ADAM: Thanks for doing our interview, Thea. How's life?
THEA: Good, thanks.
ADAM: It's easy to see examples of the record industry using sex to sell Beyonce or Kylie. But I read in an interview that you were more alarmed by how performers like Dido are portrayed. How come?
THEA: Let me just set the record straight here... I fear I'm beginning to sound seriously prudish! I have no problem with sex; I love sex, sex has been used to sell things since time and money systems began. My problem is the way women become objectified as a result of it. Selling a product through sex invariably means ensuring a woman looks subservient whether it be flaunting her arse like Kylie or looking at you coquettishly a la Dido. I don't like the lie and I guess I find the latter more dishonest. That is not to say the people involved are at fault. I think Dido, Beyonce and Kylie are all hugely smart, talented women who deserve their place in the business; my bugbear goes much further back than the individual. I resent that the idea of attractiveness that all of us live by (not just women either) has been spawned from the darkest depths of some advertising execs pencil case. Attraction should be instinctive, not a reaction to a marketing pitch.
ADAM: You've said that you would consider signing with a major--the offers have certainly been there--but not until you're granted artistic control. What will it take, in your estimation, for you to get to a point where a major would relinquish this control?
THEA: The business is just a war of nerves really. Both sides struggling to wrestle a little bit of control over one another. I guess the point a major would be prepared to give me total artistic control is the point where they can see it'd be worth it for them. They'd have to smell the money, I suppose.
ADAM: Mattel recently forced you to change artwork plans for the "Mainstream" single. Was this an objection to simply an unauthorized use of Barbie or an objection to what a Barbie doll has come to represent?
THEA: I have no idea. I'm pretty sure Mattel couldn't give a damn what Barbie has come to represent as long as their end-of-year figures add up. I don't really credit any big company with the sense to look out for the moral
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