first time i encounted her it was that video with Brooke Candy in it (my how i hate Brook Candy), and I just wasn't feeling it.

But then i encountered that Vanessa video and it just clicked for me. Ever since i've really like Grimes, even that "Go" hip hop track she did with Blood Orange.

I got the chance to see her open up for Lana Del Rey this year which was cool..

I guess my problem with Grimes - while she seems like a cool as fuck person, is that she utilizes (with some justice) proclamations of sexism against women in electronic music or when it comes to sound engineering. There was a great write up a while back about how people like MIA, Bjork and Grimes often don't get the credit due to them if a man's name shows up anywhere near theirs in liner notes. The dude gets the credit. And i get it. I do.

But when it comes to Grimes specifically - she's always name dropping people like Bjork or Trent Reznor - and then turning around and making electronic music that for all intents and purposes is more influenced by generic, 2000s era pop music. Will Butler, (Arcade Fire) recently reviewed her last album and honestly he's pretty spot on.

I think she's an artistic gal. She makes great music vids and has talents outside of music - but i think she fancies herself something far more complex and unique than she actually is and on some level i feel like she's demanding praise, she doesn't deserve.

She's not Trent Reznor, she's not Bjork, she's not Beck, or Steven Wilson, or Brian Wilson. She's no where near on that fucking level. She makes fun, pop oriented electronic songs that have a tiny tiny edge of that hipster quirkiness that seems to work itself into all synth pop nowadays. And i have no doubt people have been sexist to her, but it seems when she takes the reigns completely on her own, she doesn't have the chops.

She name drops a lot of cool influences. I'm sure her music collection and mine have some seriously huge overlaps, but i dunno. I just can't take her serious as an artist. More than anything she feels like another step forward in a music world increasingly obsessed with poptimism (link 2, Link 3) than anything else.

If she wants the credibility and longevity of all the people she name drops, she's going to have to do a lot better.

And as far as a live show goes... it's very meh. She pushes a button, bounces up and down a bit, sings a little depending the song, pushes another button like she's about to drop the bass, jumps around some more. Rinse, repeat.

For someone with such creative music vids, with a focus on dance - i was expecting more.