Grimes tells M.I.A. she wants to do “helpful things” after releasing one more album
Grimes has stressed the fact that at some point in the future, she would like to stop making music and “do things that are more helpful to people.” M.I.A. also reiterated Grimes’ comments in a conversation feature in PAPER involving the two artists.
Much of the conversation between Grimes and M.I.A. concerned the nature and role of religion and economics. M.I.A. had recently converted to Christianity and claimed that the faith “reminds you that it’s okay to let things go, be compassionate, forgive and think about something bigger than what your actual situation is at this moment”.
M.I.A. added, “[There are] the untouchables, which are underprivileged people and outcasts of society. You don’t always have to represent this elite, polished aesthetic to be an entertainer or a musician, which is something that I know I can afford.”
Grimes then followed up by stressing the importance of looking after the world’s most unfortunate. She said, “The problem is everyone’s stuck in fight or flight because we need universal healthcare, and we need housing. There must be a social safety net because you can’t enlighten everybody when people can’t think about anything besides survival.”
When M.I.A. joked that Grimes should get some money from her ex, Elon Musk, to fund some of those political ambitions, Grimes replied, “I’m probably going to put out one more album, and then I’m going to do things that are more helpful to people.”
A large portion of the conversation also concerned how the United States government’s obsession with economic growth was at the cost of doing good in society. Grimes added, “We have the freaking solutions, and we’re not using them. LA is too corrupt to put in a desalination plant because politicians don’t want to spend however many billions of dollars it would take to provide LA with clean water.”
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