1. Claire Elise Boucher, known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.
80 Facts About Grimes
1. 2.
Grimes released two albums, Geidi Primes and Halfaxa, in 2010 on Arbutus Records, before signing with 4AD and rising to prominence with the release of her 2012 album, Visions.
3.
Outside of music, Grimes had a voice role in the 2020 action role-playing video game Cyberpunk 2077 and was a judge on the music competition game show Alter Ego.
4.
Grimes was born Claire Elise Boucher in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 17,1988, the first child of Sandy Garossino, a former Crown prosecutor and arts advocate, and Maurice Boucher, a former banker who works "in the business side of biotech".
5.
Grimes is of French Canadian, Ukrainian, and Italian descent.
6.
In 2006, Grimes graduated from Lord Byng Secondary School and relocated from Vancouver to Montreal to attend McGill University's joint Bachelor of Arts and Science program.
7.
Grimes listed "grime" for all three, without knowing what the grime music genre was.
8.
In January 2010, Grimes released her debut album, Geidi Primes, a concept album inspired by the Dune series, followed by her second album, Halfaxa, in October of the same year.
9.
Visions won the Electronic Album of the Year Award and Grimes was nominated for the Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Junos.
10.
Grimes won the Artist of the Year Award at the 2013 Webbys.
11.
In interviews following the album's release, Grimes explained that she was assigned a strict deadline by which to have her third album finished far before it was complete, resulting in her recording the bulk of Visions while isolated in her Montreal apartment in Mile End for three consecutive weeks.
12.
Grimes went on the Visions Tour from 2012 to 2014 with supporting acts Born Gold, Myths, Elite Gymnastics, and Ami Dang.
13.
In March 2012, Grimes collaborated with Cop Car Bonfire's Tim Lafontaine and went under the name, Membrain.
14.
In July 2012, Grimes toured as a supporting act with Diplo and Skrillex on the Full Flex Express Canadian Train Tour.
15.
In December 2013, Grimes employed the services of Jay-Z's management company, Roc Nation.
16.
On June 26,2014, Grimes premiered the new track "Go", produced by and featuring Blood Diamonds.
17.
In July 2014, Grimes was featured on Bleachers' song "Take Me Away" from their album, Strange Desire.
18.
On March 8,2015, Grimes released a self-directed video for a demo version of "Realiti" from an abandoned album.
19.
Grimes then toured in the fall of 2015 as the headliner of her own Rhinestone Cowgirls Tour with opener Nicole Dollanganger.
20.
Grimes won the 2016 International award at the Socan Annual Awards and the 2016 Harper's Bazaar Musician of the Year Award in October.
21.
Grimes continued touring through the summer of 2016, performing at various music festivals across North America and opening for Florence and the Machine on select dates of the How Beautiful Tour.
22.
In 2016, Grimes co-wrote the song "Heaven" for Troye Sivan's album Blue Neighbourhood.
23.
On February 2,2017, Grimes premiered on Tidal the high budget futuristic music video of "Venus Fly", starring herself and Janelle Monae.
24.
Grimes won Best Dance Video for "Venus Fly" at the Much Music Video Awards.
25.
In 2017, Grimes won a JUNO Award for Video of the Year, featuring "Kill V Maim".
26.
On October 19,2017, Grimes released a cover of Tegan and Sara's "Dark Come Soon" with Hana.
27.
In February 2018, Grimes wrote on Instagram, "welp no music any time soon after all".
28.
Grimes later revealed on an Instagram post that she would eventually be releasing two albums, and that "they would be separated by a period of time", with the first being released with 4AD, and the second with an undisclosed label.
29.
Grimes stated that this first album would be "highly collaborative and [characterized by] most glorious light", with the second highlighting themes of "pure darkness and chaos".
30.
In 2018, Grimes composed the theme music for Netflix's animated series Hilda.
31.
On October 19,2018, Grimes was featured on Jimmy Urine's "The Medicine Does Not Control Me" from the album, Euringer.
32.
On November 29,2018, Grimes released the single, "We Appreciate Power" featuring Hana, which was described as an industrial rock and nu metal song.
33.
On December 11,2018, Grimes performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
34.
Grimes appeared on Bring Me the Horizon's "Nihilist Blues" from their sixth album, Amo.
35.
Grimes released the music video for "Violence", featuring i_o, on September 5,2019.
36.
On November 29,2019, Grimes released the single "My Name Is Dark".
37.
On February 27,2020, Grimes released a music video for the song "Idoru".
38.
On June 17,2020, Grimes was featured on Ashnikko's song, "Cry" from her mixtape, Demidevil.
39.
Grimes made an appearance on the Adult Swim sketch comedy show, The Eric Andre Show.
40.
