The musician Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, is responsible for one of last year's most acclaimed indie albums, Visions. This morning, she posted an essay on her Tumblr regarding her pop-filled best-of 2012 music list. In it, she praised Beyoncé ("She is everything good"), "Gangam Style" mastermind Psy ("Psy is a genius and I don't think it's so terrible that he's been recognized for this") and Mariah Carey ("The first time I heard Mariah Carey it shattered the fabric of my existence and I started Grimes").
Pitchfork wrote about Grimes' writing, excerpting large chunks. Grimes responded in another Tumblr post:
my tumblr is not a news source im debating whether or not i should delete this shit i will decide in the next 5 minutes
my specific problem is that i dont like it when what i say on here is taken out of context and posted elsewhere. its not a story and its not an official statement.
Then she deleted all of the posts that preceded that one. Then she posted this:
im out because i need some semblance of a normal life in order to be happy.
bye internet <3
Then she deleted the "my tumblr is not a news source" source post. Then she reblogged someone's screenshot of Pitchfork's update to its story ("Grimes has deleted her entire Tumblr") alongside an anime gif, adding:
haha im still on the internet
Clearly, and every post is more excerptable than the last. An active Tumblr user responsible for a viral video whose music has been mostly discussed and distributed online, you'd think that Grimes would understand how the Internet works. In fact there's a chance she understands it so well that this little slice of Tumblr Theater has been for our amusement.
But if this is genuine frustration over what is essentially reblogging from someone who clearly knows how to reblog, it's bizarre. It's bizarre that Grimes isn't used to being excerpted by now, it's bizarre that she doesn't realize that the Internet runs on decontextualization. We know that she's not a news source but a provocative thinker whose affinity for pop is fascinating given the melodic, but noncommercial nature of her music.
In sum, if you don't want attention for what you do on your Tumblr, don't post on your Tumblr and certainly don't start deleting shit from your Tumblr. Leaving the Internet for the sake of normalcy and happiness, though, isn't the worst idea. I'll give her that.
[Image via Getty]