Debbie Harry hates being described as a pop icon.
The 71-year-old Blondie frontwoman was "horrified" when she first had the accolade bestowed on her and even now would rather be known as a "star".
She said: "The first time I heard that phrase was in the nineties, and I was sort of horrified. All I could think of was, you know, a religious figure or something. And, oh God, I can’t bear that. I don’t know if I believe that’s a good word for it.
"I think I like the idea of being a star, a superstar or a pop star. It seems more in keeping with your real, relative value. Icon is like, you need to die first, right? You should be dead and then you can become an icon. And I’m not dead yet."
On Blondie’s new album, ‘Pollinator’, the group have teamed up with the like of Sia, Charli XCX and Johnny Marr, and Debbie thinks it was the "perfect" move for them to collaborate with other artists for the first time.
She told ELLE magazine: "It was a fresh approach for us to bring in so many outsiders. And it’s kind of perfect for the stage in our career to do that.
"One of the comments I hear a lot from people my age is, ‘Oh, there’s no good music these days.’ It’s unfathomable to me how anybody could say that. There’s so much great music.
"People’s lives change when they start having families I guess. They’re not going to experiment so much. [As for Blondie], maybe we just have delayed adolescence or something."
Debbie Harry: I’m no pop icon
