People went nuts streaming Grimes after she started dating Elon Musk
Tesla owners must be blasting Visions through the streets of Palo Alto because Grimes streams are up ... way up.
Spotify told Mashable that streams of Grimes songs increased 124 percent on May 8 compared to the same time the previous week.
What happened? On May 7, the world found out that Grimes -- whose real name is now, um, c -- is dating Tesla CEO and flamethrower salesman Elon Musk.
Grimes had a ton of fans before, of course. Her 2012 indie pop album Visions was a critical success and she turned a song originally meant for Rihanna, "Go," into a hit in 2014.
Recently, Elon has been digging tunnels under LA, sending rockets into space, and sweating over the Tesla Model 3. Grimes recently defended Musk after Tesla was accused of firing workers who tried to start a union.
It's not clear who is responsible for the uptick in streams. Maybe it's old fans rediscovering their favorite tunes or new fans just discovering the artist.
But one thing is for sure: Attending the Met Gala with a billionaire who wants to live on Mars is great for publicity.
Keith Wagstaff is an assistant editor at Mashable and a terrible Settlers of Catan player. He has written for TIME, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, NBC News, The Village Voice, VICE, GQ and New York Magazine, among many other reputable and not-so-reputable publications. After nearly a decade in New York City, he now lives in his native Los Angeles.
