Canadian singer Grimes calls for more leaders like Lee Kuan Yew
Canadian singer and songwriter Grimes, who is also the ex-girlfriend of Elon Musk, whom she had three children with, thinks the world could do with more "Lee Kuan Yew-types".
Grimes, whose real name is Claire Boucher, shared in an interview with TIME magazine published on Feb 24, that she felt Lee Kuan Yew is the kind of political leader that could benefit the US.
"I feel like we have a lot of generals and not a lot of philosopher kings, which would be the ideal situation. Just like Lee Kuan Yew-types."
A few weeks earlier, on Jan 27, she posted a picture of Mr Lee giving a speech during the 1980 General Election on X with the caption, "Please god we need the reincarnation of the avatar".
Mr Lee has been a figure of fascination and admiration for the US for quite some time.
Elon Musk called him "brilliant" in a X post in relation to his immigration policy, with how he was "obsessed" with creating an "onboarding experience so magical they question why they aren't living there".
Blake Masters, an American venture capitalist and former Republican senate candidate, praised Mr Lee in an interview with Stanford Review on how he understood markets and capitalism.
"He created a modern, prosperous country and did it in a way that was more conservative than libertarian. He did something genuinely new in politics."
Mr Lee himself however, shared a love-hate relationship with the US.
In a private memorial service in New York City for Mr Lee in 2015, his son, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong shared that his father was a lifelong admirer of the US, but not an uncritical fan of the superpower.
"Even when America experienced crises and downturns, Mr Lee never wavered in his confidence that American creativity and resilience, its ability to constantly reinvent itself, would enable the US to overcome any challenge and retain its leadership role in the world."
However, he differed from conventional American wisdom, especially on the role of the media as a fourth estate, and the relevance of Western liberal democracy in Asia.
He famously openly sparred with American journalists and personalities, which although not everyone would concede the argument, he persuaded many that he applied from experience and conviction, and that he had a point.
Mr Lee also shared many friends among the Americans, who he counted as those who meant the most to him.