Few babies will have had as wild a first year as Grimes and Elon Musk’s son. His name alone launched a thousand Twitter jokes (and a brief legal spat), pronunciation guides, and won him the title of top baby name search of the year. Even for those who still can’t pronounce it, his very existence is currently shorthand for lighthearted punchlines; I can’t count how many times this year I’ve heard people blame X Æ A-Xii for technical difficulties on video calls or reference him when encountering a cryptic meme.
Nicknamed “Little X” by his musician mom and SpaceX founder dad, it’s fair to say that the one-year-old’s family is unlikely to fade from the public eye anytime soon. Here’s how we see 2021 faring for X Æ A-Xii, based on what happened in 2020:
He’ll be a musical muse for Grimes
Grimes’ pregnancy was a major influence on her latest album, even leading the artist to develop an infant persona to serve as a mascot. Her most recent release is an ambient track specifically composed for her little one’s bedtime routine.
Unsatisfied with white noise machines, Grimes created “AI Lullaby” for Little X, with support from Endel, an artificial intelligence company.
“In general, stuff for babies is really just creatively bad,” Grimes told the New York Times, for the track’s launch. “I don’t want your first introduction to the world to just be all this aimless crap.”
If the world of Baby Sharks and Peppa Pig sing-a-longs is too uncouth for Little X, we can expect to hear Grimes make more sonically pleasing projects for her soon-to-be toddler.
Little X will get intergalactic
With a very “Star Wars” birth date, a mom into sci-fi, and a Mars-obsessed father, Little X was long destined to grow up among the stars.
He might have gotten a head-start on his galactic goals: Grimes shared a photo on her Instagram story in early December of her son flipping through a board book on space, with one page showing the Hubble Space Telescope.
His early literacy is promising, as research suggests that babies can learn how to read as young as three months. We’re sure he’ll be going through NASA astronaut manuals in no time.
He’ll know how to use a spoon
Musk befuddled Twitter in July with a photo posing with Little X, strangely captioned in German. The words translate to “The baby cannot yet use a spoon.”
In 2020, months after being born? Maybe so. But as HuffPost Canada reporter Maija Kappler previously noted, babies usually grasp how to use utensils around the eight-month mark. As a two-year-old in 2021, he’ll be a spoon-wielding pro.
He’ll get the artsy photoshoot treatment
So far, we’ve only seen candids of X, with his very first public appearance heavily filtered with cheeky tattoos.
But knowing his artistic lineage, he may be due for a photoshoot. After all, that’s how Grimes introduced him into the world.
Her creative pregnancy announcement was so unusual that it wasn’t clear at first if she was actually expecting or simply making an artistic statement.
More quality time with grandma
Pending the COVID-19 pandemic becomes less restrictive, Little X may be able to bond face-to-face with his grandmother, Canadian-South African model Maye Musk.
She certainly was happy to meet him, as seen by her birth tribute in May.
“You are so adorable,” she told him in a tweet.
His dad will (hopefully) stop being transphobic, respectful with Grimes
Musk has earned him plenty of well-deserved ire for the many tactless, ignorant, sometimes outright illegal tweets he’s made. 2020 saw him make several missteps, include one with the mother of his child about Little X’s initial name.
Musk walked back on talking over Grimes with an emoji apology, but has found other ways to demean his girlfriend’s stances. In December, the Human Rights Campaign and others called on Musk to apologize for his anti-trans tweets that discredited gender pronouns.
These tweets come after Grimes asked Musk to “turn off ur [sic] phone,” asking him to delete another tweet he made criticizing gender pronouns in July.
“I cannot support hate. Please stop this,” she told him in the now-deleted reply. As seen from his December activity, Musk forgot to do so.
Some also noted that Musk’s hurtful jokes could be made at Grimes’ expense, as she has previously noted that she didn’t like being “categorized as female constantly.”
Parents don’t have to see eye-to-eye on all topics, but Musk could take fatherhood as an opportunity to develop better communication skills with the mother of his youngest child, as well as potentially commit to raising Little X in a trans-positive way.
Aside from books about faraway comets and telescopes, it’s important to enrich children with educational material about the many different types of people living on the planet they’re on. Some families have found it helpful to learn together, through playful activities and books that promote diversity. Fingers crossed 2021 bodes well for Little X’s education and Musk’s time offline.
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