Althouse: "When I was 19 or 20 I found myself in this position, being pressurised into wearing more and more revealing outfits."

October 15, 2013

"When I was 19 or 20 I found myself in this position, being pressurised into wearing more and more revealing outfits."

"The lines that I had spun at me again and again - generally by middle-aged men - were: 'You look great, you've got a great body, why not show it off?' Or: 'Don't worry, it will look classy, it will look artistic.' I felt deeply uncomfortable about the whole thing, but I was often reminded by record label executives just whose money was being spent."

Said Charlotte Church.

33 comments:

Sigivald said...: "Pressurized"?; 10/15/13, 11:27 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Pressurized like an airplane cabin with the wings beneath my wings.

Bette Midler seemed to have survived it.; 10/15/13, 11:32 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Maybe that the key... sing some gospel tunes of redemption.; 10/15/13, 11:33 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: lol.. I had no idea who she was.

I remember her from this time.

Obviously, she tried pop, failed, and now claims it was the pressure to be something she wasn't?

She should have stuck to she was moderately good at. or maybe that's it, she needed to be really good to be an opera singer.; 10/15/13, 11:45 AM
Henry said...: Hard to argue with her. I hope she's moving forward okay. Child stardom is a pretty harsh way to grow up.; 10/15/13, 11:53 AM
n.n said...: Ah, the reduction of the human female to the sum of her parts.

Feminism has served to stimulate the appetites of middle-aged men and politicians. Women should ensure they remain available for sex and taxation. To that end they are encouraged to... Well, the association should be obvious by now.; 10/15/13, 11:55 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You don't need to be a good singer to be a pop singer.

People don't go to pop concerts for the singing?

Stop the presses.; 10/15/13, 11:56 AM
jr565 said...: You can tell she'd be puritanical because of her last name alone. But really, doesn't she have a point?
Why are most women required to dress and act like sluts to make it in the music business?
Just look to Miley. She's doing it to herself because she thinks it gives her some kind of cred. But it only makes her look like she's working the stripper pole.; 10/15/13, 11:58 AM
chickelit said...: Sigivald said...
"Pressurized"?

It's the "latinizing" disease of modern English of which Orwell spoke.

I think Althouse wishes us to imagine she meant "pressured" and to go from there.; 10/15/13, 12:01 PM
MadisonMan said...: Thank goodness such things NEVER happen to MEN in the music industry.; 10/15/13, 12:04 PM
Douglas2 said...: The excellent "English as it is Broken" says the following about "pressurized":
The use of “pressure” as a verb occurs mainly in American English. British English uses “ pressurise” as in to “exert pressure on”; 10/15/13, 12:06 PM
chickelit said...: MadisonMan said...
Thank goodness such things NEVER happen to MEN in the music industry.

Which is why Elvis' belt buckles kept getting bigger and bigger.; 10/15/13, 12:07 PM
readering said...: Church was about the biggest thing in British pop when she came of age and went from "voice of an angel" to the latest teen pop idol. Which is an even bigger thing in Britain than here, so I suspect she was more pressurised than US near contemporaries like Britney.; 10/15/13, 12:09 PM
Peter said...: She should blame the customers. The labels are reacting to market demand. And it's not just pop.

I can't imagine buying a CD because the cover photo of the performer was hot. But I don't doubt that many (those who still buy CDs, anyway) do.

It is still called "show" business; appearance matters.; 10/15/13, 12:24 PM
Larry J said...: "Or: 'Don't worry, it will look classy, it will look artistic.' I felt deeply uncomfortable about the whole thing, but I was often reminded by record label executives just whose money was being spent."

Funny thing, it was ultimately her money that was being spent. A record artist may get a contract and paid a fee in advance but from what I've read, the record companies charge all sorts of things (legitimate and otherwise) as recording, production and promoting expenses to the artist before final payout. So, if the artist is paid say $50K up front and the recording goes on to sell a million copies, before the artist received the big payday, every imaginable and unimagineable expense will be charged so the artist only receives a small fraction of the gross. The movie industry works the same way. That's how you can have a blockbuster movie that grosses several hundred million dollars and those poor saps who bought in for a piece of the net proft never receive a dime. The movie never made a profit because the money was sucked away by those who not only get their money up front, they get a piece of the gross receipts.; 10/15/13, 12:28 PM
Anonymous said...: The use of “pressure” as a verb occurs mainly in American English. British English uses “ pressurise” as in to “exert pressure on”

