Grimes, the Canadian singer who has a son with tech billionaire Elon Musk, doesn't mind if her 16-month-old boy calls her by her first name instead of mama.
In an interview with Vogue, Grimes, whose real name is Claire Elise Boucher, said that her son, X Æ A-Xii, may have sensed her dislike for the word "mother," so he calls her Claire instead of mom.
The singer also said that she doesn't identify with the word and felt "mother" is a weird thing to say. She implied that no one had taught their son to call her by her first name, but that's how X Æ A-Xii refers to her.
Who is Grimes?
Grimes, 33, is famous for her unique type of music, blending pop, synth-pop, electronic pop, hip hop, and R&B. She was mostly a self-taught musician who started writing her music in 2007.
Born in Vancouver, the singer has French Canadian, Italian and Ukrainian roots though she was raised in a Roman Catholic family. Her parents worked as a prosecutor and banker.
She debuted her first album, "Geidi Primes," in 2009, which was inspired by the TV series "Dune." By 2011, Grimes released more songs and signed up with a record label in the next year. By 2014, she had made three albums and slowly climbed the ladder of music success. While some saw Grimes artistry and music as anti-male, she resented the label of sexism and said she just wanted to be known as someone who has built her brand and identity because she worked hard for it.
In 2018, Grimes started dating Musk, the founder of Tesla and SpaceX, after discovering each other on Twitter. According to reports, the pair bonded over a nerdy joke about artificial intelligence. A friend said that Musk reached out to Grimes.
Their romance was quiet until the pair showed up together at the 2018 Met Gala. Since then, Grimes has been attending her boyfriend's business events, such as the Space X Hyperloop Pod Competition. In 2019, the singer said she was not prepared for public scrutiny on her relationship.
In January 2020, Grimes revealed that she is pregnant with her first child with Musk, whom they decided to name X Æ A-12. The couple welcomed their son in the spring.
Why did Elon Musk name his son X Æ A-12?
According to his dad, X Æ A-12, or Ash for short, was named after the "coolest plane ever," the A-12 battle plane. Grimes, on the other hand, said that Æ means "love" in artificial intelligence language. The couple decided to combine the two names.
But California laws, where the family resides, don't allow for such a unique name with symbols and numeric, so the couple changed this to X AE A-XII on his birth certificate.
Musk has seven other kids from his previous relationships -- Xavier, Nevada, Griffin, Damian, Kai, and Saxon. Before the new baby was born, his youngest kids were 15 years old as Kai, Saxon, and Damian are triplets.
The father said that all of his non-working hours are spent with his boys, who remain to have very private lives despite their father's wealth and influence in the world.
