Celeste says her label have shown “very little support” to new album, ‘Woman of Faces’
Brit Award-winning singer Celeste has claimed her label has shown “very little support” to her new album and also criticised the treatment of women in the music industry.
Celeste topped the charts in 2021 with her debut album, Not Your Muse, which she is set to follow up on November 14th with her long-awaited second LP, Women of Faces, on Polydor.
Taking to Instagram Stories on October 23rd, Celeste began by sharing that she has been encouraged to be more active on social media, writing, “Hello! I have to be honest right now and say there’s some really f’d stuff happening behind the scenes, but I keep it moving regardless but I’m also told that essentially if I don’t post don’t keep making content that I won’t get support from my label.”
She then said the label “currently have shown very little support towards the album that I have made,” before adding, “I get a lot of pressure to post which I understand but it doesn’t always feel right to post and not really be able to speak honestly about what’s happening in your life.”
Touching upon her new album, which is her first full release in nearly five years, Celeste added, “I have an album coming on November 14th that I worked really hard for it even to come into existence against a lot of unfortunate circumstances.”
The ‘Stop This Flame’ singer alleged that she was “threatened to be dropped” by her label, Polydor, if she “didn’t put two particular songs on the album”. Celeste added, “I feel I am being shown a set of consequences for essentially not doing as I was told”.
The Mercury-nominated artist then highlighted issues in the wider music industry in a later post, adding, “It is no coincidence that over so many years too many artists die from depression, suicide, exhaustion, or addiction, or endure long slow painful lives in a depressive state, this will not be me.”
She also explored broader systemic societal issues, sharing that “a lot needs to change and this perhaps comes at the turn of huge cultural shift that needs to occur not just in the music industry”.
Celeste then said the music industry is “male dominated” and encountered “a lot of men who only listen to themselves, and hold ideals for artists, that reflect their world and there (sic) needs being met, and artists that remain in the image and the role of subservient narrative”.
The singer, who performed on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this summer, concluded by writing to her followers that this is “keeping women in this subservient narrative, and keeping women in this repeat narrative of tragedy”.
Women of Faces is set to arrive on November 14th, with Celeste set to play a series of album launch shows in the UK to support the album in early November.
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