Cher Lloyd, a British pop star, has opened up about the sexism she faced when she first started out in music.
The 31-year-old singer discussed everything from her upbringing in the Romany community to her relationship with her husband in a recent episode of the podcast We Need to Talk.
The Want U Back star made it clear that she was under pressure to “show more skin” and use her sexuality to advance her career. She claimed that instead of giving her a promotional budget, record companies suggested that she “hook up” with Justin Bieber to help her album be promoted in the US.
Cher, who finished fourth on the show and made her debut album “Sticks and Stones,” in 2011, released her seventh studio album in 2011. She also appeared on the seventh season of The X Factor alongside One Direction. Cher asked her record company for “some money to try and push” the record when she was promoting her album in the US.
However, they refused, leaving her without a promotional budget despite spending millions on producing the album. Instead, she was instructed to take matters into her own hands: “What I needed to do was hit some of the clubs and find out where Bieber is,” she said, adding that she was specifically told to “go and try to get with him.”
She explained: “Now this is going back years ago. Even though I was a teenager, my husband and I were there at the same time. He even sat in that office as I was informed that the album wouldn’t be funded. that I had to go hook up with a mega-famous person and basically snooze off of someone else’s fame. Was it because you preferred to use me instead of invest in me? They didn’t care”.
According to the Mirror US, the young pop sensation was told to “go hook up with someone mega famous and basically leech off of someone else’s fame.” Cher felt undervalued, as if she wasn’t “good enough to invest in” appalled that her label would rather exploit her than promote her album.
Even more shocking was the suggestion that they made it while Craig Monk, her then-boyfriend and upcoming husband, was present. Additionally, Cher also shared how she was cautioned against getting married to her boyfriend, saying, “Do not let the label know, because they will do anything to stop this marriage.”
The “Swagger Jagger” star defied label executives’ advice to charm Bieber for a sales spike and built a successful career on both sides of the Atlantic. In order to pursue a career, Cher stated, “I had no desire to lean onto male singers.” I’m not interested”.
Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
Source: Mirror
Leave a Reply