Liz Phair : There’s A Bravery To Just Saying What You Really Feel

Liz Phair certainly knows how to provoke people.
In 1993, the frank sexuality of her debut album “Exile in Guyville” thrust her into the spotlight. The lo-fi, fiercely independent record garnered piles of critical acclaim within indie-rock and mainstream circles, and she became one of the most important feminine figures in music since Madonna.


“There is a bravery to just saying what you really feel as plainly as possible” she said. “That’s what I was doing with this last record. It was all about emotional truth, and I would sacrifice other things for that because, as you get older, that’s what you come to value.
Still, Phair remains a strong feminine figure in a primarily male-dominated music business. Where Madonna‘s ultra-provocative work in the ’80s and ’90s broke down artistic barriers for women, Phair hopes her songs will do the same for the next generation of female singers and songwriters.


“I think it’s healthy to provoke a reaction usually means there’s a nerve that’s underexposed,” she said. “You can hate Madonna, and go ‘Ugh, the “Sex” book,’ but she made so much more room for us underneath her to do whatever we wanted. She took the heat for it, and we didn’t have to. That’s always going to come when you expand definitions and expand roles.”

Source: Everything Michigan