Badische Zeitung/2015/Interview

By Marcel Anders

Sat, 07 November 2015

Rock & Pop

**BZ-INTERVIEW with pop singer Claire Boucher a.k.a Grimes.**

Zeit magazine has just proclaimed her the new Madonna, other opinion makers are talking about the new Björk: with her fourth album "Art Angels", the singer Grimes is about to take the step from hipster darling to star for the masses. To achieve this, Claire Boucher, who is behind the art figure Grimes, has partly smoothed out her experimental electro-pop and made it catchy. Marcel Anders met the 27-year-old Canadian in Paris.

 **BZ:** "Art Angels" has a much better sound than its predecessors - would you say that this is your first professional album?

 **Boucher:** It's definitely the first album I've made as a musician. Before that I was just experimenting wildly. It was just a hobby and I had no idea what I was doing. Along the lines of, "I'll just try this or that." But I approached this album very differently. First of all, I learned how to play guitar and arrange my vocals. Things like that. And that's why it's funny that everyone asks me now, "Why did it take so long?" Well, because I had to learn music first. When the first albums came out, I couldn't play a single instrument and had no idea about technique. I was an absolute dilettante.

 **BZ:** What is it like to listen to your early work? Is it torture or does it make you laugh?

 **Boucher:** I have made my peace with it in the meantime. In the sense of: I'm no longer ashamed of myself as I used to be, but I stand by it. Nevertheless, I still find some things like the singing unbearable. I'm really often off the mark there. And even though I know I'm not a good singer, there are places where I realise: I could have done better. And without much effort. But at the same time I have the feeling that the naivety of these albums is something wonderful.

**BZ:** The new album breaks down into two halves, one catchy and one experimental.

 **Boucher:** The original idea was: pop and non-pop. But now one side features more guitars that move from extremely aggressive to almost poppy. And the other side has rococo-like electronica that also gets really crazy sometimes.

**BZ:** Why this bridging? Is it so difficult to satisfy your audience?

 **Boucher:** It has a bit of that. Well, at first I wanted to make a pure guitar album, but near the end - when I had quite a few pieces finished - that was too one-dimensional for me, and I brought out the keyboard again and started changing them. Simply because that's in my nature - for me that's the lightest groove there is. And the pieces that feel easy are also the best.

 **BZ:** When you talk about crazy songs - how crazy does it get?

**Boucher:** In terms of lyrics, the most extreme is definitely "Kill V Maim". It's written from the perspective of Al Pacino in "The Godfather II" - where in this case he's a vampire who can change his gender and travel through time and space. It doesn't really get any crazier than that.

**BZ:** Your big goal is supposedly to work only as a producer at some point and sit in front of the computer all day in your pyjamas.

**Boucher:** My contract includes one more album and then I'm done. I don't plan to tour any more and I won't do any more TV appearances or photo sessions. Simply because it's too much for me already. So once I've made enough money, I'm going to do it like Kate Bush. I'll work at my own pace and have nothing more to do with this tabloid stuff.

 **BZ:** What do your parents think of your career?

**Boucher:** They have made it clear several times that they can't do anything with my lifestyle and my art and reject both. Simply because they are so narrow-minded and stubborn, and because they don't understand things like blogs and success on the Internet. With my father, I even have the feeling that he would rather I wasn't successful - simply because he is embarrassed by my appearance.

**BZ:** That sounds very sad.

**Boucher:** It is. But: I will not subordinate myself to his views and values in order to please him. That applies to everything I do: I don't want to conform and pander. I just want to be me and not belong to anyone: No genre, no fans, no label, no producer. I am my own thing.

**Grimes:** Art Angels (4AD), as download from now, as CD and LP from December 11.

Published in the printed edition of the BZ of Sat, 07 November 2015:

1. ↑ https://www.badische-zeitung.de/claire-boucher-alias-grimes-ich-war-ein-absoluter-dilettant--113428197.html