Grace Jones Memoir Disses Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, & Other “Middle Of The Road” Artists

Clint Heyer/Stereogum

Grace Jones Memoir Disses Nicki Minaj, Miley Cyrus, & Other “Middle Of The Road” Artists

Clint Heyer/Stereogum

Iconic underground artist and performer Grace Jones is releasing her memoir I’ll Never Write My Memoirs at the end of the month and, in an excerpt published in Time Out, she goes in on several current pop stars by accusing them of ripping off her style:

Trends come along and people say, ‘Follow that trend’. 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.

She goes on to specifically call out Rihanna’s use of body-paint, mimicking what Jones did with Keith Haring in the ’80s. The rest of the piece is addressed to a pseudonymous pop star that she calls Doris, representative of what she calls “middle of the road” artists:

I remember when one of the singers on the list of those who came after me first said that 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 fuck don’t feel right, don’t fuck it.

Jones wraps up the piece by declaring herself a “teacher” and the rest of the world her “pupils”:

Listen to my advice; I have some experience. In a way, it is me being a teacher, which is what I wanted to be. I still feel I could go into teaching. What is teaching but passing on your knowledge to those who are at the beginning? Some people are born with that gift. With me, the teaching side morphed into the performing side. It’s in there. And these are my pupils – Gaga, Madonna, Annie Lennox, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Miley, Kanye West, FKA Twigs and… Doris.

Read the rest of the excerpt here. Jones’ memoir is out 9/24.

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