Tori Amos On Battling Sexism In The Music Industry
Tori Amos has spoken about dealing with criticism in her early career and sexism in the music industry in an interview with The Guardian.
“I really think the piano became my first – no, maybe my Mom was my first friend,” Amos revealed, “but the piano became a true friend that has never let me down. She has never betrayed me. I have betrayed her.”
The singer-songwriter went onto discuss criticism of her first album, recorded when she was in the group Y Kant Tori Read. “That failure took me to a place of such lowness, where I heard laughter in this restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard that I would go to. It was kind of an industry hangout, and I heard laughter as I walked past. Not that anybody knew who I was, but LA at the time could be a very small place. Especially if you’re at the bottom of the food chain, you know?
“So in that moment, with tears rolling into my spaghetti, I just said to myself, ‘Tori, how did you manage to go from prodigy to bimbo?’ Billboard had referred to the music as ‘bimbo’. It was such an awakening.”
Later in the interview, Amos was asked if she still has to battle sexism, “Well, that’s an interesting question. We don’t know what we’re facing, with a president who seems to be fireproof. So, with the population feeling emboldened – some of them – I don’t know what kind of behaviour we’re going to have to deal with. But, in some ways, because of where I am in my life, I’m sure that I have met men who treat me differently.”
Amos recently released announced a new live album, Diving Deep, recorded during her Ocean to Ocean tour, which spanned 93 dates across the globe throughout 2022 and ’23.
Standing as a welcome reminder of Amos’s brilliance as a virtuosic musician and performer, Diving Deep Live features tracks from across her catalogue, including hits such as Cornflake Girl, which is out now, Silent All These Years, which appeared on 1992 debut Little Earthquakes, and God from Amos’ 1994 album Under The Pink.