Via Instagram (@grimes)MusicNewsGrimes says X AE A-XII refuses to call her ‘mama’‘Maybe he can sense my distaste for the word mother’ShareLink copied ✔️September 17, 2021MusicNewsTextBrit Dawson Baby X AE A-XII isn’t like other children. Not only is he the son of the weirdest celeb couple – Grimes and Elon Musk, in case you didn’t know – but, at the age of one, he’s already making “super fire” music, and now it turns out he’s too cool to refer to his mother as ‘mama’. In an interview with Vogue, filmed as she was getting ready for the Met Gala, Grimes revealed that X – as she calls him – chooses to call her by her first name, Claire. “Being a mother feels weird to say,” she explained, “I don’t identify with that word. Which is also weird because X, he says ‘Claire’ but he doesn’t say ‘mama’.” “Maybe he can sense my distaste for the word mother,” Grimes continued. “I don’t even know why I have a distaste for it. I respect it. I just can’t identify with it.” Grimes and Musk welcomed X AE A-XII into the world in May 2020. He was originally named X Æ A-12, the meaning of which Grimes explained on Twitter: “X, the unknown variable. Æ, my elven spelling of AI (love and/or artificial intelligence). A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favourite aircraft).” Unfortunately, the pair couldn’t legally name their child that, as California law forbids the use of numbers and symbols in names, so instead they settled on X AE A-XII, with Grimes saying: “Roman numerals. Looks better TBH.” In January, Grimes said that becoming a mother has made her feel “less hate, more optimism, more creativity, more desire for life, and more respect for women”. Watch Grimes’ interview with Vogue below, and see her Met Gala look, among the other best 2021 red carpet outfits, here. Expand your creative community and connect with 15,000 creatives from around the world.READ MOREBehind-the-scenes at Oklou and FKA twigs’ new video shootBjörk calls for the release of musician ‘kidnapped’ by Israeli authoritiesZimmermannKindred spirits and psychedelic florals: Zimmermann heads to 70s Sydney ‘Her dumbest album yet’: Are Swifties turning on Taylor Swift?IB Kamara on branching out into musicEnter the K-Bass: How SCR revolutionised Korean club culture‘Comic Con meets underground rap’: Photos from Eastern Margins’ day festWho are H.LLS? Get to know London’s anonymous alt-R&B trioTaylor Swift has lost her grip with The Life of a Showgirl ‘Cold Lewisham nights’: Behind the scenes at Jim Legxacy’s debut UK tour All the pettiest pop beefs of 2025Has the algorithm killed music discovery?