Warpaint apologizes for Beyonce, Rihanna criticisms

Warpaint, the gauzy L.A. rock band, learned the hard way that chastising Queen Bey and Rihanna’s Navy is a risky venture.

Guitarist Theresa Wayman made some critical off-the-cuff remarks about the pop singers in an interview with Q magazine. In the interview, Wayman said, “Every song on Beyonce’s last album has her basically looking like a slut and she does not need to do that .... She’s gorgeous and so ... talented. And they all take it as women’s liberation!” She added that Rihanna “has an insane voice, she could’ve done something so much more stuble and artful.”

Now a few days later (and perhaps after enduring the online wrath of each singer’s ferocious fanbase), Wayman has added a few clarifications on Facebook.

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“First and foremost, I want to apologize with regards to the Q article .... We LOVE and ADORE Beyonce and Rihanna, genuinely, and that’s what makes this all the more difficult,” she wrote. “[W]e responded as fans and consumers and not as card carrying feminists. Not as anybody with power or influence either. We’re not trying to start a war, no ... way. We would be crushed like little lady flies.”

Wayman said she was specifically talking about Bey’s racy “Superpower” video, whose images she said distracted from the meaning of the song. On Rihanna, Wayman said was imagining a career where, freed from commercial pressures, she might use her voice to different artistic ends.

A tempest in a tiny indie teapot, to be sure. But the reaction to the Q piece obviously hit a nerve for Wayman, who seems genuinely interested in a real conversation about women, sexuality and pop music.

“There’s not a shred of self-importance in these words. I’m not trying to cover my tracks but this is really upsetting to me. I apologize for being careless with my words. I apologize to fans of Beyonce and Rihanna, I ... love them too. Me and and my big mouth.”

Watch Warpaint’s video for “Keep It Healthy” here.

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