Ariana Grande might be climbing the pop star ranks, but three-time Grammy winner Bette Midler isn’t impressed with the 21-year-old’s “silly” act, which she thinks relies to heavily on sexualizing herself.
“It’s terrible! It’s always surprising to see someone like Ariana Grande with that silly high voice, a very wholesome voice, slithering around on a couch looking so ridiculous,” Midler told the UK’s Telegraph. “I mean, it’s silly beyond belief and I don’t know who’s telling her to do it. I wish they’d stop.”
“But it’s not my business, I’m not her mother. Or her manager,” Midler added. “Maybe they tell them that’s what you’ve got to do. Sex sells. Sex has always sold.”
Especially now. Both Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Lopez would rather have their fans admire their behinds, than their music, it seems. Rihanna regularly exposes her skin, Miley Cyrus was naked for an entire music video and Lady Gaga stripped down to a thong to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2013.
Midler, the 68-year-old singer-songwriter (and actress and entrepreneur) who has sold over 30 million albums, argues female performers don’t need to flaunt their bodies to sell their music.
“Trust your talent,” Midler advised. “You don’t have to make a whore out of yourself to get ahead. You really don’t.”
Although Midler admits she might be “too old” to understand the trend, she wonders how far their bodies can take them.
“I don’t know what the end game is going to be. I don’t know where you go from all that sex in your 20s. I don’t know how you sustain it.”
