Beth Ditto has an overwhelming personality – an energy that floods every room. A laugh that is contagious. She is quick, witty and wise.
When she meets GLAMOUR, the singer is in good spirits. After nearly twelve years without releasing an album with Gossip, the family is back together: Ditto, Nathan Howdeshell and Hannah Blilie. The architect of this homecoming has been producer Rick Rubin, with whom the band have worked closely and formed a friendship on their fourth album, Music For Men.
The result of their latest stint of hard work is Real Power, a project recorded in the multiple Grammy winner's home studio in Kauai, Hawaii. It's an album that gathers all the musical essence of the band, its vibrant rhythms and its refreshing reinterpretation of genres. The lyrics have powerful vindictive messages, an unmistakable mark of the group, but also with a clear vocation to celebration.
The star sat down with GLAMOUR to talk rom-com snobbery, the show's stories of sisterhood and male friendship and tackling a nuanced sexual harassment storyline.
It's an ode to what really matters: the family you choose – because with them you can overcome any storm. Portland has become Beth's home, where she always returns to land, where she is not a rock star or a muse for fashion labels. She's just another neighbor to share a few beers with and set the world to rights.
An energetic activist for civil rights in general and LGBTQIA+ rights, Beth foresees difficult times ahead. But she won't throw in the towel. Few people or artists could better deserve GLAMOUR Spain's Women of the Year (WOTY) International Talent Award. She laughs shyly at such recognition, meeting it with humility and sincerity.
GLAMOUR: I imagine the creative process with Nathan Howdeshell as talking to yourself. Is that how it feels?
Beth: Well, it's more like speaking our own language. When you grow up with someone, you've known each other since you were little, you've listened to the same music and you've learned about music together, you just develop a common language. We never took lessons, never went to school, never went to college. When we were making music, we grew up with it and we created it that way. We had certain references or certain words that meant something to us, but nothing to others. That's why working with Rick [Rubin] is so special, because he comes in and doesn't take control of anything. He just lets us speak our language together. And then he tells us, ‘I like this idea or keep working on this’.
GLAMOUR: You are a motivating producer.
Beth: One of my favourite things about working with Rick is that it's always a conversation. Every time he comes into the studio, which is often, we sit there and just talk. He has a big sofa and we each sit at one end. We chat until the sun goes down and at the last minute, maybe, we start making music or listening to something that's really important. It gets you away from having to make something for a product. Some producers see music as a business. But if you start like that, I don't think it comes to anything really good.
GLAMOUR: You work for the love of the art and bring out the best in each artist.
Beth: Yes, that's what happens. I thought I needed to learn or relearn a lot of things. And Rick was the person who said to me, 'Why? If what you're doing is working, you're happy and everybody likes it, that's what you're there for.' I've worked with producers that if you don't have a hit, your song doesn't matter.
GLAMOUR: They say he only works with people he likes. Is that true?
Beth: I think we get along because he can't fake it. And I'm not good at faking either. If I write something that doesn't seem genuine to me, I can't pretend I'm okay. I can't pretend, I can't keep quiet about it, or I just get blocked and can't try. It's the same for him. Instead of trying to change you to be what he wants you to be, he tries to get to know you and lets you do it. With a band like ours, if you pretend to do something we're not, it doesn't work. We're not trained that way. We didn't grow up in pop culture. If you feel like it's a job, it's not fun anymore. You don't have to force things, if the piece of the puzzle doesn't fit, that's not its proper place.
GLAMOUR: What do you think about the role of algorithms in music?
Beth: It has started to surprise me, somehow. Not only in music. I moved away a lot from social media because of activism and the way I started to feel. It's hard to explain. I know that information is useful. I know talking to people is too. But I'm at a weird impasse with the way the world is changing and the way I have to adjust myself and my activism to it before I dive in head first and be reactive. It's the same for music and what I listen to. I look for anything and the algorithm suggests something that it thinks you might like, but it's weird because it's not a person and that suggestion is based on what? It scares me because there's no such thing as finding out for yourself anymore. It's the real world, but it's not the tangible world.
GLAMOUR: Are you worried about Trump's election? [This interview was conducted the day before the US election].
Beth: Numb. It's not apathy. I feel maybe a little bit powerless… I am concerned about the empowerment that is being given to so many people who are against science. The facts are being destroyed. I feel that again we are trying to burn Galileo at the stake. The Earth does not revolve around the sun. Superstition versus scientific data. It seems so weird to me, and I don't understand it. It's confusing and overwhelming. This is going to be a roller coaster.
GLAMOUR: Why do you think there are more and more women on the far right?
Beth: I don't know how to answer that. I've always wondered why. I think about it a lot. Although I try not to, because it upsets my brain. It's like wondering where God came from, it's a mystery. I think it has a lot to do with the promise that there's a better life somewhere. This is just a ladder. If you follow certain rules, then you get something better that lasts even longer. I was raised on this concept and then grew up watching. My mum is an amazing woman. I love my mum. My mum is a very beautiful, strong, smart, intelligent, loving, open woman who also loves God. I've watched all my life how she lets people treat her badly, because she thinks God will fix it. Even as a teenager, I always told her, 'Mom, that doesn't mean it can't be fixed now or that you have to let people continue to be that way with you.' What logic is that? It's very hard to change the way you think and challenge reality. The world is changing. How do I change to be part of it without being in it? How do I help? How do I navigate without being part of the problem, but contributing to the good parts? There's so much to process that it's been really hard to maintain an online presence.
