Ellie Goulding Calls #MeToo Change The Music Industry To Be Better

Ellie Goulding (Instagram @elliegoulding)

JAKARTA - Ellie Goulding voiced her thoughts on how #MeToo made the music industry safer.

The #MeToo movement first received attention in October 2017 after a number of women filed allegations of sexual harassment against Harvey Weinstein, who was later convicted and jailed for two counts of rape and sexual assault in New York in 2020.

This causes calculations throughout the entertainment industry, with more and more women expressing their experiences with other influential male figures.

In a new interview on Radio 4, Goulding explained that the industry has implemented better protection for young artists than when he first started his career in 2010. He also mentioned that he felt "uncomfortability" while working in the studio with male producers.

"I believe the landscape has changed a bit, especially since the MeToo movement," he said, adding that his record label now has companions to young artists.

I think it's very, very important for people to keep talking about their own stories, because I know a lot of things that happen and don't talk about. I don't think many people feel comfortable talking about their personal experiences in the studio.

When asked if he himself felt vulnerable when working in the recording studio, Goulding said: 'I have an experience that, in my head, I consider it normal and think, oh, oh, maybe this is just a thing. You know, when you enter the studio and after that the producer asks if you want to go for a drink. And I'm a pretty polite person, I don't like disappointing other people. I don't like disappointing people."

"So I thought, 'Yes, of course, we go for a drink'. And then it becomes like a romantic thing when it shouldn't," Goulding continued

"You certainly don't want it to be romantic, but there seems to always be a bit of an uncomfortable feeling when you enter the studio and there's only one or two people who write or produce."

"And I have to try to find out if it's just me, something happened to my own head. But then hearing so many other stories, similar stories from musicians and other female singers, I realized that I wasn't alone. Not just me, who is very friendly."

Goulding added that the progress was a "some kind of currency" in the music industry.

"It's like an unspoken thing where if you work with a male producer, it's almost like an expectation, which sounds crazy if I say it out loud, and it's definitely not going to happen now. I mean, it's very rare, because a lot of things really change."

For example, young artists at Polydor, my record label, now have companions when they go to the studio. And they also had the opportunity to talk to a counselor or talk to someone about their experiences as newcomer musicians.

"This is a vulnerable place when you're in a studio writing music," concluded the singer of the song Love Me Like You Do.