Lee Aaron states she went through a period of terrible marketing that was distasteful

Lee Aaron states she went through a period of terrible marketing that was distasteful

Canadian rocker Lee Aaron was recently interviewed by Jim Barber of Music Life Magazine in support of her new studio album Diamond Baby Blues.

Lee Aaron spoke about the period of time early in her music career when she was marketed as a sex symbol. She stated: “From a very young age, it was always distasteful to me the way that women were portrayed in the media, and I can say that with confidence because I was one of those women. That was when I went through a period of terrible marketing and I think my bio even says that. I was always fighting against the powers that be saying things like, ‘I don’t really want to wear those red spandex shorts.’ My husband often says to me, ‘well why didn’t you just say no?’ And my only real response was that I was this kid from the suburbs and I was young and naïve and had no experience in that world. I just thought, ‘well I guess they know better than I do. This must be what I am supposed to do.’ But I figured out pretty early on that it wasn’t working for me, nor did I feel it was working for other women…”

“I have always been about women’s equality and being able to hold your ground, especially in the rock music industry. Because for many years it was very, very dominated by men, not only on the musicianship side of things, but also within the record industry. It’s not so much like that now. I think I just naturally gravitate towards material that just expresses that.”

“Did I battle against the misogyny and the sexism of the 1980s and that culture? Absolutely. It’s funny, a couple of European magazines have wanted me to tell them my #metoo moment. Did I have some? Absolutely I did, but I feel that my way of always speaking back against that was through music. And after having a few weird experiences I also realized it was important to understand that you can set boundaries with people – and you need to. Listen, it’s still out bad out there too. When I was making my new record last year, the number one question a lot of people asked my management consultant was ‘what does she look like now?’ That’s sad, because they wouldn’t ask that of a male musician.”

You can read the rest of the article / interview with Lee Aaron at Music Life Magazine.