Grimes is dating Elon Musk. You probably know this because you're reading this on the internet, which is currently saturated with think-pieces and memes about Grimes dating Elon Musk. The unlikely news broke earlier this week before the Met Gala, which they attended together. Art Angels and Musk-eteers (an obvious pun that nobody, to my knowledge, has taken advantage of) have retreated to their separate online corners to discuss and debate the union. Apparently, there are enough people on either side for this to be a really big deal, big enough that fans are digging up and analyzing Grimes' old tweets. But how did this happen? Who cares? And also, why?
Who are these people?
Let's start with the basics. Grimes, real name Claire Boucher, makes experimental art-pop (Stereogum.com called her last LP the best album of 2015). Elon Musk makes Teslas and tunnels and runs a space transportation services company. They have a shared curiosity about artificial intelligence. Grimes is somewhat of an indie treasure and maybe a witch. Musk is a role-model to billionaire aspirants and nerds.
Did they meet at an intergalactic conference?
It's the classic tale of Boy Tweets Girl Because Girl Referenced An AI Thought Experiment In Her Music Video. As Page Six reports, Musk wanted to tweet a joke that Grimes had already made three years prior in her video for "Flesh Without Blood." The joke? "Rococo Basilisk. What? A play on words referencing the thought experiment Roko's Basilisk and the 18th century baroque style Rococo. On the day of the Met Gala, Musk tweeted the joke, "Rococo basilisk." NICE. He followed the tweet with a link to Rococo's Wikipedia page, in case we plebeians missed the punchline.
Flesh without Blood & Kill V Maim on Art Angels album https://t.co/MycGWvbYGk
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 8, 2018
name 3 more, bitch https://t.co/ayNs8sZFuj
— Brandon Wardell (@BRANDONWARDELL) May 9, 2018
What could go wrong?
She morphs into Musk, starts delegating music-making to AI robots, and/or leaves us to govern a colony on Mars. Assuming those things don't happen, nothing!
