Penelope Scott is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and producer who has gained popularity on TikTok and Spotify with her songs that explore themes of emotional labor, healthcare, insecurity, and technology. One of her most viral songs is “Rät”, which she describes as “a breakup letter to the tech cult that is Silicon Valley”. The song references Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as a symbol of tech worship and disappointment. But is Penelope Scott related to Elon Musk in any way? Here’s what we know.
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Penelope Scott’s Background and Career
Penelope Scott was born in 2000 and grew up near Silicon Valley, California. She began learning the piano at the age of eight and started writing lyrics and recording songs in middle and high school. She studied music production, philosophy, and computer science in college and released her first compilation album, Junkyard, in February 2020.
She followed it up with another compilation album, The Junkyard 2, in May 2020, which featured the song “Sweet Hibiscus Tea” that went viral on TikTok. She then released her debut album, Public Void, in August 2020, which included the song “Rät”. The song also became a TikTok sensation and peaked at number 29 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs Chart.
Scott has since released another EP, Hazards, in August 2021, and has announced her first tour to support it. She has also collaborated with other artists like Char Chris and covered Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” for an episode of the Recording Academy’s ReImagined.
Penelope Scott’s Song “Rät” and Its References to Elon Musk
“Rät” is a song that expresses Scott’s disillusionment with Silicon Valley and technology billionaires, particularly Elon Musk. She uses him as an example of someone who promises to do something great for humanity but ends up exploiting resources and people for his own benefit. She sings:
> You were beautiful and vulnerable and power and success
> G-d damn, I fell for you, your flamethrowers, your tunnels, and your tech
> I studied code because I wanted to do something great like you
> And the real tragedy is half of it was true
She also criticizes Musk’s ambitions to colonize Mars and questions his motives:
> When I said take me to the moon, I never meant take me alone
> I thought if mankind toured the sky, it meant that all of us could go
> But I don’t want to see the stars if they’re just one more piece of land
> For us to colonize, for us to turn to sand
Scott has explained that she chose Musk as “an arbitrary, easily nameable symbol” for the problems she wanted to address in the song. She said:
> It’s about the larger systems of power that happen in technology and in places that really worship technology and innovation. I just picked [Musk] as an arbitrary, easily nameable symbol for the things I was trying to talk about.
She also said that she has no personal connection or interest in Musk’s life, but he was a good pick for a symbol of tech worship because he has done a lot of work to be personable and to have a Twitter presence. She said:
> I have no idea [about] pretty much anything about his life, but he’s a good pick for a symbol of tech worship, because he’s done a lot of work to be personable, and to have a Twitter presence, and to do things as a meme. And that plays really well in places like where I grew up, near Silicon Valley, which really love technology. And if you’re 14, and this guy tweets, ‘I’m gonna make a tunnel,’ as a joke, you’re like, ‘He’s the coolest guy in the world!’
The title of the song came from a Tumblr post that joked that the name “Elon Musk” is short for “Elongated Muskrat”.
Conclusion: Penelope Scott Is Not Related to Elon Musk
Based on the available information, there is no evidence that Penelope Scott is related to Elon Musk by blood or marriage. She is not his daughter, sister, niece, cousin, or any other kind of relative. She is simply an artist who used him as a metaphor for her critique of tech culture in her song “Rät”. She has also stated that she does not know much about his life or care about him personally.
