Grimes claims Azealia Banks tried to ‘destroy her life’ amid Elon Musk feud

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music

Get our Now Hear This email for free

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Grimes has claimed that Azealia Banks tried to “destroy her life” amid a high-profile feud involving Elon Musk.

In 2018, Banks wrote in a series of tweets that she had been trapped in a “real-life episode” of the Jordan Peele film Get Out, after being left alone for days in Musk’s Los Angeles mansion. Banks had been invited to the mansion by Grimes, Musk’s girlfriend, to record a song. Banks also claimed that an infamous Musk tweet, in which he teased taking his company Tesla private at $420 a share, was written while Musk was “on acid”.

Musk was subsequently sued by a number of Tesla investors over claims of market manipulation, in a lawsuit that was settled soon after. Banks later apologised to the couple, while Grimes dubbed the incident “a sad, dark thing”.

Despite the feud appearing to be put to bed, Grimes revealed during a Discord chat on Sunday (25 July) that one of her new songs, “100% Tragedy” was inspired by “having to defeat Azealia Banks when she tried to destroy my life”.

Responding to the statement in since-deleted posts to her Instagram Story, Banks claimed that Grimes has a “psychosexual obsession” with her.

“Grimes def has some psychosexual obsession with me,” Banks wrote. “I think it’s bitterness cuz she doesn’t have the musical capacity I have. Everything she does is out of pretentiousness and it comes out like that... while everything I do is out of natural swag & geniusness lmaoo.”

Banks also added that she “really thought I did you a favour by not responding to that subpoena,” referencing Tesla investors who attempted to subpoena Banks in 2018 over Musk’s tweet.

Grimes, who had a baby with Musk in 2020 named X Æ A-12, recently teased her forthcoming album, which she has described as a “space opera” about a lesbian AI.

Banks, meanwhile, is in the process of releasing her much-delayed second album, most recently debuting the single “F*** Him All Night”.