Elon Musk is a billionaire beloved by nerds, fanboys, fangirls, environmentalists, space-travel enthusiasts and more. Grimes is a weird indie chick. Now they’re together. When I saw this news on Monday, I didn’t think much of it, mostly because I didn’t really have a concept of who Grimes really is. Generation X and Generation Xennial, here’s the comparison for all of us: the Grimes-Musk coupling would be like, in 1995, Steve Jobs suddenly started dating Kim Deal from The Pixies or Shirley Manson from Garbage. Now do you get it? It’s actually a BFD. And it’s weird. So, Elon Musk brought his new girlfriend Grimes to the Met Gala. She wore a Tesla choker. MY GOD. But how did they even get together? Behold, this utterly bizarre Page Six item announcing their coupledom ahead of the Met Gala:
Elon Musk has been keeping everyone guessing about his love life, but sources exclusively revealed to Page Six that he has been quietly dating hip musician Grimes. A source tells us the pair met around a month ago online, of course, through a joke Musk had planned to tweet but discovered Grimes had already made, dealing with the complications of artificial intelligence.
Thought experiment Roko’s Basilisk considers the hypothesis of a future where AI lords over the world and could punish those who did not help it into existence. His joke was to merge this thought experiment with a pun using “Rococo,” referring to the ornate French 18th century baroque style, perhaps pointing out that both concepts are complex, too extreme and ridiculous. And while this takes some explaining, arty performer Grimes was already in on the same joke — three years ahead of Musk. In 2015, she created a character named “Rococo Basilisk” for a video of her song “Flesh Without Blood.” “I don’t know if you’ve heard of Roko’s Basilisk,” she told Fuse. “[This character] is doomed to be eternally tortured by an artificial intelligence, but she’s also kind of like Marie Antoinette.”
“Elon was researching the idea of joking about Rococo Basilisk, and when he saw Grimes had already joked about it, he reached out to her,” says the insider. “Grimes said this was the first time in three years that anyone understood the joke. They were both poking fun at AI.”
SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has been very public in his past fandom for Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher. He tweeted out her artsy video with Janelle Monae for the song “Venus Fly” this past March, adding “Best music video art I’ve seen in a while.” Grimes was a double major in psychology and philosophy, with minors in Russian and electro-acoustics before she dropped out of school to follow her music career.
I mean… either they’re perfect for each other or they’ll end up killing each other and then their brains will be donated to science so they can live on as cyborgs. I kind of thought Elon liked model-beautiful blonde women, but maybe he and Grimes have a special connection. Also: Amber Heard was at the Met Gala too. I wonder if they ran into each other. I wonder if it was awkward.
elon musk is dating grimes because they both made the same terrible, nerd ass pun on twitter which on one hand is extremely relatable but on the other hand it makes them the worst people on planet earth and they should be imprisoned
— maple cocaine (@historyinflicks) May 7, 2018
Grimes wearing a Tesla choker at the #MetGala for Elon Musk is the modern version of Angelina Jolie wearing Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial around her neck pic.twitter.com/MFryNhv2xX
— Shira Tarlo (@shiratarlo) May 8, 2018
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Dear anyone else thinks she really looks like Talulah Riley aka his ex wife?
Yes… Only difference is her hair isn’t bleached. But all his women look similar.
He has a type for sure.
If they stay together, she’ll end up blonde too.
The first thing I noticed when I saw her was that she looks like a 50/50 mix of his first wife, Justine, and Tallulah. And then I thought, well, that’s kinda super-duper creepy. And even though she’s brunette here, Grimes is a natural blonde. Elon loves a pretty blonde with an edge. Dude has a type.
Not seeing it. His first wife was stunning.
He definitely has a type. Amber being the outlier.
Uhm. What?
Random
What.
What a train wreck.
They’re totally perfect for each other, and they were practically giddy all night. It was honestly kind of adorable watching them be sweet and weird and awkward. These pictures don’t really show it but they had a bunch of cute moments on the red carpet, and I think they actually had the most fun of anyone there.
Also Musk clarified on Twitter that Grimes isnt wearing any kind of ‘Tesla’ choker. It’s just a spiky metal choker.
Ha a friend who was there reported the same thing to a few of us in almost the same language — sweet and awkward like a darling prom date.
See, the universe does have someone for everyone! 👽
Lol, that was totally the vibe I got, like the two weird dorks had finally found each other at the cool kids dance.
