ICYMI, Grimes and Elon Musk confirmed that they are “semi-separated” after three years of dating. Now, following her split from the billionaire, the musician was photographed walking around Los Angeles while perusing none other than Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto. 

As the photo circulated online, social media users were quick to point out the irony of Grimes reading the anti-capitalist work just weeks after breaking up with her billionaire boyfriend. However, taking to Twitter, Grimes has confirmed that she staged the images to “troll” paparazzi.

“Paparazzi followed me to a shoot so I tried to think what I could do that would yield the most onion-ish possible headline and it worked haha,” she wrote – squashing rumours that the photos were a performative attempt at an anti-capitalist statement.

“This whole thing is so funny I think my publicist is stressed, I should probably stop impulsively doing controversial things,” she continued. “My friend just had the book and the (photographers) were outside. I’ll (probably) regret this later.”

Besides confirming that her and Musk are still living together – Grimes provided some thoughts on the manifesto in a post on Instagram. “Full disclosure… I am not a communist,” she stated. “Although there are some very smart ideas in this book.” 

The experimental musician added that she’s most interested in a “radical decentralised” form of universal basic income funded through cryptocurrency and gaming. “My opinions on politics are difficult to describe because the political systems that inspire me the most have not yet been implemented,” she noted, adding that she’s taking suggestions on more ways to meme the paparazzi if they keep following her. 

Grimes also released a snippet of her new track “Love” on Instagram this week, as a reaction to the attention she has been receiving after her split from Musk. “I wrote and produced this song this week in response to all the privacy invasion, bad press, online hate and harassment by paparazzis I’ve experienced this week,” she wrote in the caption.

As for post-breakup plans, Grimes announced in an interview with Page Six that she is planning to colonise Jupiter’s moon Europa to create a lesbian space commune. Fittingly, her upcoming space opera concept album will revolve around a lesbian AI romance. TBH, we’re here for it.

Check out Grimes’ full Instagram statement below.