Ava Max was told she had to "act and dress" a "certain way" by music executives.
The ‘Sweet But Psycho’ hitmaker has admitted she came close to calling it a day after being advised to sound more "soft" vocally to fit in with the popular "indie" crowd and switch up her image.
She told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column: "Producers were telling me to change my sound and sing more soft because indie was super-in.
"I was like, ‘I don’t do that – I like to belt it out.’
"They wanted me to act and dress in a certain way."
The US pop star – who performed on the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards in New Jersey on Monday night (26.08.19) – doesn’t let anyone’s opinions bother her on social media, but when she knows some personally she admitted it can "really hurt".
She added: "The internet doesn’t bother me.
"When you don’t know people and they talk bad about you, it doesn’t affect me.
"But when you know somebody and they talk bad about you, that’s when you get really hurt."
Meanwhile, Ava’s follow-up to ‘Sweet But Psycho’ – which was number one in 22 countries – ‘So Am I’, is all about learning to love yourself and embracing being "different".
The 25-year-old singer says if she is having a bad day, she turns to the lyrics to remind herself that no one is "perfect".
She said: "’So Am I’ is about loving yourself, being different, being an outcast and not fitting in the format that society wants to put us in – just celebrating what really makes you different.
"Whenever I’m feeling down, I remind myself that my flaws make me perfect, because in reality there is no perfect."
Ava Max told to ‘act and dress a certain way’ by music executives
