Paloma Faith was told to reshoot a music video in which she kissed a black man if she wanted to break America.
The 38-year-old singer claimed record company bosses insisted her career would never take off in the US if she didn’t change the promo she’d filmed to accompany her 2014 single ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’.
Speaking to Samira Ahmed for Intelligence Squared+, Paloma recalled how the unnamed "very high-up exec who was African American" told her she had to reshoot the video "because America will not buy a song with a white woman kissing a black man like that."
The executive had told her "this is the biggest chance we’ve got at breaking the States with your music career", but she was "completely shocked and obviously taken aback" when asked to alter the video, which featured a Ugandan childhood friend.
As a result, the singer – who has a three-year-old daughter with partner Leyman Lahcine – refused to comply with the request as she didn’t want "dirty" money if the move proved fruitful.
She said: "If I broke America and made loads of money as a consequence of that, knowing that I’d re-shot a video to make it not a biracial relationship, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself, I don’t want that money. It’s dirty."
After snubbing the request, Paloma returned to England.
She recalled: "[I said] I’ll break America on my terms [and he said] ‘OK,’ and then flew me back and I didn’t hear from my record company again after that."
However, the ‘New York’ hitmaker is still optimistic she’ll crack the US one day.
She said: "There’s still time."
Paloma recently admitted she always casts "hot" guys in her videos or as backing dancers.
She said: "I don’t have dancers that often, but when I do I find them really hot. And when I’ve done videos and stuff with guys, I always fancy the guy. I just have the best job ever because I’m allowed to snog hunky, hot guys."