When you’re Grace Jones and you know you’ve never censored yourself, why would you start now?
In her new memoir, she reminds everyone that when you’re 67 and can still rock a stage topless while covered in bodypaint at the Afropunk festival in New York, there’s no need to follow the A-listers of this generation.
Her defiantly titled, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs, takes a jab at the idea that she should emulate some of the entertainers who quite possibly draw inspiration from her.
“Trends come along and people say, ‘Follow that trend,’” Jones wrote. “There’s a lot of that around at the moment: ‘Be like Sasha Fierce. Be like Miley Cyrus. Be like Rihanna. Be like Lady Gaga. Be like Rita Ora and Sia. Be like Madonna.’ I cannot be like them — except to the extent that they are already being like me.”
Social media was quick to point out the “shade” in Jones’ statements, but it seems that Jones isn’t trying to bring down the women of today’s pop culture so much as an awareness of her role as an icon. Jones also described her reaction to collaborating with a young entertainer (who she left nameless) after her management team reasoned it would allow her to target a new generation.
“Everyone around me is going: ‘You have to do it, it will be so good for you, it will introduce you to a whole new audience, you will make a lot of money,’” she wrote. “No! It will be good for her; she will draw from everything I have built and add it to her brand, and I will get nothing back except for a little temporary attention.”
And when you’re Grace Jones, you refuse to let your international fame be diluted for “temporary attention.” To be clear, Jones gave readers her definition of “diva.”
“The word is usually used to describe an apparently erratic female whose temperamental qualities, survival instincts, and dedication to perfection are seen as weaknesses, as self-indulgent, not a strength,” she wrote. “… I am not a diva. I am a Jones!”
I’ll Never Write My Memoirs is set to release Sept. 29.
