Paloma Faith has admitted the music industry "isn't friendly" to women with babies.
Paloma Faith
The 'Stone Cold Sober' hitmaker - who has two daughters, aged four and three weeks, with partner Leyman Lahcine - insisted there are lots of executives who want to "do the right thing" but it's difficult to stay on top of the unrelenting cycle of recording, touring, and promotion when also having children to care for.
She told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "The industry is full of people who really want to do the right thing.
"But there’s this big pull between it being a business and people wanting to do the right thing. And they’re not the same. They’re opposing pulls. I wouldn’t say it’s 1951 and people are saying, ‘Well, she’s a write-off because she has a kid.’ I think it’s a lot more subtle than that...
“It isn’t friendly to women with babies, because they want you to constantly go on this treadmill of putting out work. And basically, when women have babies, it puts a big block on that for a while."
ore benign and supportive. But the singer says the music business has a long way to go before it can be considered family-friendly.
The 39-year-old star claimed women are always asked "when can you come back?" as soon as they announce their pregnancy, and are then unfairly diminished when they do return to their careers.
She said: "The reality is that you become more efficient, you become more determined, and you become an octopus of emotions."
With Paloma set to turn 40 later this year, she's also aware that industry perception will change again.
She added: “But it’s another one of those things where no one wants to admit it. And people go, ‘Well, Sia did it.' “And I’m like, ‘She was wearing a bag on her head.’”
The 'Upside Down' singer thinks she needs to reinvent herself, but wants to do so on her own terms.
She said: “I probably do need to restructure and reshape, but I don’t want to do it because of social pressure, because I’m old and because I’m a mum.
“I admire Annie Lennox. And I think she’s a great mother.”
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