Spoilers for the previously aired season of The Masked Singer
90s folk princess Jewel has been speaking out a lot lately about her experience as a young artist navigating the toxic music industry. In an Instagram post last month, Jewel talked about how she was called the “chubby Rene Zellweger” when she first hit the music scene. Jewel is also a staunch advocate for destigmatizing mental fitness. Jewel just won this season’s The Masked Singer and was unmasked as the Queen of Hearts. In a new interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Jewel discussed how being a part of The Masked Singer has helped her rediscover how technically good she is vocally. Jewel said that in her earlier career she only wrote songs that were easier for her sing vocally as she focused on the story. Jewel also recalled how unpleasant it was to deal with some of the shock jocks of the 90s who constantly talked about her body. Below are a few highlights from Yahoo!:
Jewel recalls the overwhelming attention she received for her looks, not her vocals or songcraft, when her debut album Pieces of You came out more than 25 years ago. “I was made fun of in the press — and you know, shock jocks were everywhere because of [the popularity of] Howard Stern. So, I’d go live on the radio and they’d go, ‘You may have heard me describe my next guest as a large-breasted woman from Alaska. Jewel, how are you?’” she says. “But I was raised in Alaska in bars, so I’d learned to stick up for myself. So, when the guy said that on radio, I went, ‘Oh, you must be that small-penis man I’ve heard so much about from South Carolina!’ And I got kicked off the radio, out of the station. You know, people would on radio would be like, ‘How do you give a BJ with those teeth?’ It was nasty, what was happening to girls in the ‘90s. Oh my God, it was rough.”
Jewel was “getting beat down” in the press all the time in those early days, but then touring with an iconic singer-songwriter helped her out of that dark place. “On a personal level, what gave me the courage to keep going was Bob Dylan,” she says. “I don’t think it made a big difference in the public or on radio, but he liked me. He mentored me. He listened to my shows. He brought me down to his dressing room after every show. And he’d go over my lyrics with me. And that blew my mind. I was tired, I was exhausted, and the record was going nowhere, but Dylan really believed in me. He was like, ‘Keep going. It doesn’t matter if you’re successful on radio. Keep going. You’re good.’ So, that gave me the strength.”
I have truly been enjoying the resurgence of my favorite 80 and 90s darlings. Seeing Jewel open up about her life has been a delight. In many ways I thought Jewel was a bit of an enigma in the 90s. I felt like I knew nothing about her, but back then there weren’t any fun gossip sites to get my news from (wink). I am also enjoying how Jewel is taking on the music industry and its toxicity particularly towards women and teenage girls. The more I hear about the music industry in the 90s the more I realize how bad it truly was. I can’t believe how disrespectful some of the DJs and radio hosts were. Like who thought it was a good idea to comment on a singer’s breasts in an introduction on a show? Hearing Jewel recount her experiences infuriates me to no end. The entertainment industry definitely needs to call out abuses like this because it is not looking great from here. I also thought it was amazing that Bob Dylan took Jewel under his wing and helped her navigate her creativity. I didn’t get to watch the last two seasons of the Masked Singer, so I’ll have to call my mom to see what she thought about Jewel as a contestant since The Masked Singer is one of her favorite shows. I hope Jewel continues to expose the music industry. I hope that in telling her story, Jewel will put people on notice while encouraging up and coming singers to defend themselves in the face of misogyny.
She is a saint here in Las Vegas
This is an interesting story. I had no idea Jewel went through all that in the 90’s, I just remember her beautiful song “You Were Meant for Me” and that iconic voice. Kudos to Dylan for taking her under his wing. Also—The Masked Singer is news to me! Congrats to Jewel for winning; she sounds like a winner in every way. Wishing her much happiness and success in 2022 and beyond. ❥
I’m not sure any of that was specific to the 90s. Happened before and after and still. But the 90s still had somewhat realistic looking women in pop culture. The girls of 90210 were attractive but not starved or surgically altered (except for Tori). But yes of course Jewel was most abused in the 90s because it was the peak of her fame.
I agree. It doesn’t seem like there’s ever been a good time for women.
Any time I read about someone’s recollections of what a particular decade was like, it sounds depressing.
I’m wondering what the stories about this decade will be like 20 years from now.
The ideal body type in the 90s were the waifs. Heroine chic was everything and completely unrealistic for most of us!
I remember the Kate Moss waif thing in the 90s but that seemed specific to high end fashion. I graduated from high school and college in the 90s, mostly shopped at the Gap sale racks and Filene’s Basement and wore grungy layers that looked the same whether I gained or lost a few pounds. The every day street fashion wasn’t about showing off how skinny you were (and again the teen shows of the era didn’t promote extreme skinny looks). But media also wasn’t about female empowerment. Whether 90210 or SATC women were always portrayed as obsessing over relationships with men and we moved away from the positive 80s icons like Sarah Connor and Stacy from Fast Times (who was unapologetic about wanting sex and having an abortion, and had a perfectly normal body type).
Not only the music industry….women in general, always measured by their appearance whether you wear a crown or baseball cap. Jewel stood up for herself. Good!
