Singer Juliette Lewis has lashed out at the music industry for forcing young artists into the same old boring mold.
The 42-year-old star plays with her band Juliette and the Licks and is also an Oscar-nominated actress, so she understands what life in the spotlight is like. She's also seen it change a great deal over the years, and not in any way for the better.
"They build these superstars out of young things with talent by fitting them into a mold, and [the artists] start losing their individuality," she fumed to Britain's Elle magazine. "Today's pop stars are corporate-made entities with nice voices."
One of the things which really angers Juliette is the way women in the music industry can be made to use their bodies to sell records. She's been asked to strip off in the past and hates seeing young stars parading in skimpy outfits, but she fears that will never change.
"Gratuitous sexualization is still insane," she said. "Patti Smith, Blondie, Chrissie Hynde, Tina Turner... All those women were complex individuals whose sexuality was incarnate, not this manufactured pornography. I got offered magazine covers years ago - they wanted me to be half naked. I said no."
This is a subject the star has touched upon in the past, and not just in terms of Hollywood or the music business. She fears women all over the world are allowing themselves to be judged on their appearance rather than their talent, something which makes her furious.
"I want girls to start thinking about what they have to say, what do they have to contribute to their families, to other people, to society?" she previously told Britain's The Guardian newspaper. "It's fine if you want to be desirable to your man, that's sweet. But when people are carving their skin and putting plastic, or whatever, synthetic balls in their chest, to be more desirable, against this f**king facade of, 'Oh no, it's for me. It makes me feel good.' Well, really?"
