”An Update on Grimes” by Alex Adamczyk & Suzanna Erlich

Don’t Go

A Short Thesis By Alex Adamczyk and Suzanna Erlich

Last month, Grimes (Claire Boucher) shocked fans by abandoning her latest album. Yet, given her history and quick rise to fame, should we really be shocked? Beneath her pixie-esque manner, dreamy beats, and quirky online-presence, Grimes remains one of the most multi-faceted and unpredictable artists today. Here is why this is no surprise:

Before her acclaimed album Visions was released in 2012, Grimes was a McGill drop-out living with musical friends (Majical Cloudz and Born Gold in particular) in Montreal. At McGill, Boucher studied Russian and Neuroscience and left school not knowing how to read, record, or produce music. However, even from the beginning, the experimentation that defines Grimes was present.

While she produced other music before, Claire considers Visions to be her first true album, a coherent work of art. Grimes recorded Visions in a dark room while high on amphetamines for nine days. Without food. The culmination 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.

Art by Madeline Garcia

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’ live set up almost seems to reflect her personality and belief 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-infuenced beats, it did not ft the “Grimes” image that people had come to love. At the same time, Grimes was facing criticism for her response to the ALS ice-bucket challenge (As a vegan, Claire protested the animal testing that remains present in ALS research). Her performances at festivals featured more and more new tracks, further leading us to believe that the next album was ready for release, but then Grimes finally spoke: in September, Grimes simply stated that her new record “sucked”. But are these really her views? Or just a refection of what the world wants from Grimes?

What’s next? Although this scrapping could indicate a return to her Visions style, it probably won’t happen. Grimes has moved past her old, hermit-like creative process as she now prefers to make music in the comfort of L.A., not the backwoods of British Columbia. She signed with Jay-Z’s management label Roc Nation, a switch which most likely amped up the pressures for her next release. The Visions victory laps are officially over: for now, we just have to wait.