Grace Jones Reminds Miley, Rihanna & Madonna That She Shocked The World First

Grace Jones has a bone to pick with a slew of today’s pop superstars, from zeitgeist-y button-pushers like Miley Cyrus to stalwarts like Madonna. Why? Let’s just say that imitation isn’t always the most sincere form of flattery. The iconic, awesomely eccentric musician, model, and actress is releasing a memoir, titled I’ll Never Write My Memoirs, on September 29, and Time Out London shared a juicy morsel from the book: Jones basically name-checks the biggest contemporary controversy-spurring female pop sensations for trying to be just like her. “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,” Jones writes. Jones specifically calls out the recycled nature of these celebs’ most scintillating getups: “They dress up as though they are challenging the status quo, but by now, wearing those clothes, pulling those faces, revealing those tattoos and breasts, singing to those fractured, spastic, melting beats — that is the status quo.” She also alludes to ageism in the music industry and how it can affect female performers: Only the young, hot talents selling out stadiums these days really get a boost from working with an older industry legend. Jones reveals in the excerpt that a certain star “on the list of those who came after me” tried to strike up a collaboration. Jones opted out because it would benefit only the unnamed younger singer. “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.”