According to Jewel, even her mythical origin story — that she lived in her car to pursue music — was mired in the misogyny and sexual harassment that plagued her early years.(Rolling Stone)
You’re supposed to pretend you’re not middle-aged, you’re supposed to pretend like you’re a sex kitten forever, and I thought that that’s really distasteful.”
Speaking to Stereogum, Jewel went into more detail regarding the situation and the overall harassment she faced from male journalists in the Nineties.
“My whole career, the slant that the media gave it was through a really, I dare say, patriarchal lens,” Jewel said. “You think of my origin story, right? The whole world knows I lived in my car. They think because I was fighting for my dream of music. That is an absolute misrepresentation of what happened. I was living in my car because I wouldn’t have sex with my boss. I refused to be leveraged and he wouldn’t give me my paycheck and I couldn’t pay my rent and I started living in my car and then my car got stolen and I was homeless because of that, because I wouldn’t bang a boss.”
At the moment, Jewel is preparing to release, Freewheelin’ Woman — her first album in seven years and 13th overall. It’s produced by Butch Walker and finds Jewel leaning more into her vocal capabilities as opposed to songwriting and lyrics being the primary focus. Jewel also wanted the album to reflect her role as a single mom (she shares a son, Kase Townes Murray, with ex Ty Murray)
To read the full interview click on Stereogum,
Read also Kurt Loder apologises to Jewel over infamous MTV interview on NME
