Grimes, an artist who sings the Apocalypse, or rather her own, ex-companion of Elon Musk who we told you about in this portrait article. Grimes becomes a reference among cryptobros and blockchain lovers, thanks to her collections of… expensive NFTs.
But who is Grimes? How does the artist now rank among the most successful NFT creators? Portrait of Claire Boucher, a woman of many facets. By Coinaute, of course.
How did her life begin?
Claire Boucher was born in Vancouver, Canada, and is currently 33 years old. At a very young age, Claire saw a passion for the supernatural and the Middle Ages, although she also suffered from tics. She states, “I wanted to hit things with my foot”.
But the girl who was to become Grimes began her career in ballet, discovered Marilyn Manson and was influenced by his style. So much so that Claire adopted the gothic style and wanted to go against all her family’s principles.
From the t-shirt to the make-up to shaving her head, Grimes is devoted to Marilyn’s metal-goth style. This causes her to get bullied at school.
At 18, she studied Russian literature and neuroscience at McGill University. She composed her first plays, under the same stage name, with the explanation. “I wanted something masculine. It’s electro.”
This, using illicit substances.
Grimes’ birth
Grimes cut classes early to focus on the music project she was building, which began to take off. This led to her expulsion from her university. She dropped out of school completely and kept her music in the forefront, which led her to travel to Mississippi with her boyfriend.
She later moved to New Orleans, but the Minnesota police arrested her in what Grimes later described as a “heavy-handed” intervention.
From “Shinigami Eyes” and “Selling Out” to NFTs
Besides giving birth to Elon Musk’s son meanwhile, no less, Grimes is launching her NFT collection, which will sell for around $6 million. The collection is called “WarNymph” and is already looking to resell. At the same time, a percentage of the collection’s sales go to the Carbon180 charity, which seeks to limit greenhouse gases.
These days, Grimes posts plenty of Instagram photos on her personal account, including some with her son.
What about you, do you think Grimes is really making her way in the world of NFT and cryptocurrency?
Grimes, the musical nymph with NFT
If we know Grimes thanks to her music (Shinigami Eyes being her most recent release), less so as a creator of non-fungible token-based artworks. However, Grimes is no stranger to artwork…
WarNymph Collection Vol 1 Open Editions by Grimes x Mac
When Grimes is mentioned, the word ‘dystopia’ regularly follows. A justifiable reason, since most of her works revolve around this theme. Thus, the ‘WarNymph’ straight out of Neo-Genesis became his muse. Original.
Grimes is her universe based on a world descending into deep paranoia and a post-apo atmosphere to make the most fearful shiver. WarNymph explores the senses of the human subconscious and digs into those fears. From the most far-fetched to the most realistic.
A collection that won’t suit all tastes, as much as it will certainly fascinate the most curious. With a style of acrylic painting that rhymes with 17th-century paintings surrounded by cherubs, Grimes isn’t done surprising us.
The two works are entitled “Mars” and “Earth”.
The strength of these NFTs:
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Mars :
The strongest point of this work? The general atmosphere of the painting. It features an angel, presumably a cherub, just above the planet that has fascinated our species for generations. The angel is in the simplest clothes, and a reddish halo surrounds the space sphere.
The atmosphere in the first place, which emerges from this NFT work, suggests scenarios in which human beings have polluted their soil with their feet. Where the cherub rises to reason with the presence of the creation of his heavenly Father: God.
The cherub has bright chartreuse eyes, a realistic baby body and looks gigantic compared to the painting. A baby has probably never carried such a horrific omen as in this painting. A message of End.
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Earth :
This NFT reflects an aspect of biblical apocalypse within it. Its particularity? The Earth rotates in an animation, for this non-fungible token. The angel arms itself with a spear, it rushes towards our little blue planet and seems to want to finish it off. Europe and the East are illuminated by the sun’s light, while the other side falls asleep under the moon’s glare.
Of these two artistic works, 300 or so copies were sold at prices reaching 7,000,000 dollars. Needless to say, it’s a big hit.
Where to see and buy the WarNymph by Grimes x MAC collection? NiftyGetaway.com (currently unavailable)
Through her artistic works, Grimes becomes enamoured with a wider audience. She is gathering an audience that is now interested in her musical creativity AND her artistic pieces.
Whether it’s about strategic marketing communication, genuine interest or following the non-fungible token trend, there is no doubt that Claire Boucher is growing up in the crypto and blockchain world.
Only two parts?
