heard." ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' wrote that Grimes' "otherworldly,

Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...

-assisted music is crammed full of hooks fit to sit alongside

and

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Known for her autobiographical songwriting, artistic versatility, and Cultural impact of Taylor Swift, cultural impact, Swift is one of the Best selling artists, w ...

in the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

". ''

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

'' stated: "In a sense, she'd always thrived on being too pop for indie and too indie for pop". Her lyrics were described by ''The Guardian'' as "generally elusive and impressionistic, shying away from specifics". Grimes is a

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' described her vocals as "sweet, thin and hazy". She utilizes looping and layering techniques, particularly with vocals; many of her songs feature layers of over fifty different vocal tracks which create an "ethereal" sound. Her lyrical themes include

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. Her fifth studio album ''Miss Anthropocene'' has been considered to be a loose

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about an "

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

goddess of climate change" inspired by

Roman mythology Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans, and is a form of Roman folklore. "Roman mythology" may also refer to the modern study of these representations, and to th ...

and

villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

y. Heather Phares of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

described the album as a "brooding embodiment of climate change". In the single "So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth" she also experimented with AI-generated music using the NSynth neural synthesizer. Grimes described her music as " ADD music", shifting frequently and dramatically – "I go through phases a lot." She said "Most music with traditional verse, chorus and bridge structures can probably be considered 'pop'. But I think most people think about Top 40 these days when they use the word 'pop', and I'm emphatically not from that world." She said that

Panda Bear The giant panda (''Ailuropoda melanoleuca''), also known as the panda bear or simply panda, is a bear species endemic to China. It is characterised by its white coat with black patches around the eyes, ears, legs and shoulders. Its body is ...

's 2007 album '' Person Pitch'' "jumpstarted" her mind. She explains, "Up until that point I had basically only made weird atonal

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters called '' drones''. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relativel ...

, with no sense of songwriting. I barely understood anything about music ... But suddenly all music clicked into place and seemed so simple and easy. I was pretty much able to spontaneously write songs immediately after listening to this album once."

Influences

Her work has been likened to various artists, including

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...

Julianna Barwick Julianna Barwick is an American musician who composes using electronic loops. Her first album, '' The Magic Place'', was released in 2011. Music career Barwick has said that her music is influenced by her participation in church choir while gro ...

Siouxsie Sioux Susan Janet Ballion (born 27 May 1957), better known by her stage name Siouxsie Sioux (, ), is an English singer and songwriter. She came to prominence as the leader and main lyricist of the rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, who w ...

, and

Enya Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (born 17 May 1961; anglicised as Enya Patricia Brennan) known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer and composer. With an estimated equivalent of over 80 million albums sold worldwide, Enya is the best-selli ...

. She has stated that she loves British rock bands like

and

Foals A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foal is ...

. She was described by ''Tastemakers Magazine'' as an "alien love-child of

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

and

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

". While making her third studio album, Grimes was listening to

Black Dice Black Dice is an American experimental noise music band based in Brooklyn, New York and consisting of brothers Bjorn and Eric Copeland along with Aaron Warren. Formed in 1997, the group was initially inspired by hardcore and noise rock, but s ...

Dungeon Family The Dungeon Family were a musical collective based in Atlanta that specialized in Southern hip hop with heavy funk and soul music, soul influences. Members of this collective recorded music, and had their career emerge, from Rico Wade's basement ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

New Edition New Edition is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B/Pop music, pop group from the Roxbury, Boston, Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1978 by singer/rapper Bobby Brown. Their name is taken to mean a new edition of the Jackson ...

Outkast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

Burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

and stated "I'm into the really caustic beats, the kind of sharp drum and bass kind of stuff. Really nice vocals too, with lots of tight harmonies at the same time." Grimes cites

Blink-182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...

as an influence in her

Amoeba Records Amoeba Music is an American independent music store chain with locations in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It stocks media, primarily music, but also films and television programs via DVD and VHS. Its music s ...

"What's In My Bag?" episode where she picked one of their live DVDs. Grimes considers

Blue Hawaii ''Blue Hawaii'' is a 1961 American musical romantic comedy drama film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Elvis Presley. The screenplay by Hal Kanter was nominated by the Writers Guild of America in 1962 in the category of Best Written Amer ...

