Chaka Khan used an appearance on Jessie Ware's Table Manners podcast, in remarks reported on 25 March, to deliver a sharp critique of modern female pop stars, saying some are leaning on stagecraft, 'butts and stuff' and sheer physical display to cover what she suggested is a lack of vocal ability. The 73-year-old singer-songwriter did not name anyone, but the target was clear, a pop culture in which performance can sometimes seem to have swallowed the song.
Khan was speaking broadly rather than singling out one rival or one incident. Her frustration, as she told Ware, was with what she sees as a changed industry standard, in which artists are expected to dance, pose and project all at once, and in which, in her view, that spectacle can start to look like compensation rather than talent.
