Grimes speaks out about her feelings for Elon Musk and what it’s been like since his ‘funding secured’ scandal

Charles Sykes/AP

Grimes was featured in a profile for WSJ Magazine ahead of the release of her newest album.
In the interview, Grimes discussed her relationship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who she referred to as a "super-interesting goddamn person."
Grimes said it was "disturbing" to see how much attention she garnered from a since-deleted tweet from last year, in which she wrote that Musk hasn’t prevented Tesla employees from unionizing.
Grimes declined to comment on her feud with singer Azealia Banks that stems from a failed meeting at Musk’s mansion to "hang and make music."

Canadian singer Grimes says she was "unprepared" for the amount of attention she got last summer after tweeting about unionization efforts at Tesla, the company headed up by her then-boyfriend, Elon Musk.

In a profile ahead of the release of her upcoming album "Miss_Anthrop0cene," the Wall Street Journal Magazine asked Grimes — who for now prefers to go by the name "c" — about her relationship with Musk, who she first started dating in spring 2018. Their romantic relationship was marked by a series of events that captured the public’s attention, from Musk’s troubles with the Securities Exchange Commission to the singer’s dramatic feud with singer Azealia Banks.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem like Grimes has any hard feelings toward the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX. Grimes called Musk a "super-interesting goddamn person."

"And look, I love him; he’s great," she said. Musk told the magazine in an email that he loves her "wild fae artistic creativity and hyper intense work ethic."

Grimes didn’t get into what kind of relationship she currently does or doesn’t have with Musk. The two unfollowed each other on social media back in August, leading many to speculate they had broken up. Grimes tweeted in January that she was "randomly" in China on the same day Musk was in the country to open his new Tesla Gigafactory in Shanghai, and the two showed up in photos eating at a restaurant together.

Their relationship, if anything, has been far from uneventful. Grimes took to Twitter more than once to defend Musk from accusations Tesla had tried to prevent attempts by employees to unionize, and had retaliated against those who tried to do so. In since-deleted tweets, Grimes called it "fake news" that Musk had tried to stop union efforts, and later said she herself had tried to encourage employees to vote on unionizing.

In her interview with WSJ Magazine, Grimes said she was "simply unprepared" for how much traction her tweets about Tesla would get.

"I just thought I could keep going along in my funny little way, and then you casually respond to someone in a tweet and it’s on Fox News, and you’re like, ‘ugh,’ you know? That was a very disturbing moment," Grimes said. "I was like, ‘Oh, I can never tweet about …. I need to watch who I f—ing retweet.’"

One of the most notable incidents of their relationship, however, has to do with rapper and singer Azealia Banks. Grimes and Banks were working on a song collaboration last year, but the effort was hijacked by drama related to Musk and Tesla.

The day before Banks traveled to Los Angeles to work with Grimes out of Musk’s home, the Tesla CEO posted his infamous "funding secured" tweet that hinted at his plans to take the company private at $420 a share. Banks told Business Insider that Musk was seemingly distracted the whole weekend, and she saw him "in the kitchen tucking his tail in between his legs scrounging for investors to cover his ass after that tweet."

Banks said Grimes and Musk essentially went into hiding for the weekend doing damage control. Later, Banks described her weekend at Musk’s house as comparable to a scene from the horror movie "Get Out." Banks and Grimes later exchanged jabs over text, with Banks calling Grimes a "brittleboned methhead" and Grimes accusing Banks of being a "narc." Grimes and Musk both declined to talk to WSJ Magazine about the incident with Banks.

What followed the whole saga is now well-known — an SEC investigation and a settlement where Musk had to pay a $20 million fine, step down as chairman of Tesla’s board of directors for three years, and agree to have his tweets about Tesla’s business screened.

“People, friends, keep being like, You shouldn’t have to change!" she told WSJ Magazine. "But you know what? The world is a b—. Accept the world. Instead of wishing it was different, figure out what you gotta do and do it.”

Read the full profile over at WSJ Magazine.

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