"a big part of erfamily in Montreal". Grimes stated that

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

are "one of the first bands I was into that was considered

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (Kamen Rider), Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an altern ...

". In a tweet, Grimes replied to someone saying that her recent influences were

Chris Isaak Christopher Joseph Isaak (born June 26, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional actor. Noted for his reverb-laden rockabilly revivalist style and wide vocal range, he is popularly known for his breakthrough hit and sig ...

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

, and

Mindless Self Indulgence Mindless Self Indulgence (often referred to as MSI) is an American electropunk band formed in New York City in 1997. Their music has a mixed style which includes punk rock, alternative rock, electronica, techno, industrial, hip hop, and b ...

. The theories of her second studio album, '' Halfaxa'' were inspired by

Hildegard of Bingen Hildegard of Bingen Benedictines, OSB (, ; ; 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictines, Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mysticism, mystic, visiona ...

. Before releasing her fourth studio album, ''

'', Grimes described one of her upcoming songs as a

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

track inspired by

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

and

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

. ''Art Angels'' was also influenced by

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

, and ''The Godfather'' movies. Grimes said that while touring with How to Dress Well, his song "Suicide Dream 2" "made me tear up every night... ndafter this tour I got really re-inspired, went home, and immediately wrote ongs thatare, in my opinion, the best shit I've ever done." Early on, Grimes stated that "an early diet of the

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

, OutKast and

Skinny Puppy Skinny Puppy was a Canadian electro-industrial band formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group was among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crom ...

drove her to build pop songs out of the harsher sonic textures she rarely heard on the radio." Some of her other influences include

Jedi Mind Tricks Jedi Mind Tricks (JMT) are an American underground hip hop group from Philadelphia, founded in 1996 by two high school friends, rapper Vinnie Paz (Vincenzo Luvineri) and producer Stoupe the Enemy of Mankind (Kevin Baldwin). In 1999, rapper Jus ...

Kenji Kawai is a Japanese music composer and arranger. Known as one of the biggest names in the soundtrack world, he has worked on a wide range of mixed media productions, including anime, TV shows, films and video games. Among his credits are Toei's '' ...

Yoko Kanno is a Japanese composer, arranger and music producer of soundtracks for anime series, Video game, video games, Japanese television drama, television dramas and movies. She has written scores for ''Cowboy Bebop'', ''Terror in Resonance'', ''Gho ...

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera ( , ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter, actress and television personality. Recognized as Cultural impact of Christina Aguilera, an influential figure in music and having received Public imag ...

Bikini Kill Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group originally consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band pio ...

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

, Salem,

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

Tool A tool is an Physical object, object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment or help them accomplish a particular task. Although many Tool use by animals, animals use simple tools, only human bei ...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are compleme ...

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. With a career spanning over three decades, she has established herself as one of the most Cultural impact of Beyoncé, ...

, and

Paramore Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...

Visual art

Grimes designs her

album art An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to: * the printed paperboard covers typically used to package: ** sets of and 78 ...

for all of her albums, gig fliers, comic book covers, and merchandise. She has done exhibitions showcasing her works and has stated that "

he has He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

always been a visual artist". Her art is influenced by Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

, and

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

artists such as Charles Burns and

Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in ''Eightball (comic book), Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''E ...

. Her illustrations have appeared in gallery shows, including at

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain. It is one of several museums affiliated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish a ...

. She created an alternate cover for

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

' ''

The Wicked + The Divine ''The Wicked + The Divine'' is a contemporary fantasy comic book series created by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, and published by Image Comics. The series is largely influenced by pop music and various mythological deities, and includes the ...

'', and designed a capsule collection of t-shirts for

Hedi Slimane Hedi Slimane (; born July 5, 1968) is a French photographer and couturier. From 2000 to 2007, he was the creative director for Dior Homme (the menswear line of Christian Dior). From 2012 to 2016, he was the creative director for Yves Saint La ...

's Saint Laurent, in 2013. That year, she also curated a two-day event at the Audio Visual Arts Gallery in New York City with a silent auction to benefit the Native Women's Association of Canada's campaign to raise awareness of violence against aboriginal women in Canada. In early 2021, she sold original digital art in the form of

non-fungible token A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchai ...

s for $5.8 million. In May 2022, she said on Twitter she was joining the board of Unicorn DAO, "to help their mission to fund/ develop female and non-binary lead nowiki/>''sic''">sic.html" ;"title="nowiki/>''sic">nowiki/>''sic''art and projects".

