Singer Ellie Goulding admitted during a recent interview that she faced uncomfortable encounters with men during her early days as an artist and described the interactions as part of an industry-wide issue..
The singing sensation said the #MeToo movement transformed the landscape of the music industry and helped to improve the “norm” that existed for women like her. Goulding opened up about her experiences to BBC’s Radio 4, telling the outlet that “I had experiences which, in my head, I sort of normalized and thought, ‘Oh, maybe this is just a thing.'”
View this post on Instagram
The singer admitted to being in situations that caused her “discomfort” when she catapulted to fame in 2010.
“You know, when you go into a studio and afterwards the producer asks if you want to go for a drink,” she said, as an example. “And I’m quite a polite person, I don’t like letting people down. I don’t like disappointing people.”
Goulding recalled how such situations would usually unfold.
“So I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, absolutely, go for a drink.’ And then it sort of somehow becomes like a romantic thing when it shouldn’t,” she said. “You don’t want it to be a romantic thing, but it’s like there was always a slight feeling of discomfort when you walked into a studio and it was just one or two men writing or producing.”
View this post on Instagram
The famous singer admitted the situation was confusing and challenging to navigate.
“And I had to try and figure out whether it was just me, something going on in my own head. But then hearing so many other stories, similar stories from other female musicians and singers, I realized that I wasn’t alone in it at all. It wasn’t just me, being particularly friendly,” Goulding told the outlet.
The famous artist explained the pressure she faced, noting that the kinds of interactions she described became “a kind of currency” for female artists.
View this post on Instagram
“It’s a vulnerable place when you’re in a studio writing music,” she added. “It was like a sort of unspoken thing where if you’re working with male producers, that was almost like an expectation, which sounds mad for me to say out loud, and it definitely wouldn’t happen now.”(RELATED: Diddy Accused Of Gang Raping Underage Girl. He Issues Furious Denial: ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’)
Goulding noted that many artists are now chaperoned during their studio time, a change she attributed directly to the #MeToo movement.