Don’t Go
that she is producer, not a performer. In completely controlling all aspects of her live show, Grimes maintains the same control and self-regulation that remains evident in her online presence. But even with this image maintenance, her conflicting personality comes through. Her “pump up” dancers draw attention away from her performance, as Grimes remains secure behind her Roland samplers and keys. Even in performance, Grimes retains her upfront and honest personality. She never performs encores, claiming that they are expected and insincere. Yet, this inherent honesty has recently started to plague Grimes. Fast forward two years: Grimes is an active model, a voice for feminism, and an online presence. As she works away in both Vancouver and LA, we only peer into her life via her (very) active Twitter and Tumblr presences. So what has changed? She started listening to the online criticism that she had been avoiding. In August, Grimes released her latest single, “Go”, a song she originally produced for Rihanna. It was almost universally hated. Overproduced and featuring trap-influenced beats, it did not fit the “Grimes” image that Last month, Grimes (Claire Boucher) shocked fans by people had come to love. At the same time, Grimes was facabandoning her latest album. Yet, given her history and quick ing criticism for her response to the ALS ice-bucket challenge rise to fame, should we really be shocked? Beneath her pix- (As a vegan, Claire protested the animal testing that remains ie-esque manner, dreamy beats, and quirky online-presence, present in ALS research). Her perfromances at festivals feaGrimes remains one of the most multi-faceted and unpredict- tured more and more new tracks, further leading us to believe able artists today. Here is why this is no surprise: that the next album was ready for release, but then Grimes Before her acclaimed album Visions was released in finally spoke: in September, Grimes simply stated that her 2012, Grimes was a McGill drop-out living with musical friends new record “sucked”. But are these really her views? Or just a (Majical Cloudz and Born Gold in particular) in Montreal. At reflection of what the world wants from Grimes? McGill, Boucher studied Russian and Neuroscience and left What’s next? Although this scrapping could indicate school not knowing how to read, record, or produce music. a return to her Visions style, it probably won’thappen. Grimes However, even from the beginning, the experimentation that has moved past her old, hermit-like creative process as she defines Grimes was present. now prefers to make music in the comfort of L.A., not the While she produced other music before, Claire con- backwoods of British Columbia. She signed with Jay-Z’s mansiders Visions to be her first true album, a coherent work of agement label Roc Nation, a switch which most likely amped art. Grimes recorded Visions in a dark room while high on up the pressures for her next release. The Visions victory laps amphetamines for nine days. Without food. The culmination are officially over: for now, we just have to wait. of this somewhat spiritual journey is highlighted in the simple sampling of Erik Satie, an avant-garde French composer, on the final track “know the way.” While this article is not a review of this (suberb) album, it is important to recognize that the wide range of influences, layers, sounds, and samples within this album generated the Grimes’ obscure aura almost instantly. As 2012 wore on, Claire’s skyrocketing fame brought her out of the bedroom (where she produced Visions) and into the world. However, this rapid climb seemed to conflict with her character. Claire is shy, awkward, and introverted, attributes that are not so apparent in her live show, but very present in interviews. However, as Grimes attracted more and more attention, she repeatedly told both interviewers and the internet that she never read online commentary. By insulating herself from online commentary, Grimes was able to maintain her own creative ideals, something that is increasingly lost from the digitized music world today. But like other “bedroom artists”, Grimes faced a live performance dilemma. How could she reproduce the ethereal layers of 50+ vocal tracks live? Relying on samplers and keys rather than a live band, Grimes’ Art by Madeline Garcia 10 live set up almost seems to reflect her personality and belief
A Short Thesis By
Alex Adamczyk Suzanna Erlich