Example:
https://instagram.com/p/BifzHBDHsnW/
https://instagram.com/p/BiiAeCdhz8X/
Lol
Awe!! Those instagrams are so dang cute!
Lol that is cute. I have never found Elon Musk likable before. When she covered his face with her hand, I’m guessing not many people treat him like that. It’s probably part of her appeal. And he’s obviously very bright and powerful and not ugly. They’re cute.
BOL! This is cute! They are def going to end up killing each other.
Musk was researching the idea of making a joke?
Christ he sounds like a bale of fun.
Lol right?
By researching I think they mean ‘typed Rococo Basilisk into Google to see if anyone had already said it’. As it turns out Grimes had.
He is big brain and that is OK. I’m a researcher and its automatic, like any other personality trait for people. Honestly party “fun “type people, are draining and tend to be shallow There can be people with different personalities in the world you know.
I don’t think generalising the other way is going to help your argument. Especially when it had nothing to do with the original comment.
+1 for nerds, even with the comment downthread. Nerds r hot. They really like to know how things work. Allll the things ❤
No, I see where Isabelle is coming from. I got you.
Ha! Exactly what I came away with from tnis! He ‘s a goof.
HAHAHAHA
He researched his joke before posting it? LOL, that’s cute. She’s a lucky lady, not that I’d want to date him since he has a reputation for being a controlling jerk, but I’d love to have a conversation with him about all of his work.
No – he is not ‘beloved’ but ‘nerds’. He sits on a board of a research center I work very closely with, which looks at AI – and most people who have the ‘pleasure’ of working with him agree that he is very very clever, but also an enormous arse. There are PLENTY of people around that are MUCH smarter than him (Martin Reese, Jaan Tallin), who are less well known because they aren’t celebrities, althougn I would hazard Tallin is equally wealthy.
So no, not all nerds worship this fool.
The reason people admire Musk isn’t his intelligence, it’s his ability to use that intelligence to actually make things happen. He built an electric car company around a sexy sports car and high-speed luxury sedan when everyone else was aiming for a glorified golf cart, he’s making rockets reusable when before SpaceX that wasn’t even on anyone’s agenda, he decided he wanted to start digging tunnels and got started on one that afternoon etc. He pushes forward innovation in his sectors like no one else.
I’ve never met a nerd who hadn’t been blown away by SpaceX’s achievements, whatever they think of Musk as a person.
None of that disproves Clare’s point tho. I’m sure everyone who works in the AI field is well aware of that and appreciates his accomplishments, but you can still be an asshole while getting things done. Of course the general public will never dive deep beyond the surface level though, and assume that because they blindly love him the “nerds” will too which is what Clare was trying to show isn’t true.
Right, but my point was a lot of nerds who work with him and in the same fields as him do love him, and not because they’re under the illusion he’s the absolute smartest person on any given subject.
I work a lot with one of his companies and a non-profit he was up until recently on the board of, and he is beloved and admired by an awful lot of people. Others hate him of course, but it’s incredible how many people, brilliant people, have basically given him their undying loyalty. You don’t see that often in the tech world, and you definitely don’t see it anywhere else in the car industry.
Personally to me the undying loyalty is not very surprising seeing as how the tech industries in general and their members have a propensity to veer into worship territory on a smaller scale for things such as games, operating systems, and people already. We’ve already seen it before in people like Steve Jobs, the OS wars, fanboys, etc. Where I think Musk has the edge though is that he’s mastered several niches (real world results for the data people, billionaire playboy for those living their nerd revenge fantasy through him, science advancements for those who only care about the tech), and his work spans all type of industries so naturally his following seems unprecedented, because he’s appealing to several different demographics at once. I don’t see this as some special IT quality he has though, but rather a congruence of external factors (millennial interest in tech, classism, legit accomplishments, social media, etc) and Musk’s ego. This could actually be the next playbook for how the next “brilliant tech moguls” act from now on instead of a one off thing, because I don’t see how the Bill Gates/Steve Jobs old model would work anymore tbh. Funny how a recurring theme in both old and new though is the need to be, objectively, a jerk with loyal fans ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’m not really talking about naive millennials looking up to him and people hero-worshipping him from a semi-safe distance. More the people who actually know him well, are working literally alongside him or are on his level or solidly working their way to his level.
