Grimes’ latest artistic experiment has reignited her reputation for controversy. After unveiling the cover art for her upcoming album, Artificial Angels, in a midnight post across her social media accounts, the musician faced swift backlash for including a small image of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk in the collage.
The artwork, a chaotic blend of screenshots, text fragments, and internet ephemera, struck fans as both provocative and confusing, especially given Kirk’s politically charged legacy and Grimes’ long, uneasy relationship with online culture.
The cover displayed an assortment of screenshots and internet imagery compiled to look like a scrapbook. Among them was a small picture of the "Kirk memorial coin," visible in the top right corner. His death had already sparked debate online, especially after cryptocurrency traders reportedly made over $2 million through a meme coin launched in his name.
The album art also included a reference to Iryna Zarutska. She was a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was murdered in North Carolina in August. Grimes also featured several seemingly random text fragments.
These included "thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind." Another read, "Grimes is in her cringe fascist era." These phrases seem to show the musician trying to embrace cancel culture preemptively.
The singer shares three children with contentious billionaire Elon Musk: X Æ A-Xii, Exa, and Techno. The pair dated on and off between 2018 and 2023. She has maintained that her work remains independent of Musk’s influence.
Social media reacts to Grimes' new album
Reactions came swiftly after the post went live. Many social media users accused the artist of being insensitive for referencing Kirk’s death, while others questioned her intentions.
One user wrote, "charlie kirk on grimes cover art …. oh it’s bad." Another commented, "Grimes is so f**king gutter to me now like u rly got charlie kirk in the cover art of your assumably AI mess of a song."
However, some fans defended Grimes, insisting that the imagery was meant as commentary. One person in the release announcement argued, "Imagine being so hysterical the mere sight of someone you disagree with prevents you from being able to see the clear message."
Others speculated that the inclusion was deliberate provocation. One observer suggested, "Gonna be more AI slop or another weird collab with alt right tech bros. @grimes the artist is cooked y'all, breaks my heart to say but its time to move on."
Despite the debate, many critics found the choice distasteful. @spudboy1978 tweeted, "this cover art is tasteless and attention seeking. all yall need to PUT. THE OBLIVION. DOWN."
Grimes has long been known for blending futurism and irony with controversy. Artificial Angels marks her sixth studio album since 2010.
Grimes addresses AI generation in music
In a follow-up tweet, the singer responded to someone who applauded her use of AI in her new song.
She clarified, "The only AI on the song is the voice at the beginning and the end. I am opposed to ai music in some forms. I think it can be useful for some things but the apps mostly took the cool ai artifacts out if it and I'm not super interested in it to just make normal music. It's only useful to me for novel/ experimental sound design were they to allow that aspect back. Or possibly for more efficient advanced things like bg noise removal etc."
She added, "Or for jokes. Otherwise I fear it is a bit slop oriented at the moment which seems like the opposite of innovation to me. It def has the capacity to innovate tho."
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