grime grime grime

[kradeelav]

was reading a little about Grimes today (and some earlier interviews) almost by accident because i was idly looking up more pisces sun / aries moon people (sort of going through another art existential crisis of 'what is the goal i make for' and figured it couldn't hurt to look up successful creators of a similar sign combo to me for a tiny bit of direction.... yes that sounds as objectively dumb as i know it is LOL)

ANYWAY

i know later on her life got a little wonky but like ... most if not all people loose their sense of good (any) judgement when simply existing next to infinity-money/fame/etc, which is sad! but i think it's more interesting to look at the artistic life before because mother of god she has a cool one.

turns out the way she chose her stage name/handle (apocrpyphal but sort of corroborated by a few sources) is incredibly endearing and relatable:

"> According to the timestamps on her original Myspace page, [Grimes] 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."

and then i dug around a bit and apparently she had a tumblr up until uhh 2013?

with this extremely cool and ballin manifesto that actually... sounds a hell of a lot like my 'this is why i'm giving away all my free art' shtick'? this really resonates with me even if it's more about her table flipping at the treatment she got in the music industry, so I'm copypasting it here:

"I don’t want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living
i dont want my words to be taken out of context
i dont want to be infantilized because i refuse to be sexualized  
i dont want to be molested at shows or on the street by people who perceive me as an object that exists for their personal satisfaction
i dont want to live in a world where im gonna have to start employing body guards because this kind of behavior is so commonplace and accepted and I’m pissed that when I express concern over my own safety it’s often ignored until people see firsthand what happens and then they apologize for not taking me seriously after the fact…
I’m tired of men who aren’t professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to ‘help me out’ (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i’m gonna flounder without them.  or as if the fact that I’m a woman makes me incapable of using technology.  I have never seen this kind of thing happen to any of my male peers
I’m tired of the weird insistence that i need a band or i need to work with outside producers (and I’m eternally grateful to the people who don’t do this)
im tired of being considered vapid for liking pop music or caring about fashion as if these things inherently lack substance or as if the things i enjoy somehow make me a lesser person
im tired of being congratulated for being thin because i can more easily fit into sample sizes from the runway
im tired of people i love betraying me so they can get credit or money
I’m sad that it’s uncool or offensive to talk about environmental or human rights issues
I’m tired of creeps on message boards discussing whether or not they’d “fuck” me
I’m tired of people harassing my dancers and treating them like they aren’t human beings
I’m sad that my desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected (I have four brothers and many male best friends and a dad and i promise i do not hate men at all, nor do i believe that all men are sexist or that all men behave in the ways described above)
im tired of being referred to as ‘cute,’ as a ‘waif’ etc., even when the author, fan, friend, family member etc. is being positive
(fyi)
waif |wāf| noun
1 a homeless and helpless person, esp. a neglected or abandoned child: she is foster-mother to various waifs and strays .
• an abandoned pet animal.
cute |kyo͞ot|
adjective
1 attractive in a pretty or endearing way: a cute kitten.
• informal sexually attractive.
I’m tired of people assuming that just because something happens regularly it’s ok"

anyway after watching/listening to a few tracks (like we appreciate power for a cyberpunk vibe) in addition to interviews, I'm a fan now.  shit grows on you.

Comments

[queenlua]

damn that whole post has some nice old school riot grrl energy; i dig it.

also now i'm poking around some and check out this bit about her musical origins:

She got it together sufficiently to win acceptance to the prestigious McGill University [. . .] where she took a psychoacoustics class that required her to learn the recording program Logic. She had no musical background whatsoever, other than a disastrous year of violin lessons at age nine. But after learning the software and hearing the way Animal Collective used loops, something clicked. She went home, started piecing together songs, and soon enough, Grimes was born. And despite the sophistication of all the songs she’s made since, she still doesn’t know even the basics of music theory, and can barely play the instruments she layers to fantastic effect.

kinda love the DIY ethos and "just fucking go for it" energy ngl

[kradeelav]

that was a really cool interview as a whole too, thank you for linking! :o it's reassuring to see she's still as zany and driven as ever, since I was reading mostly earlier interviews, so thats' actually a relief to know. Was strangely comforted at her attitude of like, still working through to cooler creative work and being independent as far as momentary sources go - feel like she's far craftier than a lot of people want to paint her as. there's also a sense of like, old hacker trollish attitude in conjunction to what you picked out that's just fun lol.