Why Joni Mitchell believes she was peerless: “It was much more competitive”
Joni Mitchell is a true original in every sense of the word. When she announced herself in the music industry towards the tail-end of the 1960s, she helped develop a new kind of singer-songwriter mould, one which proved to be transformative. Despite being compared to every other artist to have ever picked up an acoustic guitar, Mitchell has always believed she exists in a realm of her own.
Although Mitchell lived in the Laurel Canyon and was associated with that scene through friendship, the Canadian artist didn’t understand why she was considered similar to that coterie of musicians. Her influences came from a jazz background, and although she managed to subliminally hide this in her work, it mattered far more to her than any piece of folk music.
However, Mitchell was content with her position as an outsider and didn’t feel the need to get locked into rivalries or feuds. Yet, once stratospheric success occurred, Mitchell was exposed to how cut-throat fellow musicians could be and shocked to see the lengths people would stoop to get ahead.
During an appearance on the Canadian music programme Q in 2013, Mitchell said she “didn’t have any” when asked to discuss her contemporaries.
She continued: “I mean Leonard (Cohen) and Bob (Dylan) were the only (ones). Peer group, do you mean? I didn’t really have a peer group, maybe in the beginning, know, when I was first starting out, everything sounds good to you when you’re young, and all your friends are all making songs, but it was much more competitive, I felt then it needed to be.”
Furthermore, Mitchell believes her gender was another factor in why she faced scrutiny from the musical community, adding: “I’m too good for a girl, right? So there’s a lot of resentment for that”.
While these comments were made in 2013, when Mitchell appeared on Elton John’s Apple Music 1 show Rocket Hour almost a decade later, she reiterated the same notion about male artists, noting: “At the time… I took a lot of flak.”
Mitchell elaborated: “People thought that it was too intimate [and] I think it upset the male singer-songwriters. They’d go, ‘Oh no. Do we have to bare our souls like this now?’ I think it made people nervous.”
While Mitchell is no saint, and on occasion, has also been forthright with her opinions, which have offended many, such as Judy Collins, the inimitable singer-songwriter has always felt comfortable standing on her own two feet, preferring to let her songs do the talking on her behalf.
Furthermore, if Mitchell wasn’t a woman, she’d likely have never faced this set of problems, which never followed Bob Dylan around when he asserted himself as a musical force. Thankfully, Mitchell gained trailblazing status without comprising her artistry and giving up the attributes which made her a unique individual among a sea of impersonators.
