Grimes Is Dating Someone and It Isn’t Me

Early 2012 internet had a particular texture to it—link lists, reaction GIFs, things you were supposed to not laugh at on pain of damnation, memes about the correct order of milk and cereal that somehow felt philosophically urgent if you were tired enough. The blogs were still doing those Friday afternoon roundups: ten things, a small provocation, something to carry into the weekend. Most of it evaporated before Monday.

The thing I actually remember from that particular cycle was Grimes. Visions had landed in January and she was everywhere suddenly—every music blog, every breathless piece about what bedroom production and lo-fi pop and the internet were doing to each other. And then photos surfaced of her with some guy from Pictureplane, making out at a show or a party or somewhere with appropriately bad lighting, and that specific cocktail of feelings arrived right on schedule: genuine admiration curdling into something smaller and pettier, the jealousy of a person with strong opinions about music and no useful place to direct them. Not heartbreak. More like losing an argument you were never invited to join.

The rest of that list is gone now—dead links, dead platforms, a GIF that allegedly sent you straight to hell if you laughed. I’m still thinking about that last one.