“All I really saw was girls in bikinis holding guitars like they’ve never held a guitar before.”
St. Vincent landed the cover story for Guitar World’s upcoming January issue which she used as an opportunity to tease the magazine’s habit of only putting women on the cover if they’re bikini-clad models.
She is featured on the cover in a novelty bikini T-shirt and explained the choice in her interview with the magazine.
“I did a quick Google search of women on the cover, and all I really saw was girls in bikinis holding guitars like they’ve never held a guitar before,” she said. “I started thinking about that and just wanted to make my own absurdist comment on it. I couldn’t really let it slide without poking a bit of fun and taking the piss a little!”
As Mashable points out, Guitar World’s parent company, NewBay Media LLC, announced earlier this year its magazines would stop putting models on their covers calling the practice “outdated” and a “misrepresentation of women guitar players”. St. Vincent will be the first woman feature on the magazine’s cover since Joan Jett appeared in the May 2015 issue.
Take a look at the cover and an example of Guitar World’s old habits below.
Guitar magazines rarely put women on the cover unless they're bikini models.
Props to St. Vincent for rubbing Guitar World's face in it. pic.twitter.com/ONDOr0SzxP— Russ Bynum (@russbynum) December 17, 2016
Update, Dec 20: St. Vincent’s new album is due next spring.
In her interview, St. Vincent says her currently untitled new album is “due for release this spring”. She promises calls the release a “sea change” in her career.
“I’ve been able to step back and reflect and not just be in the tour, record, tour, record cycle that I’ve been in for about 10 years. I think it’ll be the deepest, boldest work I’ve ever done,” she says.