Grimes was spotted on Friday in downtown Los Angeles, apparently casually reading Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto and the internet has gone crazy over the photos.
In her first public appearance since her sort-of split from Elon Musk – who is currently the world’s richest man worth $200 billion – after three years together, the singer appeared engrossed in the book, which calls for the abolition of inherited wealth and ‘bourgeois” property.
True to her eccentric futuristic style, Grimes was sporting a hooded tinged brown and purple outfit that look like she was ready for battle.
The photos quickly sparked a meme frenzy on Twitter, with many quick to point out the irony that Musk is a billionaire and therefore is arguably capitalism’s biggest winner.
There were also those who took the opportunity to troll the singer by editing the photo so that it looks like she was reading a different book.
And, elsewhere, some people noted Grimes wasn’t intently reading the book and guessed the pictures were either staged or that she was just trolling the media with her “fake candids.”
And it appears those people were right.
As the pictures began to quickly circulate, the singer took to Twitter to explain the reason behind the photos.
She tweeted: “paparazzi followed me 2 a shoot so I tried 2 think what I could do that would yield the most onion-ish possible headline and it worked haha,” and posted one of the images herself along with an article by the New York Post, which covered the story.
Grime proceeded to give more details about the situation that led to her being photographed with the famous book.
“I was really stressed when paparazzi wouldn’t stop following me this wk but then I realized it was opportunity to troll .. i swear this headline omg wtf haha im dead.”
She then clarified her political views, writing: “Full disclosure I’m still living with e [Elon Musk] and I am not a communist (although there are some very smart ideas in this book -but personally I’m more interested in a radical decentralized ubi that I think could potentially be achieved thru crypto and gaming but I haven’t ironed that idea out enough yet to explain it.
“Regardless my opinions on politics are difficult to describe because the political systems that inspire me the most have not yet been implemented).”
Given all the attention on her choice of reading, perhaps Grimes might start a book club?