Personal life

Grimes's brother Mac Boucher has played a role in creating a number of her music videos including "Violence", "Go", " Realiti", and "Venus Fly", among others. She and her stepbrother, who raps under the name Jay Worthy">Realiti (Grimes song)">Realiti", and "Venus Fly", among others. She and her stepbrother, who raps under the name Jay Worthy, collaborated on the single "Christmas Song", released on the Rough Trade bonus disc of her '' Visions'' album. In 2009, Grimes and a friend attempted to travel down the Mississippi River to New Orleans from Minneapolis in a houseboat they built. Following several mishaps, including engine trouble and encounters with law enforcement, the houseboat was impounded by the city of Minneapolis. Grimes claims that elements of the story were exaggerated in the newspapers that reported on it at the time. The adventure has been turned into an animated video narrated by

T Bone Burnett Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett III (born January 14, 1948) is an American record producer, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band during the 1970s. Burnett has won several Grammy Awards for his work on film sou ...

. Grimes has been open about her past drug use, revealing intense periods during the creation of her third album '' Visions'' in 2012, during which she "blacked out the windows and did tons of

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from Alpha and beta carbon, alpha-methylphenethylamine, methylphenethylamine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, an ...

and stayed up for three weeks and didn't eat anything". In 2014, she wrote a blog post expressing her aversion to hard drugs. Grimes embraces her distinctive

lisp Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation. Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...

and has expressed no desire for speech therapy to alter it. Grimes has said that she is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

, saying she was previously misdiagnosed with

restless legs syndrome Restless legs syndrome (RLS), also known as Willis–Ekbom disease (WED), is a neurological disorder, usually chronic, that causes an overwhelming urge to move one's legs. There is often an unpleasant feeling in the legs that improves temporaril ...

and

schizoaffective disorder Schizoaffective disorder is a mental disorder characterized by symptoms of both schizophrenia (psychosis) and a mood disorder, either bipolar disorder or depression. The main diagnostic criterion is the presence of psychotic symptoms for at leas ...

. She described personal motor-skill issues when went to check erkids and performed worse than them on every test". Frequently identified as a feminist musician during her early career, Grimes expressed frustration with this in 2015 by stating that it "really genders er in a way that she does not identify with, adding that she does not relate strongly to female gender identity. Earlier that year, she had posted on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

: "I vibe in a gender-neutral space so I'm kinda impartial to pronouns." In 2018, she made another post on the platform stating that she is "personally put off by the word 'woman' at least as far as my self id" and, in 2021, she called herself "female-ish". In 2023, after members of the r/grimezs

subreddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

documented her affiliations with

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

figures, Grimes responded, "I'm called a Nazi because I happily am proud of white culture." She added that she wished to "emphasize the incredible accomplishments of others ... whilst allowing pride for white ppl accomplishments as well". She also stated, "Every day I think fondly of the brown king

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia ( ; 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Hailing from Persis, he brought the Achaemenid dynasty to power by defeating the Media ...

". The statement attracted widespread media criticism, with Halima Jibril writing for ''

'' that Grimes was using "the same tiresome rhetoric white people have used for centuries while they oppress people of colour, reminding her critics that we should 'love each other'". She later attended far-right blogger

Curtis Yarvin Curtis Guy Yarvin (born 1973), also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American far-right political blogger and software developer. He is known, along with accelerationist philosopher Nick Land, for founding the anti-egalitarian and ...

's wedding. In January 2025, Grimes attended a party in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, alongside Yarvin, to celebrate the

second inauguration of Donald Trump The United States presidential inauguration, inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States took place on Monday, January 20, 2025. Due to freezing temperatures and high winds, it was held inside the United States Capi ...

. Grimes has been accused of abusing

non-disclosure agreement A non-disclosure agreement (NDA), also known as a confidentiality agreement (CA), confidential disclosure agreement (CDA), proprietary information agreement (PIA), or secrecy agreement (SA), is a legal contract or part of a contract between at le ...

s (NDAs) and "bullying". In 2018, fellow singer

stated that she "got to watch her bully songwriters into signing NDA . Poppy's former creative director Titanic Sinclair posted a screenshot to

in 2023 with a caption saying, "I think bullying your ghostwriters into NDAs and never paying them is wrong".