His retained his core advisors and there from the beginning execs like no one else. The people he clicks with are in it for life basically, or in it for as long as he is.
He has an enormous amount of support from a lot of peers, included many he openly clashes with on certain issues. Real support, the kind of support that would stick with him 100% even if all his ventures crashed and burned tomorrow. A few have told him he has a no-strings attached blank cheque ready for him if he ever wants or needs it. For him, not for a specific company or product or idea. The only person who felt that way about Jobs was Tim Cook, which wasn’t all that useful.
I very much agree and it’s what I’ve been saying for ages.
I don’t even know a single “nerd” who likes him, and he actually seems more popular with the people who are not very knowledgeable of the industries he is part of.
I don’t know. I work in tech as well – though not as advanced as AI. The issue with tech is that you’re surrounded by A LOT of assholes, and many of them really aren’t as bright as they think they are. I have men around me every day who strut around thinking they are the most competent, intelligent people here. But I’m constantly pulling better numbers, doing better work. These guys are tech guys, nerds. But they’e so incredibly unintelligent overall that it’s actually scary.
I don’t doubt for a minute that people are tired of Elon’s schtick. But I appreciate that he does manage to get results. I appreciate that he had an incredibly messed up relationship with his father and he still managed to make something of himself. Is he the smartest guy to ever develop anything? No. Is he the only person who has managed to do well after a less than stellar childhood? No. But there are SO many people who have had so much handed to them without any real talent, or having to work for it. So I do appreciate someone who has had to struggle with part of their life coming out on top.
But I’d rather be stuck with an asshole who IS pretty smart, and who can accomplish things than the kind of assholes who are barely mediocre and act like they’re above it all. I’m currently dealing with plenty of the later, and it’s incredibly frustrating.
ERINN and others, let me clarify, when I say ‘nerds’ I refer to academics. By virtue if the institution I am referring to, they tend to be very ‘smart’ or at least high performing. Again by virtue of institution many of us work with Musk and other (far more impressive) game changers; the board I refer to in my post at inebriated point also included Stephen Hawking and Martin Reese, so I suppose people are less easily impressed by his wealth and sexy Tesla branding.
My point wasn’t that all ‘nerds’ dislike him – but that he is not universally adored by ‘nerds’. That’s all. I suppose as an academic I count as a nerd, and I frankly don’t have much admiration for him – yes some of his business achievements are impressive, but he seems like a nasty piece of work to me, and that isn’t undone by his business acumen or sweet photos on Instagram.
Also, he is known for being especially unkind and dismissive of female admin staff. That tells me all I need to know about the type of person one is. Shrug.
I lost all respect for him after last Thursday’s earnings conference call. So much for sleeping at the factory.
I read the first part of the quoted story too quickly and read “they met on a golf course” and I didn’t think the story could get weirder than it already did.
Interesting. I will say at least Musk has great taste in videos. She DOES make visually stunning videos. No two videos are the same. Honestly, this relationship feels like performance art. Waiting on the second act.
Her video for Oblivion isn’t really visually stunning but it’s a really cute video IMO. Love the song, too.
Yeah, the vid for Kill + Maim isn’t special in any way, but the track!!!!
Her hair looks so dry!
I guess I’ve reached the age where I look at someone and think, oh dear, she looks like her whole persona would be so tiresome so quickly.
I was thinking this exact same thing.
Barf. Why do women keep dating this asshole?
Seriously?
Look up Justin Musk’s I was a starter wife article. Then look up a video on Elon Musk awkward moment. That might help you understand the lore. This guy may be able to launch a rocket but he is a wreck in the love department.
Justine’s account of their marriage scared me; he is a controller.
I don’t see it lasting honestly, because one quirky passion in common does not a couple make, and their underlying personality types won’t end up meshing I don’t think, but that’s for them to figure out.
They basically have the same personality type. They’re both perfectionist workaholics who are constantly expanding their scope and looking for new challenges and fresh directions. They both underpin everything on engineering. They have all the same interests.
If they clash because of their similarities it’ll be over real fast, but if they build on them, well they might have found their soul mates.
Nor Kim or Shirley would ever date Jobs. Musky and this girl make silly weird couple.
It won’t last because he’s done with a relationship as soon as he realizes that the woman has cavities or a need to poop.
Hahahaha..yeah this. I think they’re just having some fun for now.