That's been my impression as well. Mind you, these are the same people who heap scorn on us for saying "burglarize" in place of "burgle".; 10/15/13, 12:54 PM
Tank said...: Here's what they pushed the Allman Brothers to look like, before they were the Allman Brothers.; 10/15/13, 12:59 PM
Jupiter said...: I just looked up the video of "Call My Name". She certainly does look like a slut in that video. She doesn't look uncomfortable. Maybe it makes her uncomfortable now, to see what she did to make money? I would guess it is a rare person who doesn't cringe when they think about something they did, or put up with, for money.; 10/15/13, 1:04 PM
chickelit said...: That's been my impression as well. Mind you, these are the same people who heap scorn on us for saying "burglarize" in place of "burgle".

Both American and British English speakers are equal opportunity offenders.; 10/15/13, 1:04 PM
Robert Cook said...: "...these are the same people who heap scorn on us for saying "burglarize" in place of 'burgle.'"

You have to admit, "burgle" is more elegant than "burglarize."; 10/15/13, 1:52 PM
David said...: Doris Day.

Taylor Swift.

Patti Page.

Ella Fitzgerald.

The slut image does not seem crucial to success.; 10/15/13, 2:20 PM
William said...: This points to a larger social issue. Teen age girls are under considerable peer pressure to dress modestly. Most girls of that age would like nothing better than to be allowed to wear muumuus to school and many have expressed interest in wearing burquas. Sadly, the prurient interest of middle aged men and incessant nagging from their parents prevents them from wearing the chaste, modest clothing they so desire to wear.; 10/15/13, 2:32 PM
Clayton Hennesey said...: No, I clicked through to the article, and the photo clearly shows she's still pressurised.; 10/15/13, 2:34 PM
damikesc said...: I'm glad she had the common sense to say no.

Once a young artist sluts it up, she loses a lot of credibility.

Miley will end up as a punchline, much like Lohan did. And it's a bit sad.; 10/15/13, 3:09 PM
MrCharlie2 said...: "Pressurised" is common usage in England. Their underwear is "elacticated".

I think it originates with opting for extra syllables to appear more sophisticated, but then it sticks. Sounds stuffy to the American ear, but after you hear it in context for a while you realize that it's corny (as in Jethro).

I agree with main point.; 10/15/13, 3:10 PM
Oso Negro said...: It appears she has packed on a few lbs and can't do the pop tart thing credibly anymore. A quick google reveals acres of open boob in earlier photos.; 10/15/13, 3:24 PM
SGT Ted said...: The entertainment culture is overwhelmingly progressive in its politics and vote Democrat.

You hear all the time how Hollywood exploits women and craps on gays. It's OK tho they are Democrats.; 10/15/13, 3:32 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/15/13, 4:27 PM
Rosalyn C. said...: Streisand Let the Memory Live Again

Music is primarily an auditory medium. No public masturbation required, just singing. If you have to take your clothes off to be heard that just means your voice isn't that hot. That has to make a singer feel badly about performing.; 10/15/13, 4:31 PM
Dr Hubert Jackson said...: Sex sells. Would she have preferred bad advice?

This is the first I've heard of her...

I don't like this new trend that it's men's fault when women feel like they have to dress sexy. I'm allowed to have a preference (and it's not slutty clothing) and women are allowed to dress how they want.

If I wear sweat pants and 10 year old Packers t-shirts I'm free to do so, it's not the fault of faulty preferences of womankind if I look like a slob while being extremely comfortable.; 10/15/13, 5:42 PM
campy said...: I don't like this new trend that it's men's fault when women feel like they have to dress sexy.

You just wake up, Rip?; 10/15/13, 6:15 PM
chickelit said...: Oso Negro likened...
A quick google reveals acres of open boob in earlier photos.

Acreage of boobage to plow!; 10/15/13, 6:42 PM
Carl Pham said...: So...she got fat and can't compete any more, and has decided to criticize the rules instead?

A reasonable strategy. If it doesn't work, she can always come out as gay and condemn the heteronormative culture that enchained her before. Or if she gets really fat she can kvetch about the unhealthy female body ideal in "the media" promoted by shadowy authority figures that probably look a lot like the average white male cartoon sketched by Pittsburgh-based artists, except with half a boner and a predatory gleam in his eye. Maybe she can talk about how her parents' cheating savaged her self-confidence.

Anyway, thanks to modern progressive cultural values, she's got any number of ways to keep the attention on herself for much longer than musical talent would do.; 10/15/13, 7:49 PM