Within the Attract piece, the interviewer requested her in regards to the backlash she confronted within the 2000s.
Throughout this time, she had a perfume assortment referred to as “Harajuku Lovers” and infrequently featured “Harajuku Women” — her 4 Japanese backup dancers — in her movies. She would additionally continuously reference Japanese tradition in quite a lot of her work.
And due to this, many individuals — then and now — have used her as a main instance of cultural appropriation.
So the Attract interviewer requested Gwen what she had discovered from all of it. However the Grammy-winning singer gave a quite weird reply. The interviewer mentioned, “[Gwen] responded by telling me a narrative she’s shared with the press earlier than about her father’s job at Yamaha, which had him touring between their dwelling in California and Japan for 18 years.”
Here is what Gwen informed the Attract interviewer: “That was my Japanese affect and that was a tradition that was so wealthy with custom, but so futuristic [with] a lot consideration to artwork and element and self-discipline, and it was fascinating to me.”
After touring again as an grownup, the place she was in a position to extra totally enmesh herself within the tradition, Gwen mentioned, “I mentioned, ‘My God, I am Japanese and I did not realize it.’ I’m, you understand.”
“If [people are] going to criticize me for being a fan of one thing stunning and sharing that, then I simply suppose that does not really feel proper. I believe it was an exquisite time of creativity — a time of the ping-pong match between Harajuku tradition and American tradition,” Gwen mentioned. “[It] needs to be okay to be impressed by different cultures as a result of if we’re not allowed, then that is dividing folks, proper?”
Some folks had been perplexed and upset by her feedback:
Others defended her:
You possibly can learn Gwen’s full interview right here.