She looks like she’s 16 so visually, they make a hella weird couple.
He was with his first wife from college til his mid-thirties, then on and off (mostly on) with his second wife for 8 years. Even he and Amber Heard lasted a year.
If it’s taking him that long to realise these women poop then thats not really a barrier to a long-term relationship 😉
I also doubt he’d be going anywhere near Grimes, who’s known for things like rocking body hair (including moustache and unibrow) and promoting full-spectrum body positivity, if he was scared of a woman who doesn’t hide the fact she’s human.
How long until he requests for her to dye her hair blond?
LOL. With his first two wives he waited until he put a ring on their finger.
LOL, one of my friend’s described this reveal as, “Liberal arts major Grimes realizes her degree won’t pay her bills, so she finds herself a sugar baby.”
That made me sad cos it’s true. So many smart and talented women are eye candy to rich and ugly men. Cos they cannot cash in their knowledge.
Honestly…traditionally, that IS how artists made their work, male or female. Patron of the arts referred to nobility or wealthy who supported an artist through their early periods before they became established. Ballet and theatre rely heavily on donations by wealthy sponsors, as well. The idea was that the wealthy enrich society through contributing financially to the artistic output.
The problem is more that modern wealth has turned its intent inward, so the extremely wealthy focus more on materialistic gain than community contribution. And there’s also been a significant shift to prioritizing STEM over arts, so that’s also pulling the money away. Which is ultimately how some artists wind up in this situation – essentially trading relationship value for financial stability. I don’t know if that’s what is actually going on with Grimes and Musk, but…I can see how it happens.
That’s a rather rude take given Grimes whole ethos. She’s totally focused on being independent and self-sufficient and being recognised for that. From day one she’s been writing, engineering, directing and so on all her own work, to great acclaim.
She’s also describes herself as a communist, so there’s that.
She describes herself as a communist yet dates a man who is infamous for being anti-union, underpaying his staff, and not following proper safety regulations? *insert eyeroll here*
She also grew up upper middle class in Canada, so she’s only “independent and self-sufficient” as far as anybody from that background and its privileges can be. That doesn’t mean her art doesn’t have value, mind you, but it does mean that she had access to education, opportunities, and connections that somebody who had to scrabble up from the bottom didn’t have.
Besides, friend was making more of a pointed jab at the state of modern economics than Grimes herself. The wealth disparity and social devalument of the arts (in comparison to STEM) makes careers in that venue difficult to sustain. What ultimately winds up happening is that many either leave the field, get a “day” job, or, if they’re lucky, wind up married/supported by somebody who can offer financial stability.
That would be hiLAR except Grimes doesn’t need his money. She’s doing jeeeeest fine raking it in as a successful musician (she also comes from a wealthy family). Not billions, of course, but most of us don’t think in that scale anyway.
He seems deeply insecure when it comes to women. Even though he’s rich, intelligent and innovative. He still seems to me that nerdy kid who made billions so he could get the girls he wasn’t able to during highschool / college.
His forays into plastic surgery (jawline and hair transplant) to me suggest a guy who is at least a little driven to succeed in order to impress the ladies who would have otherwise ignored him.
A lot and I mean a lot of tech billionaires and millionaires seem that way. I remember an old episode of Angel where their billionaire character said he would figure out how to speak to girls after he made his first billion but it didn’t happen.
Random. But I like Grimes so eh.
He is dating grimes for a month and both are so urge to make red carpets debuts, really interesting.
Seems too early for red carpet debuts to me but I’m not in their relationship. Still I have my opinion. I mean they are on my feed and this is a gossip site so why not have an opinion.
There is something so cringeworthy about him. He just looks like someone who always says incredibly embarrassing things.
He’s a very shitty employer so I’m not taken with his vast intelligence.
my ex and still one of my best friends works for space-x and has never been treated better in a job so i dunno …
Grimes is one of my favorite musicians and of course, elon musk is elon musk. the world has literally stopped for a moment for me with this weird, awesome, wtf how is this happening coupling. listen to her music it’s fing pop electro animism genius.
Grimes is the best.
I also love Grimes as a musician and hearing her interviews she is also such a funny, sweet and super cool gal. Never would have guessed this partnership!
Grimes has been around for a while. Her album Art Angels is very good – not for everyone, she’s got an electic sound. She’s also featured on Janelle Monae’s new song “Pynk” which I love!! But tbh when I heard about Grimes and Elon Musk my reaction was “huhhh???”
