Grimes Recalls 'Doing Taylor Swift Cosplay' to Write Her Country-Tinged 2015 Song 'California'
Grimes previously said the 2015 song was written after a tequila-filled evening and sonically inspired by The Chicks
Grimes once was inspired by Taylor Swift for a song.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Grimes sat down with K-pop group Aespa to discuss their shared love of technology, new music and the time she went full Swiftie in the studio.
After Aespa member Giselle told Grimes (born Claire Elise Boucher) her favorite songs from the experimental pop star are "Easily" and "California," both from the 2015 album Art Angels.
Related: Grimes Says She Was Once 'Wrongfully Accused' of Throwing a Snowball at Queen Elizabeth II's Car
Grimes described "Easily" as the song in her catalog "most hated by the fans," before opening up about the inspiration behind "California."
"I think I was just doing Taylor Swift cosplay, but it’s also vaguely about how the media is obsessed with portraying you as this troubled soul or something," she said.
"California" is a country-tinged pop song featuring a rhythmic drum pattern reminiscent of Rihanna's 2005 hit "Pon de Replay." In a 2015 interview, Grimes told Rolling Stone the song was written after a tequila-filled evening and sonically inspired by The Chicks.
Related: Everything to Know About aespa — the K-Pop Girl Group from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Elsewhere in the new Rolling Stone interview with Aespa, Grimes teased her next album, which will follow 2020's Miss Anthropocene and a string of recent singles including "Shinigami Eyes" and "I Wanna Be Software."
"It got held in limbo for a while, and then I started making a new album," she revealed. "My management is killing me because they’re like, 'We have a whole album, why won’t you release it?'"
However, fans won't have to wait too long for new material from Grimes. "I have a bunch of stuff coming up that I’m really, really excited about," she said, before explaining the hold-up.
"I went through this process of labels, and there is always a lot of pressure to make the first single the most commercial thing, all this stuff," said the performer. "I’m trying to focus on the singles and the videos. I have my album and an AI album, and I’m going to make them compete."
While Grimes didn't specify the Swift music that inspired "California," the Art Angels album dropped about a year after the "Karma" artist's 1989 album was released. If listening to the 2014 album spawned "California," Grimes may be in for another spark of creativity, as Swift's releasing 1989 (Taylor's Version) on Friday.
Related: Everything to Know About Taylor Swift's '1989 (Taylor's Version)'
Upon announcing the re-recorded album in August, Swift took to Instagram and teased the project.
"The 1989 album changed my life in countless ways, and it fills me with such excitement to announce that my version of it will be out October 27th," she wrote at the time.
Swift continued, "To be perfectly honest, this is my most FAVORITE re-record I’ve ever done because the 5 From The Vault tracks are so insane. I can’t believe they were ever left behind. But not for long!"
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