GLAMOUR: As an activist, how do you manage that rights that are achieved are then lost some time later?
Beth: Sometimes I don't know what to do and I need guidance. I don't want to be the kind of person who is just online giving opinions. I want to do and be part of something that counts. And I don't know how. I've been kind of confused about it, shouting into the void, talking to people on Instagram who agree with you. I'm not saying it doesn't work, but how do I personally contribute? For me, the story always helps. Because when you look at marginalised people, you look at the civil rights movement, you look at the suffrage movement, you look at workers and unions and strikes and all that stuff, you realise that nobody gives anything. It's a constant battle. We like to think that because the laws change, so does the mentality, but it doesn't work that way. It will happen eventually, when it becomes the norm.
Le Tigre has a song called F.Y.R. (50 years of ridicule) which is about how every movement and every law that is passed will have to last 50 years without being destroyed, shattered or torn down until they are finally perceived in everyone's consciousness as normal life. That's when change begins. It takes time. We are living how through rights that have already given then being taken away. When you fight and are part of civil rights movements you can't go to sleep, you can't give in. It can be exhausting. I'm not tired, it's not hopelessness, it's not helplessness, I'm not going to accept anything without a fight, but it's logical to ask myself where we are going. I need to look inside myself and say, ‘What am I doing? What can I do better?’ Rather than thinking that I have all the answers, because I don't. I think it's an important thing for activists to check themselves and figure out where they're going. Because we don't do that enough.
GLAMOUR: Your music has always been a great fighting tool.
Beth: I was a little reluctant to put out an album with everything that's going on in the world, like Israel and Palestine and so many other things: how can I put out an album now and talk about it and myself? My queer friend Cody Critcheloe, director of the Crazy Again video and all the Real Power art , told me, 'Beth, as a queer person I decided that the only thing I could do now, the most radical thing, was just be happy. Because if you're not, you'll go crazy. Some days you just have to choose.' You can sit around worrying about the world, silently, for days, years, but that doesn't help anyone. You have to find joy. I'm that kind of person. I love human beings. I love talking to them. I love getting to know them. I love playing with them. That's why I love to play music. That's why I love concerts.
GLAMOUR: Does the real power lie in the chosen family?
Beth: In the chosen family and in friends. The real power lies in human beings. On the Internet no one really knows what is happening to you. All people see is what they want you to see. Everything is controlled. No one really cares about how you're doing. Don't send me a DM on Instagram, call me, that's the only way it's really going to work. If I don't reply to your message, it's probably because I'm living my life.
GLAMOUR: When you reach the age of 40 you usually reflect on everything you have lived through, has this been the case for you?
Beth: Nobody warns you about that stage of life when your friends start to die. It's no longer the grandparents. It's no longer the elderly aunts and uncles. They're your friends. That's a very surreal part of life. Nobody tells you what it's like to grow old, especially when you're in a particular scene or making music where there's a wide variety of ages and types of people. We've experienced a lot of loss. Nathan lost his wife, almost overnight. Then we lost one of our best friends. It was terrible. It makes you question what life is all about. It's so hard not to focus on the bad things and worry about others. What's it all for?
GLAMOUR: With all your success, how do you manage to keep your feet on the ground?
Beth: When Gossip really took off, I remember being asked, ‘What was it like when you made your first million dollars?’ I thought, ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean?’ People see you that way, while you're at home thinking, how do I get the cheapest underwear, what's the best deal on socks? Or you're talking to your friends about how they're raising their kids or that sort of thing. I try to spend a lot of time with the kids. They keep you true to yourself. They're funny. They make you be responsible. You have to take care of them. You don't want them to get hurt. My godson, Mo, the son of Kathy the first Gossip drummer who is still my best friend, keeps me on my toes and also with his eight years he fixes my phone when it doesn't work for me [laughs]. My nieces and nephews always tell me I'm too overprotective, I can't help it. I am very good at teaching children. My plan B is childcare, or a hair salon. You always have to have one: what am I going to do when I'm 55? That's one piece of advice I always give to young people.
GLAMOUR: This year we have awarded you with the GLAMOUR Women Of The Year (WOTY) International Talent Award, how do you handle recognition and thank you speeches?
Beth: I never feel like the word thank you is enough. I once accidentally made my grandmother cry for that reason. We knew little of each other, I had only met her a couple of times, and I decided, at 14, to spend two weeks with her. She lived far away in Mississippi. One day while I was there, she gave me five dollars. And I just froze because I was so grateful! I didn't know what to say. I took too long to thank her and she thought I didn't like the gesture. But I just didn't know what to say. The woman burst into tears and I felt like the worst person in the world. I really wanted to say thank you faster, because that's better than making people cry. But I didn't feel like it was enough. My mum advised me to just go for a week, ‘It will drive you crazy.’ She was old, but great. It's funny because I love the attention as a good middle-born daughter, but when it's positive, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to behave.
This article was originally published on GLAMOUR Spain.
Photographer:Petrovsky & Ramone @petrovskyramone
Stylist: Mapi Vidal @mapi
Makeup: Andrew Gallimore @andrewgallimakeup
Hairstylist: Cecilie Hildebrandt @ceciliehildebrandthair
Lighting Assistant: Gils Van Den Veerdonk
Retouching: Mr Blonde @mrblonderetouch
Styling assistant: Elena Armas @frenaelena
Production: Pilar Grosso and Carolina Dominguez
Talent booking: Eliz Akdeniz and Loreto Quintanilla @loretoquintanillacasas
