Interview: Grimes

It was announced this morning that Grimes will be gracing our shores for the first time ever! She'll be here to play the Meredith Music Festival — that's December 7, 8, and 9 — with The Sunnyboys and others who are yet to be announced, but will surely be just as exciting (the ticket ballot opened today, PS!).

Named by NME as the #1 Most Exciting Band To Watch in 2012, Grimes has well and truly enamored us — so much so that we even featured her in our Music Issue. Basically, we want her to be our best friend, or at least our pen pal. We caught up with her ahead of her debut Australian trip to talk hair, L$D, thrift store finds, and teenage-related things.

Ingrid Kesa:  The video for 'Oblivion' is my favourite video of the year, even beating 'Niggas In Paris'—
Grimes: Oh, wow!

What's your favourite video EVER?
My favourite music video EVER?

Yep.
Oh my God. Um... damn. Maybe 'Sweet Dreams' by Marilyn Manson. Or, like, 'The Dope Show' by Marilyn Manson.

What does your bedroom look like?
I don't have a bedroom at the moment. Usually it's just a big room with a mattress and lots of posters on the wall.

You don't have a bedroom — is that because you're on tour?
Yeah, I figure it's just better not to have to pay rent if I'm on the road.

Where are you at the moment?
I'm actually just driving back to Montreal, where I've lived for the last six years.

You've never been to Australia before, right?
Nope, never been. Very excited.

What do you think of when you think of Australia?
Like, spiders and snakes and the beach. I don't know if that's an inappropriate thing to say. I don't really know very much about Australia. I have a few friends from Australia, it seems like a pretty cool place — especially Melbourne.

What was the most rebellious thing you ever did as a teenager?
Oh, gee. I probably shouldn't tell you that because it's probably really bad. But... it's just bad. Bad, bad, bad things.

So, what — did you get into heaps of fights with your parents?
Oh, yeah [laughs]. I wasn't the best teenager to my parents.

I'm only a year younger than you, but sometimes I still feel like a teenager. What advice would you give to teenage girls to feel OK about life when they're having a shitty time?
Oh, gee, I don't know. Probably just, "Don't worry about it." I feel like being too concerned about what other people think of you... I don't know, advice to teenage girls — this is pressure. I don't know, to just not [gets slightly flustered]. I think it's more cool to not be concerned about what other people think about you. That's always going to lead to problems. It's better and more mentally healthy to realise that what other people think isn't important. I don't know, that feels really polemical and obvious to say but that's the best advice I can give.

I get what you mean. Your mum will say stuff like, "This is only such a short period of your life, you'll get over it," and you're all like, "You don't know me!"
Yeah, I know! It feels really redundant to say that ["You'll get over it"] because no one actually really listens to you when you say that.

Your Dazed cover where you're wearing Givenchy is amazing. Have you been following any of the couture shows?
Nah, not really. I've just been so out of the loop. I haven't read the news in ages and I don't really have regular internet access or anything — although I am going to New York Fashion Week this year. I think that's my one week off, so I'm doing that and that'll be cool.

Have you been to Fashion Week before?
I went to one show at New York Fashion Week last year, I was only there for the day, so...

What show was it?
Chris Benz.

What's the best thing you've ever found in a thrift store?
I had these really sick rollerblades once and they were, like, $3, but they were way too big for me so I ended up just giving them away but they were really cool. They were from the 70s, like actual roller skates with four wheels.

Who's your favourite mainstream celebrity?
Probably Mariah Carey or Marilyn Manson.

Have you seen the website where she uploads photos of her babies?
No. I'm more into old Mariah. The new Mariah is... Well, she's still kind of cool but when you ask me about anything contemporary, I just don't really know about it.

Will L$D [Grimes' collaboration with Kreayshawn, Tragik, and Blood Diamonds] release any more songs?
Possibly. It's kind of a joke band. If we were all hanging out together, I would make another song. It already got kind of out of hand with the first one [laughs]. I thought it would get maybe one thousand hits or something, but it got a bit out of control. If I'd known that was going to happen I probably would've put a bit more effort into it.

Our next issue is all about dreams. What was the last dream you had?
I stole a car and drove it into a swamp and I hung out with my friend and she'd dyed her hair pink. I don't remember much else about it except that. I remember being stressed about it because I stole the car.

What colour is your hair at the moment?

Cool, yeah, thank you!

I'll have to see you when you play here.
Yeah, for sure. Have fun in Australia in the meantime [laughs].

We'll leave you with this photo of Grimes wearing a Furby suit. Just try to tell us that you don't want to see her live. Just try!

Ingrid Kesa