“The first time I heard mariah carey it shattered the fabric of my existence and I started Grimes”
8 Feb 2013
Truth to power: post from Grimes about music, popular music, success, racism, sexism, and people of color and women in the music business. Have to post the whole thing:
“So I made that post about my favourite songs of 2012 (including taylor swift and gangnam style etc.) and people just hated on it.
I just don’t understand.
I mean, I do understand. I have my own issues with ‘the industry,’ I have issues with how it’s hard to compete with a bunch of people with great connections, and that a lot of real artists get lost along the way because they dont have an ‘in.’ and that women feel pressured to act like strippers and its ok to make rape threats but its not ok to say your a feminist. However, I don’t see why we have to hate something just because it’s successful, or assume that because it is successful it has no substance.
Like, how can you hate Beyonce? Shes changing the world. She stands for people of colour and women everywhere succeeding in a stifling patriarchy without compromising her morals. And she makes challenging, interesting art. She’s always positive. She is everything good. And the fact that she is hugely successful is not a shitty thing. It’s an important and amazing thing and she clearly works hard for it.
and I’m sorry, but I think it’s fucking incredible that a korean language song is the most popular thing on the planet. Thats so good for humanity. Psy wrote and produced gangnam style himself and directed the video HIMSELF. No one made psy. psy is a genius and i dont think its so terrible that hes been recognized for this. It also doesn’t make him evil. His art is creating a generation of kids that will grow up seeing asian culture as being as valid as western culture which they currently don’t. I know because I grew up in Vancouver and half my high school was korean or chinese and the kind of shit i heard all the time was horrible. I used to walk around with my chinese boyfriend and people would yell slurs out of cars. Racism isn’t over. Sexism isn’t over. The only way things actually effect social change is by hitting the audience that perpetuates these ideas. therefore, when a deserving artist blows up its good for everybody.
and yet I know very few adult males who consider themselves serious ‘music guys’ who don’t laugh when I say I like Mariah carey.
Why? because shes beautiful and people like her. therefore she must be selling sex, right? so obviously her music is terrible, right? ugh.
The first time I heard mariah carey it shattered the fabric of my existence and I started Grimes.”
In honor of Claire, Mimi, Beyoncé, women, pop music, here’s an amazing lip synch video to Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy (Remix)” (with ODB) (respect).