… No! In fact, the WarNymph collection contains a total of eight parts! Indeed, Grimes’ post-apo sci-fi collection finally contains :
- Newborn 1
- Newborn 2
- Newborn 3
- Newborn 4
- Death of the Old
- Battle of the WarNymphs
- Gods in Hi-res
- Rokoko Monolith
Death of The Old: A battle of the Elders with a musical backdrop
This is the most expensive NFT in the Grimes x Mac collection with a sold price of $388,000,000. In a video format, this NFT plays one of the artist’s tracks in the background: Anhedonia.
Here in front of the mountains, the palette is rather soft-grunge with pastel and darker tones. The theme of Angels, more precisely Cherubs, returns. The babies reach out to each other dancing in a pastel pink halo.
Then, the audience is plunged into a world where the Apocalypse seems to have spread because of the presence of these “children”. Especially thanks to the lyrics of Grimes’ song, such as “I could go to sleep instead; I’m coming down. I wish that maze had an ending”.
Claire Boucher, spiritual mother until the Metaverse?
Not so long ago, Grimes announced her desire to create a children’s book… at the very heart of the Metaverse. An idea that will delight the most enthusiastic of the augmented reality project and will most certainly make the most insensitive or even reluctant ones cringe.
The latter does not seem quite finished, however, still in the dark, Grimes sketches out her project outline.
In April 2014, the singer, mother, and creator of NFT announced that she wanted to create a book for children. Although she also said that the interest of adults was just as important to her as our little ones. Even if, as it happens, they don’t seem too keen on the idea.
This, even armed with explanations at the Avalanche Summit – a blockchain programme, which took place in Barcelona in April 2022.
The support and substance of her mind
Built on an education base and a genuine maternal desire to care for children in her own way, Grimes is setting the tone with the hefty sum of her new jewel: $100 million. Thanks to the Avalanche Foundation.
It’s safe to say that the mother of Elon Musk’s children, X Æ A-Ⅻ Musk, Exa Dark Sideræl Musk, doesn’t have too much to worry about in terms of the support she’s garnering from her pairs. The project will be on the NFT OP3N platform, which is also a funding part of the project.
Beyond the childlike aspect of the project, Claire wants to do something bigger: something more useful. She aims to help artists, musicians, and filmmakers on the Web.3 platform.
The renowned internet with a wholly decentralised network, but also the metaverse. A gesture that proudly resounds in the heart of the crypto-enthusiast community, and gratifies the young woman with compliments and sympathy from new and old in the crypto world.
Babies, an obsession?
Yes and no. Either way, no one can suggest that she doesn’t appreciate the concept of motherhood. From artsy NFTs set to indie synth-pop music to a children’s book in the metaverse, Claire doesn’t appear to slow down.
The singer explains her perspective:
“When I first went to Web3, this was the kind of project I was hoping to see. I’m eagerly awaiting to work with OP3N to launch a series of educational works for babies and toddlers to create a profound experience for them, but also deeply meaningful for adults.”
This information was relayed via the Bitcoin.com website. She aims for the intergalactic genre based on space and sci-fi. Something that is, in the end, totally maintaining her offbeat style that is extremely true to herself.
Woman artist Grimes and Elon Musk, a long story
The Canadian and the South African (naturalized American since the early 2000s), have a relationship dating from around 2018 that contains many turbulences: separations, patch-ups, arguments, hypocrisy and more.
It’s partly thanks to (or because of?) Elon that Claire legally changes her first name to c (spelt lowercase and italicised, which corresponds to the definition of the speed of light). They welcome their first child, X Æ A-Ⅻ Musk, originally named with the number “12” but changed to XII, as the naming policy in the US forbids the use of numbers to name one’s child.
They simplify things by calling him “X”.
Their relationship turns out to be complicated, no one really knows what it’s all about. Except that they consider themselves “in a relationship” without really being one. Both of them never hesitate to look elsewhere. They don’t seem to have any qualms about going off the deep end if the opportunity arises.
According to her, they’re on the spectrum of a very free relationship with no hidden agenda.
Their children
However, they secretly welcomed another child in December 2021, named Exa Dark Siderael, and born from a surrogate mother.
Like her older brother, biologically born of Grimes and Elon (unlike his younger sister), Exa Dark Siderael inherits the nickname of “Y” which is pronounced like the word “Why”.
Simple when you listen to the two parents explain how they came to name their little princess that way. Grimes explains that “Exa” refers to exaflopian supercomputers. As for Dark, she was thinking more of dark matter. Siderael relates to “real universe time, star time, deep space-time, not our relative earth time”.