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an environmentalist. Wlonger goes by Grimes in her personal brain. Last year, she declared her inten-baby, her mom strapped her to her back and then fastened herself to a tree to prevent it from being cut down. These days, the Canadian musician, who no ou could say Grimes was born to be life but by her nickname, ercase italics), has annihilation on the of her first name, Claire, styled in low-tion to “kill Grimes soon” in a “public hen she was a c (the initial
favorite books—that has been destroyed by heavy industry. But she named her debut album, engage with the news about the state of the world without pomorphic goddess of climate change—a supervillain who sings that “imminent annihilation sounds so dope.” last year, planet in has long been a theme in her music. Rather presciently, in 2010 her concept album feeling paralyzed by guilt and anxiety. “I needed to zone out,” c has always been interested in politics, and the environment c went through a six-month period where she couldn’t Dune—a 1965 science-fiction novel, and one of her Miss Anthropoceneexecution.” In February, she released Geidi Primes, centered on an anthro-, after the fictional
“This sounds supercynical, but when it comes to issues in so-and soon, an idea was born. “I thought it’d be cool to make “Wthe climate crisis, though, so she focused on making it more palatable. She thought of Greta Thunberg’s appeal (“She’s like a kid, so it’s so much less painful to hear [from her] than from a scientist,” she brainstormed who her version of the Joker would be—like, ciety, branding and having good spokespeople does help.” So c[climate change] a cartoon to make it more digestible,” says. “It was becoming too painful for my mental health.” She knew that turning a blind eye was no way to confront ho’s the Heath Ledger of climate change?” c says) and of the villains in her favorite comics, c says.
Each goddess gets her own song; listening to them may require fear that anyone will hear it and be like, ‘Wbase is pretty woke in general,” that I’m doing a counterproductive, negative thing, but my fan a sophisticated understanding of irony. “It’s totally possible our social ills: plastic, fast fashion, and social media, among oth-ers. “I’ve had a lot of friends die from opioid-related causes,” she says, “so there’s a goddess of opioids, a goddess of deep fakes....” rules.’” Still, flipping the narrative by “making climate change In Miss Anthropocene, c creates a pantheon of new gods for c says. “I don’t feel a particular ow, climate changetic maneuver, and musical career. She and her creative partner, Msustainability. “It’s scary and kind of disturbing to realize this which she “really, really loves and cares about”—in terms of pretty mad at me most of the time anyway, so I’m down with getting my hands dirty,” she says. she says, laughing. book, “but I don’t think it’s ready for daylight at the moment,” have been exploring the album’s characters in a related comic cool” through the point of view of a supervillain is a risky artis-thing that’s a huge passion of yours is so destructive for the Lately, c’s ideas have been breaching the limits of her c expects to be misunderstood. “People are c’s also been thinking about fashion—ac Boucher,
everyone’s mind to solve this.”environment,” she says. “It should definitely be at the top of exists just for social media,” she says. As fashion becomes more reality to “wear” clothing items online. “The phone is pretty good at face mapping, and it will have pretty good body map-ping and motion capture soon,” can’t wear it out in the world—but I do think a lot of fashion environmentally friendly, it is also likely to become more ex-paper dolls 2.0. “Digital fashion won’t replace real fashion—you is available, you’ll be able to have a dress mapped onto your body.” Think of it as Instagram’s face filters for your body, or Her solution: digital fashion, specifically using augmented c says. “When that technology
“If you could sell a digital coat or dress for, like, $2, it would outfit for every red carpet—we’re glamorizing extreme con-actually end up democratizing fashion,” not confirmed if her boyfriend Elon Mlike, ‘It’s good to wear the same dress again, guys.’” like, ‘Oh my God, Grimes wore the same dress again,’ and I was wore the same thing for a few different events, and people were sumption,” she says. “There have definitely been times when I repeating outfits. “This whole thing where you have a different pensive, which is another problem digital fashion could solve. In the real world, Recently, c confirmed she’s pregnant. And although she has c is committed to recycling clothes and usk, the cofounder and c says.
ESIRNlooming...we’ve become so technologically advanced that we might actually end our own civilization.” It’s “freaky,” she says, but she remains optimistic—and, if nothing else, procreating is shared passion for the environment brought them together, to make the world better.”—and that the fate of the planet factored into her decision to have a child. “It definitely comes into your mind,” she says. “WCEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is the father, she will say that their great motivation: “Having a kid makes me want to work harder ith nuclear war, artificial intelligence, and climate change carina chocano
SINGE
RAfter a period of crippling climate anxiety, an album designed to make saving our warming planet seem cool.GRIMES channeled her stress into
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