Grace Jones slams ‘imitators’ Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Rita Ora
She has strong words for modern day pop stars
Singing legend and James Bond actress, Grace Jones, has launched a stinging tirade on the biggest pop stars on the planet.
Famed for her flamboyant performances, unique musical style and boundary-smashing fashion, 67-year-old Grace believes that the likes of Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Rihanna and Rita Ora are “long- of the stream" and mere pale imitators of herself.
In an excerpt from her upcoming autobiography, obtained by Time Out, Grace was typically unflinching in her verdict on modern day successors saying they will have a limited shelf life.
“Trends come along and people say, ‘Follow that trend’,” writes Grace. “There’s a lot of that around at the moment: ‘Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna.’ I cannot be like them – except to the extent that they are already being like me.
“I have been so copied by those people who have made fortunes that people assume I am that rich. But I did things for the excitement, the dare, the fact that it was new, not for the money, and too many times I was the first, not the beneficiary.
“Rihanna… she does the body-painting thing I did with Keith Haring, but where he painted directly on my body, she wears a painted bodysuit. That’s the difference. Mine is on skin; she puts a barrier between the paint and her skin. I don’t even know if she knows that what she’s doing comes from me, but I bet you the people styling her know. They know the history."
Saying that pop stars have no staying power nowadays, Grace added: “If you haven’t got a long-term plan, then you are merely a passing phase, the latest trend, yesterday’s event.
“They dress up as though they are challenging the status quo, but by now wearing those clothes, pulling those faces, revealing those tattoos and breasts, singing to those fractured, spastic, melting beats – that is the status quo.”
She then singled out Kanye West, Katy Perry and FKA Twigs as being her “pupils” and asked them: “Do you always have to stay in character for people to like you? Do you know that you are in character?”
Grace went on to single out one pop star, who she refers to under the pseudonym of ‘Doris’, that she snubbed a collaboration with.
“('Doris') said she wanted to work with me. Everyone around me is going: ‘You have to do it, it will be so good for you, it will introduce you to a whole new audience, you will make a lot of money’.
"No! It will be good for her; she will draw from everything I have built and add it to her brand, and I will get nothing back except for a little temporary attention. No one could believe that I said no, but I am okay on my own. I am okay not worrying about a new audience. If the fk don’t feel right, don’t fk it.”
Who could Doris be?! Unfortunately it looks like we’ll never find out!