Ariana Grande has found a new "Problem" in Bette Midler. The legendary multi-hyphenate spoke to The Telegraph in a new interview published Monday, Nov. 24, where Midler called out young female pop stars (specifically Grande) for using their sex appeal to sell albums.
"It's terrible!" Midler, 68, told the paper. "It’s always surprising to see someone like Ariana Grande with that silly high voice, a very wholesome voice, slithering around on a couch looking so ridiculous. I mean, it’s silly beyond belief and I don’t know who’s telling her to do it."
Midler added that she understood it wasn't Grande's doing as much as those who managed her. "I wish they’d stop. But it’s not my business, I’m not her mother. Or her manager," the Hocus Pocus actress sniped. "Maybe they tell them that’s what you’ve got to do. Sex sells. Sex has always sold."
According to The Divine Miss M, there was a time when things were more innocent. "Whatever strictures there were have fallen apart," she mused. "And now it’s whatever you feel like doing you can do. I mean, apparently people really like to pretend they’re having sex. They really like to slap each other’s butts."
Grande wasn't the only target of Midler's buzzworthy conversation with The Telegraph. The singer-songwriter also poked fun at girl bands, including the wildly popular Spice Girls. "I couldn’t think of a girl group that was modern who had a song as meaningful as [the one by] TLC," she told the paper. "I couldn’t find one. I mean, who are you talking about? The Spice Girls? …I like Destiny’s Child. I think that was the last great girl band there was."
Ultimately, the Parental Guidance star reasoned that perhaps she's the one who is out of touch with reality. "I mean, don’t ask me. It’s beyond me. I’m too old," Midler continued. "I don’t know what the end game is going to be. I don’t know where you go from all that sex in your 20s. I don’t know how you sustain it."
Softening her tone, Midler went on to provide advice to young women wanting to make it in showbiz. "Trust your talent," she told fans. "You don’t have to make a whore out of yourself to get ahead. You really don’t."
