Raven-Symoné Exposes Industry Body-Shaming That Derailed Her Music Career

Raven-Symoné walked away from a potential pop career after music executives demanded she perform in a bathing suit and insulted her weight, she revealed on the "Sorry We're Stoned" podcast hosted by Tish Cyrus.

"The mandatory outfit was a bathing suit, and I'm not going to get in one," she said bluntly during the interview. That moment, she explained, marked a turning point in her relationship with the music industry.




The former Disney Channel star said she refused to participate in what she described as a culture that prioritized revealing outfits over talent.




"I just felt there was a time in music where it was like, the more naked you are on stage, the better it is, and I'm not going to do that," she said.




Her decision to step away wasn't just about wardrobe requirements. Raven-Symoné also recalled a painful incident where a music executive made a cruel comment about her body, directed at her mother. "Somebody literally said to my mother, 'She's so fat. How can she do so long on stage?'" she recounted.




That comment prompted her to pull the plug on the deal. "And I'm like, 'Wow, cool beans.' So, we're just gonna leave this and go on tour somewhere else," she said.

Raven-Symoné Still In Therapy Following Music Career

Although she released her first album, "Here's to New Dreams" in 1993 at just seven years old, Raven-Symoné said her music career never reached the heights of her Disney peers like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers.




She attributed that to a lack of industry backing. "I didn't have the machine behind me to push through," she said. "It was a blessing and a curse."




Her relationship with Hollywood Records was so damaging that it led her to seek counselling.




"Honey, I go to therapy for that," she admitted. Tish Cyrus added that both she and Miley had also needed therapy after their time with the same label. Raven-Symoné responded, "Oh, it was a mess."




In 2012, she publicly stated she had no plans to release new music because "the music I had been working on wasn't going to be something vendible." She later told a media outlet in 2020, "This industry will break you down."




Her final album under Hollywood Records came out in 2008. She returned briefly in 2020 with a stripped-down EP, but her focus has remained on television and production work-areas where she's maintained control over her image and career.







































via: https://allhiphop.com/news/raven-symone-exposes-industry-body-shaming-that-derailed-her-music-career/