Claire Elise Boucher (buːˈʃeɪ ; born March 17, 1988), known professionally as Grimes, is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Her early work has been described as extending from "lo-fi R&B" to futuristic dance-pop, and has incorporated influences from electronic music, hip hop, and rock. Her lyrics often touch on science fiction and feminist themes. She has released five studio albums.
Born and raised in Vancouver, Grimes began releasing music independently after moving to Montreal in 2006. She then released two albums, Geidi Primes and Halfaxa, in 2010 on Arbutus Records and subsequently signed with 4AD and rose to prominence with the release of her 2012 studio album, Visions. Visions includes the singles "Genesis" and "Oblivion" and received the Canadian music industry Juno Award for Electronic Album of the Year. Following this, her fourth studio album, Art Angels, was released in 2015 and received critical praise as several publications named it the best album of the year. Her fifth studio album, Miss Anthropocene, was released in 2020.
Outside of music, Grimes had a voice role in the 2020 action role-playing video game Cyberpunk 2077 and is a judge on the music competition game show Alter Ego.
Grimes was born Claire Elise Boucher and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, on March 17, 1988. She is of French Canadian (including Québécois), Italian, and German-Ukrainian descent. She was raised Catholic, and attended Catholic school. Her mother, Sandy Garossino, is a former Crown prosecutor and arts advocate; her father, Maurice Boucher, a former banker, works "in the business side of biotech". In 2006, Grimes graduated from Lord Byng Secondary School and relocated from Vancouver to Montreal to attend McGill University's joint Bachelor of Arts and Science program, but left the university in early 2011 before finishing her degree. During this time she studied electroacoustics.
Geidi Primes and Halfaxa
According to the timestamps on her original Myspace page, she began writing music under the name Grimes in 2007.