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XL boss says he hopes Adele success will change pop industry’s attitude to female talent
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 31 May 2011
Talking of the boss of XL Recordings, Richard Russell has said that the music industry is guilty of “over-sexualising” female artists, often putting sexual imagery before the songwriting, and resulting in “boring, crass and unoriginal” music. But in an interview with The Guardian he said he hopes the phenomenal success of Adele might persuade labels to put their money into female artists where it’s the music wot sells it.
Russell: “The whole message with [Adele] is that it’s just music, it’s just really good music. There is nothing else. There are no gimmicks, no selling of sexuality. I think in the American market, particularly, they have come to the conclusion that is what you have to do”.
Saying that some of the ‘faux-porn” pop promos for artists like Rihanna made him queasy, he added: “But now you see that Adele is No 1. What a great thing, how amazing. Not only are young girls going to see that, but [also] the business people who are behind all those videos. It’s going to make them rethink what they should be doing”.
