Your Grammys performance broke the Internet but it was so simple—no fireworks, just you on the stage.
Don’t you think that’s basically what a performer has always been doing? To me, it’s what I’ve done—I’ve used costumes, I’ve used lighting.
Why do you think the public reacted to it the way that they did?
I don’t know, I can’t tell you that. It’s like the Roman Empire: you get the thumbs up and everybody loves you. Everybody is a critic nowadays and if they feel like they don’t like you, they can steam into you with such abuse. So it’s a schizophrenic experience. I was surprised. I didn’t know until I went out to dinner that night that people were talking about it. So many people were saying, “You were exploding on Twitter.” And I was like, “Really?” I just did what I did and I never know how people are going to take it. Sometimes people love you, sometimes they hate you.
The online peanut gallery, even when it’s being praiseful, makes you nervous.
We really are in a divisive place with the Internet. I’m reticent to allow it to affect me because you start to feel like that’s the last thing you’ve done and then everything else is pitted against that last one. Thank you very much to everyone who seemed to appreciate it, I’m delighted, but I can’t live in that schizoid place where I get approval and disapproval.
Via Vogue
