Elize Ryd, vocalist of the Swedish Metal band, Amaranthe, recently spoke to The AU Review in a recent interview, discussing the new album, ‘Massive Addictive‘, life on the road and how she feels about being a woman in a male dominated genre.
The AU Review had previously spoken to Floor Jansen of Nightwish on the topic of being the only woman in an all-male band, who said she didn’t feel pressure to look a certain way of consider herself different from the other men. The AU Review asked for Ryd‘s take on being the only woman in an all-male band, to which she replied;
‘Well, within the band it’s fine, because they see me as their sister, you know? But sometimes we are very different because I like to do different things than the guys do, so sometimes I feel very alone. And also, I feel that the women in metal always get objectified in a different way than the guys, and I think it’s very unfair. I’m definitely a feminist in that perspective. It’s usually the haters that write bad things about the women, and I think it’s just wrong.
Also, it’s different for me than Floor because I am one of three singers in the band, and usually, when someone has a bad comment about the band or the sound, they usually put the focus on me, even though there are five other guys they could have criticised. I also read very, very, disrespectful comments that are focused towards me because I’m a woman not because I’m an artist just like the other guys – so there is a difference. But I also get a lot of good critique. Mostly it’s love.’
The AU Review also bought up the subject of being targeted online. Ryd recently named and shamed someone who had posted sexist and disrespectful comments on the official Facebook page and said the following on the subject;
‘Oh thank you so much. I appreciate hearing that. I actually got a lot of emails about that from women who wrote that they had been treated very bad and had lived with this kind of hate, and they really appreciated it – and they feel better when they hear that it also happens to me. You should not take it personally, but it’s very hard sometimes not to. My wish is that there is going to be a change in that perspective of not saying certain things to women.‘
When asked how she stayed positive in the music business she replied;
‘I stay positive thanks to all the positive critique I get, and the love I get from so many fans. I have so many fans who I feel the most amazing love from, so it’s thanks to them I get more and more strong. It’s definitely the good responses that I’m sucking in, and all the bad stuff, I try to keep it outside my life. I still think it’s very important to actually point at people who are disrespecting you because you are a female – I don’t have any patience or acceptance for it.‘
‘Massive Addictive‘ is available now through Spinefarm Records and the video for the single ‘Drop Dead Cynical‘, which was once again directed by Patric Ullaeus, can be seen below.
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