In the spirit of International Women's Day and Women's History Month, Maggie Lindemann is opening up about what it's like to be a woman in the music industry, and in doing so, revealed the female artists that have impacted her the most.
During the interview, hosted by iHeartRadio's Emily Curl, Maggie revealed that she is very inspired by Hayley Williams. She explained, "Hayley Williams has always been really inspiring to me. She's just, I don't know. She just seems like such a good person and I just love everything about her, and she's so talented and she just seems so sweet. And throughout her whole career, I don't know ... she just seems like genuinely such a good person to look up to. I love her music too. So she's an inspiration for me."
Similarly, Lindemann revealed that Lana Del Rey has also had a big impact on her, and her music helped to shape her. She recalled, "I started listening to her music in 2012 when I was in ninth grade, which was like the worst year of my life. And that's when the Born To Die album came out, and that album literally helped shape me. Whenever I look back on those times, I just immediately think of Lana Del Ray. So I know she definitely, positively helped me in some really dark times."
Elsewhere in the interview, when asked what "badass female energy" she channels when she needs it, Maggie answered Angelina Jolie. She said, "During her Mr. And Mrs. Smith, like Gia, like that whole time. I mean, when she was just like Girl Interrupted, that era of her, she was ... yeah, every interview she does. She's just so cool. Like, so cool."
And as far as style goes, Lindemann revealed that she has a number of style icons including Avril Lavigne, Gwen Stefani, and Evanescence's Amy Lee — in addition to finding style inspo from Pinterest.
Although Maggie has celebrated the women who have helped to shape and inspire her, on International Women's Day, Maggie penned a long note to fans outlining the "darker sides" of what it means to be a woman. She wrote:
"Happy International Women's Day. I am so proud to be a woman and to live alongside so many amazing women. I'm proud of how far we have come and the changes we've made. But I also want to take a moment and talk about some of the darker sides of being a woman. Growing up, we were made to feel that being sexually harassed was normal, and that if you just 'ignored them' or were 'nice' they would stop. We also grew up believing that if we didn't give men what they wanted, we could possibly be hurt or killed. I grew up believing that if I ever said no, someone wouldn't love me, and all I was good for was that. The word no eventually turned into not even being a choice. A lot of us grew up believing in a lot of misogyny because it's what we were taught. If we wanted to wear something more revealing or a shorter outfit, we were s***s. But, if we wanted to cover up all the time, we were prude. I grew up thinking I was weak because of what's happened to me and if I spoke out, I was weird or I was 'problematic.' Having everyone around you constantly putting blame on women for things that happened to them, questioning their honesty... eventually leading me to do the same to others and to myself. I grew up thinking it was my fault and more than ever in the last year I've realized that it wasn't, and truly I have the amazing/strong women around me making me see that. I am so happy with the way the world is progressing and the way women are finally being heard. You are NOT WEAK because of the things that have happened to you, actually you're so f***ing strong. And it takes so much courage to speak out. I'm so happy for the young girls that get to grow up in this generation and feel proud and like they can be vocal. And for the people that still don't feel like they can, we believe you, we hear you."
Maggie released her Paranoia EP in January of this year, and is currently working on her album. She told iHeartRadio of the direction of her music, "I always get questions like, 'Oh, is this your new genre?' Or like, 'Are you just experimenting?' Like, no, this is definitely the genre. I'm sticking with it."
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