Tori Amos: It makes me sad that we can’t embrace Madonna

Tori Amos opens up about ageism in a new interview for The Guardian…

The Guardian: There seems to be a vilification of older women – Madonna took a lot of flak when she fell at the Brits.

Tori Amos: Let me ask you: was there a lot of meanness about her?

The Guardian: There were a lot of unpleasant comments on Twitter.

Tori Amos: Madonna is an entertainer. There are very few people who could’ve gotten up off that floor. It wasn’t because of her that she fell, but it was because of her that the performance carried on. Some of the vilification comes from women as much as men. She’s making choices and she’s able to do things physically that a lot of people 25 years younger can’t; she got up and refused to allow that to shame her. I think people want her to be shamed into a role that they find acceptable for her age. It makes me sad that we can’t embrace Madonna and say, Wow, this is an artist who’s expressing herself in a certain way.

The Guardian: What’s been your biggest onstage malfunction?

Tori Amos: I fell off my piano stool in my 20s many times, but there’s something that makes you get up. Malfunctions happen, mics fall down – I’ve ended up playing on my knees because the mic didn’t have enough testosterone to not fall down so I played the rest on my knees with no pedal. The fact that you can continue and not just walk offstage and regroup, to be able to do that, it takes quite something. You don’t have to agree with Madonna’s outfit choices or how she sees her own sexuality but we can admire that she’s out there doing it.