Chaka Khan says many of today’s popstars are flaunting their bodies to overcompensate for a lack of talent.
The 73-year-old singer insisted that singers with vocal talent don’t need to show off their bodies on stage and hit out at those “who are doing any and every d*** thing on stage and trying to sing, too”.
During a recent appearance on the Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware podcast, Jessie asked Khan about recent comments made by Khan and her tourmates Patti LaBelle and Stephanie Mills on The Breakfast Club.
Jessie said: “You were all kind of commenting, ‘When we go on stage, we just sing. We don’t need to do the bells and whistles. We don’t need to show our bodies’. Do you think that the demands have changed on female performers now, or do you think it’s always been there [and] you just haven’t played the game?”
Khan replied: “The game has changed because all bets are off. These women are doing any and every d*** thing on stage and trying to sing, too. And the ones who are doing the most physicalities, with their butts and stuff, and their body parts, are the ones that usually are compensating for what they don’t have.”
Co-host Lennie said: “Move your bottom if you don’t,” and Khan continued, “[Have the] voice. Absolutely. I came to sing, and I came to really do a good job, and that’s hard work. I don’t feel like it’s hard work once I’m doing it. I feel great.”
Meanwhile, Khan previously insisted she is not “nostalgic” for her youth but cannot believe she has been working as a musician for 50 years.
She said: “I’m not nostalgic at all. I’m just busy with my life, and suddenly I’ve been doing it for 50 years.
“I’m just living every day like everybody else, so I’m surprised when birthdays come up. I’m like, ‘Oh, wow, tempus fugit,’ and I keep it moving. I’m really a next person.
“The beautiful thing is throughout my career, I’ve always had a lot of love. That has been maybe the high point of what I do: the love that I receive from people.”