Relationships

From 2007 to 2010, Grimes was in an on-and-off relationship with Devon Welsh, then lead vocalist of Majical Cloudz. The two met in 2007 at a first-year dorm party while studying at McGill University. From 2012 to 2018, Grimes was in a relationship with electronic musician Jaime Brooks, who supported her on the Visions Tour performing as Elite Gymnastics. In 2018, Grimes began a relationship with business magnate

. They met after discovering on Twitter that they had both independently made the same pun, relating to

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

and the thought experiment Roko's basilisk. In May 2020, Grimes gave birth to their son. Musk and Grimes originally gave the baby the name "X Æ A-12", which would have violated California regulations as it contained characters that are not in the modern English alphabet, which they then changed to "X Æ A-Xii". They have received criticism for choosing a name perceived to be impractical and difficult to pronounce. In 2021, they had a daughter via

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman gets pregnant and gives birth on behalf of another person or couple who will become the child's legal parents after birth. People pursue surrogacy for a variety of reasons such as infertility, danger ...

. According to Grimes, Go Won of the South Korean girl group

Loossemble Loossemble () is a South Korean girl group formed by CTDENM. The group consists of five members: HyunJin, YeoJin, ViVi, Go Won, and HyeJu. They debuted on September 15, 2023, with the single "Sensitive" from their eponymous extended play. Nam ...

(with whom she collaborated in 2018) is her eldest son's godmother. Grimes and Musk "semi-separated" in September 2021. In January 2022, Grimes said of Musk: "I would probably refer to him as my boyfriend, but we're very fluid." Despite fluctuating relationship statuses, in March 2022 Grimes described Musk as her "best friend and the love of my life". In September 2023, it was reported that the couple had another son. Later that month, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights to their children in a California court. Musk allegedly fought to keep the hearing closed, asking for the documents to be sealed. Since March 2024, Grimes has been in a relationship with American DJ Anyma. In early 2025, after Musk was accused of performing a

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

during Donald Trump's second inauguration, Grimes denounced Nazism and the "far alt-right" under intense pressure from her fans. In February 2025, she criticised Musk for bringing their eldest son, X Æ A-Xii, to public events after he was photographed and filmed in the

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the president of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval room has three lar ...

Discography

Studio albums *''

'' (2010) *'' Halfaxa'' (2010) *'' Visions'' (2012) *''

'' (2015) *''

'' (2020)

Filmography

Film and television

Video games

Tours

Headlining

* Halfaxa Tour (Canada, 2010) * Darkbloom Tour (North America and Europe, 2011) * Visions Tour (World, 2012–2014) * Rhinestone Cowgirls Tour (North America, 2015) * Ac!d Reign Tour (Asia/Europe, 2016) * March of the Pugs Tour (North America, 2016)

Supporting

– Wounded Rhymes Tour (2011) *

and

– Full Flex Express Canadian Train Tour (2012) *

–

The Endless Summer Tour The Endless Summer Tour was the third headlining concert tour by American recording artist Lana Del Rey in support of her third studio album, '' Ultraviolence'' (2014). The tour began on May 7, 2015, in The Woodlands, Texas and concluded on Jun ...

(2015) *

– How Beautiful Tour (2016) *

– Paradise Again Tour (2022)

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimes 1988 births Living people 4AD artists 21st-century Canadian women singers Arbutus Records artists Art pop musicians Autistic artists Canadian artists with disabilities Canadian album-cover and concert-poster artists Anglophone Quebec people Canadian electronic musicians Canadian experimental musicians Canadian keyboardists Canadian music video directors Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian sopranos Canadian women artists Canadian women bloggers Canadian women film directors Canadian women in electronic music Canadian women record producers Dream pop musicians Electropop musicians Experimental pop musicians Female music video directors Film directors from Montreal Film directors from Vancouver Franco-Columbian people Canadian indie pop musicians Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year winners Juno Award for Video of the Year winners McGill University alumni Musicians from Montreal Singers from Vancouver Autistic musicians Musk family People with speech disorders Quebecers of French descent Roc Nation artists Canadian people with disabilities Synth-pop singers Canadian women keyboardists Film directors with disabilities Singers with disabilities Race-related controversies in music