Heavenly bodies: Lucifer was an angel once and Grimes surely plays that well.
Clearly, he does not have a type.
he is such a serial dater that it makes my skin crawl.
i can’t stand guys like this that bounce around from girl to girl and act like each relationship is the ONE. I have dated (and broken up) with a guy like this and I can tell you it feels awful to realize he was just killing time with you and moves on SO quick and you see him pulling the same tricks with the new piece right after you.
i’m projecting probably but ugh he gives me douche bag PTSD
He married his college sweetheart, they broke up in his mid-thirties.
He then met his second wife, they were together 8 years.
He was with Amber Heard for a year and a bit.
He’s 46 years old. This is only his 4th public/serious relationship ever. That’s hardly the tally of a serial dater. Also the only relationship he ended was the first.
he was with talulah for 8 years?
I should have said more like 7 years, because they were constantly on and off, but the off periods never lasted more than a couple of months.
They met in 2008, married in 2010, divorced in 2012, married in 2013 and then divorced again in 2016. So 8 years of being an on and off couple, 7 years actually together.
Yuck this is so depressing! Grimes is so talented. He looks like her dad. I think he’s got to be at least twenty years older. I’m sure she can do much better than this old (for her) dude into young hotties… yah yah he’s so smart though. So what she is crazily talented and unique and smart as well.
Oooo I think this really weirdly makes sense… I mean, I don’t know about longevity, but seeing them together is like… peanut butter and pickles. At first it sounds wrong, then you give it a shot and your mind is blown at how they fit together. Grimes and Elon Musk seem like… two completely weird, out-there souls that CLEARLY would resonate with each other. They are both highly intelligent individuals so I think they would be on each other’s wavelength. And because it seems like their wavelengths are so… different… then it’s gotta be some sort of meeting of the minds. I would think!
Also, I just love Grimes. This shit better not go up in flames.
This is awesome
He is so repugnant with his gross little moustache.. Elon Muskrat is more like it..
I call TOTAL bs. Who researches whether or not someone else has made the same “Rococo Basilisk” pun?? It’s so commonly made that a whole one other person has used it online. And shocker, shocker. She just happens to look like a mix of his 1st and 2nd wife?
IMHO, he was probably shown or found a photo/video of hers. Thought she was cute and did a little social media stalking. We’ve all done it (at least I have). I just don’t think it’s the “meet cute” story his looking for. I am glad they both seem happy together. I’m just not buying it.
Someone on Twitter figured out that he started following her on there after he’d just done a panel on Westworld and AI and was in the midst of tweeting a couple of other punny AI jokes. So the story does line up and it is totally his type of humour.
I can get behind punny humor. Nerdy puns especially. What I don’t buy is taking “Roko’s basilisk” and coming up with the same exact pun of “Rococo Basilisk”. You could go in many different directions with the name Roko. Then he looked it up online first. Why?? It’s just strange to me.
I wanted to take a brush and scrub her down. Him. I just get this skeezy vibe off of him. The two of them together. Next. I know it is a shallow reaction but there it is.
For Goth looks at the Met Ball this year, my favorite one was Lily Collins.
I had to look up a recent interview with Grimes because I remember I thought she was really odd (in a cool way), and I noticed she doesn’t lisp anymore! Wish she had kept the lisping
I was kinda grossed out, then I watched a couple of videos of them together, and realised they are just having fun. Living life. They won’t last obviously, but not all things do.
Run, Grimes, run! I was so happy to see you hit it “US” big with your La Monea collaboration, but you don’t need this particular spotlight. Ew ew ew ew ew run run run.
I could not ageee more. I also thought about Amber. This is the second event within a week or two that they both attended, yet the media speaks nothing of it (and another reason I love your site). I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still seeing Amber and this girl is just a distraction.
Elon and Amber haven’t been seen at the same event since the Oscar parties over 2 months ago.
Multiple outlets reported Elon and Grimes spent the entirety of the MET after-party making out, and he was photographed leaving with her lipstick marks on his face. If she’s meant to be a distraction from a different relationship then they’re really committing to it.
Vampire in the daylight! VAMPIRE IN THE DAYLIGHT!!
Shit, I love Grimes. Dont you hurt her Elon, that woman is a treasure!!