And I recall those comments clearly. And I recall the impact it had to hear it.
We don’t even have to be assaulted or harassed in the first person, as women to be hurt by it.
It is traumatizing even in the third, fourth person. Because it means, that “you too”, as a woman, are not worth more than that treatment either. If a talented, recognized and rich woman is dishonored like that– then who are you?
I loved her music in the 90s! I had no idea about the toxicity she faced for her body though, but then, I was a child in the 90s and all I knew about her were the songs and music videos.
I do remember that one of her last big hit mainstream songs, at least I think it was the last, was much more standard pop music, and not the folksy, acoustic stuff she had been known for, and the lyrics were all about selling out, lol.
She was awesome on The Masked Singer! I recommend YouTubing some of her performances. I didn’t know she had those pipes, on top of her exceptional songwriting ability.
I heard a story about Lisa Loeb and her second album being micromanaged by her record label for years and shelved because it wasn’t pop enough and didn’t have a top 40 radio single. She actually ended up writing the single on the album about the record label being jerks to her (the song “I Do”). The wait for her second album and the forced change in some of her music probably resulted in her not getting to follow through on her career at the level she could have. Because the Tails album is great and she is a really great songwriter actually.
I know a lot of people look at people like Loeb and other women artists from the early 90s and think they were one-hit wonders, but the music industry is a strike while the iron is hot business and I know that many of those women had their careers delayed by industry people meddling in their music and marketing and using contracts to keep them from releasing music.
I think its really telling that there are a lot of one-hit-wonder women artists from across the decades who actually managed to have long and pretty lucrative careers in the industry but just one hit. Usually writing songs for film and stage, doing children’s music, having loyal fan bases that follow them. The argument that they didn’t actually have the music in them to have a career is not true, it comes down to the labels only supporting the top 40 acts and having a habit of signing people they don’t know what to do with and letting them languish until their contracts run up.
Jewel’s career likely benefitted greatly from the fact that at the time one of the VPs developing artists at Atlantic was a woman who championed Pieces of You through the release process and didn’t let Jewel get overwhelmed by the label.
Thanks for your post. Was always curious about what happened to Lisa Loeb…
I was in college when her album hit big (I loved it) and all of the guys in my group were in love with her. It’s kind of shocking to hear that she was picked on for her looks, they all thought she was beautiful.
I hate that she went through all that, but am glad she’s speaking up on it now. And that she stood up for herself then too!
I’m going to have to re-explore her music, I’ve always liked it.
I didn’t remember her being known for “big breasts.” I think I was really clueless in the 90s but it was pre social media and easy enough to ignore messages that didn’t resonate with you. I had a boyfriend who constantly referred to my “small hands” by singing that line from a Jewel song. So that’s her only physical feature I was familiar with.
I flipped on Hallmark channel the other night and there was Jewel in a murder romcom! I shrieked when I realized it was her and I figured it was stunt casting but I was so happily surprised to find she can act! She had good comedic timing and seemed really natural. It was really fun to see!
There’s a great YT video where they gave Jewel a wig and prosthetics so she could go to a very full bar and sing karaoke. There were insiders trying to get her to go up and try to sing and she was shy and wouldn’t. Eventually of course she did and she brought the house down in her brunette wig, one guy said she sang better than the original. If you like Jewel you will love this, what a voice.
Coming of age as an awkward teen in the 90’s was a fascinating time. Jewel was on my regular playlist and it was hard not to love her music as well as her as a person. She’s always been sweet, genuine, down to earth, with incredible songwriting and singing talent. So happy she’s opening up and letting us in a little! Can’t imagine how terrible and superficial the dumb shock jocks were (side eyes Stern’s early years of douchary).
The waif look and grunge look were popular for teens my age in the 90’s in BC. I was always sickly skinny, very underweight from basically being too poor for good food at home, and I hid behind baggy flannel and corduroy ala Eddie Vedder. I too had the snaggletooth and kids made fun of me constantly. I was grateful I could at least hide my bony body under grunge thrift store specials. I know Jewel has had to deal with the teeth criticism too (she’s said so in other interviews). I respect how she didn’t change her teeth, while I got braces as soon as I could afford them on my own at aged 18 as I was so self conscious.
Very cool story about Bob Dylan, who knew? So glad he encouraged her to keep going. Mentorship is so important. Jewel has put out some fantastic music with incredible lyrics and I hope she put out some more soon!
Wow, when have we ever heard about a big male star mentoring a pretty young woman without sex being involved. Good for Dylan. And he’s right. Jewel is very talented.
I’ve always loved her music. This is so gross, the way she was sexualized in order to belittle her talent.
It’s like interviewing a Beatle and opening with the size of their pecs.
I have always loved Jewel, and so glad she is back and speaking out. Here’s the thing – I find beauty in people’s “not perfect” features. Jewel’s teeth were so pretty! I know that may sound strange, but there is something so graceful about her every movement, and her original smile complemented that, especially when she was singing. She is beautiful now with her slightly different smile, too, of course. It really bothers me that she was bullied and made fun of for her appearance because she was different.