Grimes collaborated with Benee on the dance-style song "Sheesh" on the latter's debut album, Hey U X, released on November 11,2020.
41.
Grimes's song, "Kill V Maim" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2020 film, Mainstream.
42.
On December 18,2020, nine months after the release of her fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene, Grimes changed the cover art for the album on all streaming platforms.
43.
The new cover art is a painting by Rupid Leejm that Grimes commissioned to use.
44.
Grimes used the Discord server to tease new music frequently, and released a snippet of a song called "Shinigami Eyes" which she continued to promote in subsequent social media posts, as well as an upcoming collaboration with British DJ Chris Lake.
45.
Grimes spoke about an upcoming concept album with Billboard, describing it as a "space opera".
46.
Grimes made a cameo appearance in the short film Discord: The Movie, alongside Awkwafina, Danny DeVito, and J Balvin.
47.
In December, Grimes teased a collaboration with the Weeknd on Discord, saying it would be released in 2022.
48.
In January 2022, Grimes partnered with the video game Rocket League for the Neon Nights event.
49.
Grimes was an opening act on select dates for Swedish House Mafia's "Paradise Again Tour" alongside Kaytranada, ZHU, and Alesso.
50.
Grimes confirmed that the song is called "Sci Fi" and is set for release in mid-2022.
51.
Grimes confirmed that the album was in the process of being mixed.
52.
In January 2023, Grimes gave an update on her delayed sixth album, Book 1, announcing that her career was a 'side quest' now and that her children, friends and family were her priorities.
53.
Grimes claimed the problems came from her having outsourced preparation work to third parties due to time constraints.
54.
On October 29,2024, Grimes released a remix of Magdalena Bay's "Image".
55.
Grimes co-produced Adela's song, "Machine Girl", which was released on February 28,2025.
56.
Grimes made a cameo in the song's music video alongside Sofia Wylie.
57.
Grimes described her fifth studio album Miss Anthropocene as "mostly ethereal nu metal".
58.
Grimes's lyrics were described by The Guardian as "generally elusive and impressionistic, shying away from specifics".
59.
Grimes utilizes looping and layering techniques, particularly with vocals; many of her songs feature layers of over fifty different vocal tracks which create an "ethereal" sound.
60.
Grimes's work has been likened to various artists, including Bjork, Julianna Barwick, Siouxsie Sioux, and Enya.
61.
Grimes has stated that she loves British rock bands like Bring Me the Horizon and Foals.
62.
Grimes was described by Tastemakers Magazine as an "alien love-child of Aphex Twin and ABBA".
63.
Grimes considers Blue Hawaii "a big part of [her] family in Montreal".
64.
Grimes stated that Cocteau Twins are "one of the first bands I was into that was considered alternative".
65.
Grimes has done exhibitions showcasing her works and has stated that "[she has] always been a visual artist".
66.
Grimes's art is influenced by Japanese anime, manga, and comic artists such as Charles Burns and Daniel Clowes.
67.
Grimes's illustrations have appeared in gallery shows, including at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.
68.
Grimes created an alternate cover for Image Comics' The Wicked + The Divine, and designed a capsule collection of t-shirts for Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent, in 2013.
69.
Grimes has been open about her past drug use, revealing intense periods during the creation of her third album Visions in 2012, during which she "blacked out the windows and did tons of amphetamine and stayed up for three weeks and didn't eat anything".
70.
Grimes has said that she is autistic, saying she was previously misdiagnosed with restless legs syndrome and schizoaffective disorder.
71.
Frequently identified as a feminist musician during her early career, Grimes expressed frustration with this in 2015 by stating that it "really genders [her]" in a way that she does not identify with, adding that she does not relate strongly to female gender identity.
72.
Grimes stated, "Every day I think fondly of the brown king Cyrus the Great".
73.
In January 2025, Grimes attended a party in Washington, DC, alongside Yarvin, to celebrate the second inauguration of Donald Trump.
74.
Grimes has been accused of abusing non-disclosure agreements and "bullying".
75.
From 2007 to 2010, Grimes was in an on-and-off relationship with Devon Welsh, then lead vocalist of Majical Cloudz.
76.
From 2012 to 2018, Grimes was in a relationship with electronic musician Jaime Brooks, who supported her on the Visions Tour performing as Elite Gymnastics.
77.
In 2018, Grimes began a relationship with business magnate Elon Musk.
78.
Later that month, Grimes sued Musk over parental rights to their children in a California court.
79.
Since March 2024, Grimes has been in a relationship with American DJ Anyma.
80.
In early 2025, after Musk was accused of performing a Nazi salute during Donald Trump's second inauguration, Grimes denounced Nazism and the "far alt-right" under intense pressure from her fans.