Despite finding out the hard way that even rich dweebos are dickheads (especially so, as a matter of fact), Grimes has proven two things with the video for her latest single, “Player of Games.” 1) If a woman can rely on nothing else from men, it’s disappointment to fuel their art rage and 2) Not all women are turned into “softened” versions of themselves after having a spawn. Then again, X Æ A-Xii may not actually be human, hence Grimes’ lack of overt emotional attachment being conveyed through a song like Halsey’s “Darling” or Madonna’s “Little Star” (both from their “I’m a mother now” albums). No, instead, we’ve been presented with a fantastical narrative that describes the type of aloof person Britney Spears was playing in her Mars-centric video for “Oops!…I Did It Again” (proving that Spears was the original Elon Musk).
Grimes, who attracted Musk in the first place because she herself is a dweebo, spares no aesthetic allusions in the visual accompaniment to her song. From the use of knights in not so shining armor to games of chess to Ladyhawke-style medieval vibes—and, oh, use of light sabers—Grimes is almost goading the nerd who foolishly let someone as hot and geeky get away. In this narrative, which Grimes calls “Book 1, Chapter 1” (though likely just for effect), she battles it out with a character called the Dark King. Was there ever a better alter ego name for Elon Musk? Minus the part where no one should regard him as a king—but such is the way of worship in a capitalist society: those with the most money are deemed “kings.”
Wanting to put this Dark King in his place, Grimes, in her futuristically medieval warrior garb (think: the look she opted for at the 2021 Met Gala after finally shedding the dead weight of Elon when she appeared at the 2018 one), traipses through the forest with her light saber in hand, approaching the Dark King’s castle so that they might not only play a mild-mannered game of chess, but also go mano a mano with their sabers a.k.a. Star Wars swords. Just when she seems to think she might have shaken him, he materializes in the woods, sort of like the Zodiac Killer.
Grimes is surprised and mildly horrified to see him again, with Anton Tammi’s direction often focusing on the symbol of two moons in the sky almost touching but not quite. Perhaps that’s what can be said of the nature of the relationship between Grimes and Musk. Now unarmed, her instinct is to run through the woods as fast as she can away from him. Maybe this is a metaphor for Musk’s initial pursuit of Grimes after they ended up making the same pun: Rococo’s Basilisk (instead of Roko’s Basilisk). Of course, Grimes made it first in her 2015 video for “Flesh Without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream,” during which she adopts a Rococo meets the 1980s-inspired Marie Antoinette persona (in fact, Sofia Coppola probably wished this was the visual direction she had taken with her own Antoinette) amid being attacked by some sort of “Angel” of AI. Indeed, as the video draws to a close, we see the skin peeled back on some “people” to show the machine beneath that layer.
The poetry of Grimes in this video ending up stabbed at the end offers a full-circle moment in “Player of Games,” when she’s pierced by the Dark King. It somehow feels like an unwitting nod to having these bookend stabbings as a way to commemorate the video that ultimately linked her up with Elon and the video that symbolizes the demise of that relationship.
Offering no shortage of cosplay fantasies for dweebos in her various ensemble changes, a crosscut of Grimes running in the forest is paired against a scene of her lying prostrate at the Dark King’s side, almost hypnotized by his spell. Another scene of her running on a playing card with the King’s suit on it pans out to reveal she’s just a Thumbelina-sized woman atop a deck of cards being held in the palm of the Dark King’s hand. After their final combat, with Grimes receiving a sword to the stomach, we segue into an interlude with “Enjoy the Angels on Earth” playing. In this regard as well, “Player of Games” offers the two-in-one quality of “Flesh Without Blood/Life in the Vivid Dream.” It is in the latter song that Grimes asks, “I could tell you that people are good in the end, but why/Why would I?” After all, the person she thought she loved certainly proved to be no exception to the rule.
In “Enjoy the Angels on Earth,” Grimes bemoans, “I fall like Lucifer.” Perhaps likening Elon’s power and wealth to “God,” she adds, “They can’t beat God/And now I’m here on Earth/Because I’m not an angel, baby.” This, too, could be a reference to the tendency Elons of the world have to put Grimes-type waifs on a pedestal, only to relish knocking them down with sadistic cruelty.
The final frames in “Player of Games” feature the Dark King toppling a bloody chess piece as Grimes lies on the floor next to the seat across from him. She concludes, “Somewhere in your eyes/The last angel fell out from the sky.” In short, rich, powerful dweebos can suffocate and snuff a person out with ease, which is probably why this ilk so often suffers from a God complex. But they still can’t fuck you worth a damn.
