Reviews Music / Emilie Autumn

I don't feel that her coming out as not being asexual was necessarily her being deceitful as it was her being misinformed. Emilie once quoted Morrisey on his sexual orientation in an old journal entry on her forum back in 2004 that you can read here: http://www.forum.emilieautumn.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=310 It's important to note that Morrisey is one of her idols and if anything, I feel she was sincere when she claimed she mistook her dislike of sex as not knowing anyone she enjoyed being sexual with. Personally I'm not surprised since her description of her own sexuality sounded more pansexual to me; I tried to keep an open mind as I realized she could just be panromantic. I wouldn't be angry with her over that though. sexuality is confusing and complicated and people learn about themselves all the time. That'd be like being mad at a bisexual person who identified themselves as straight but later came out as bi when they developed crushes on the same sex for lying. That person wasn't lying, they just were unaware of their true sexual preferences and it's no different for EA.

The lying about her name has a huge controversy among her fanbase. I was infuriated at first until a few of her fans pointed out that many people who are transexual (which she isn't, but still) or had trauma during their life before they changed their names or other personal reasons get name changes. While I doubt it, there might be a personal issue she doesn't feel comfortable disclosing and therefore I refuse to get mad at her for that, though what does irritate me is her claiming to be related to Alice Liddell. Seriously? That's just a new low and there's no reason for that at all.

The lying about her family being dying in a fire when she was young pissed me off too. In fact I remember reading another Enchant era diary entry where she claimed her father died from cancer (I think, I could be wrong) that year. When I read the family dying in a fire when she was young thing, I was taken aback. ...What? The thing that I really hate is when people justify her lying by saying it's protecting her identity. Aside from what I mentioned previously regarding her name, if Emilie wants to keep her confidentiality, it would be more appropriate to just refrain entirely from disclosing personal information. Lying is not a necessary way to remain confidential; keeping your mouth shut works just as well.

A lot of the issues regarding EA and her collab work fell short or didn't work out because of Emilie's flakiness, like with Aromaleigh for example. The collaboration failed because Emilie didn't promote the owner of the company back. That's another problem I have with EA. It's not exactly that she's flaky, more so that she makes promises that she never keeps and handles certain career oriented issues (especially with other professionals) very unprofessionally. I remember she had copies of her book she was going to send and she ended up sending them much later than her fans were anticipating. She also is extremely notorious for starting projects and never finishing them (The Jane Brooks project, Ravensong, The Alphabet Book of Ex-Boyfriends) despite promising to release them. I understand putting projects on hold in order to finish other more important projects, but seriously? I'm pretty sad too since the one song I've heard under her Ravensong project was fantastic and I love The Jane Books project singles. It's not only disappointing and disloyal, it's unprofessional.

My biggest problem with her, aside from her rudeness and disrespect towards her fans (and other artists too; seriously it's okay to dislike certain artists but show some respect, especially since her ideas aren't all that original and I seriously doubt Ga Ga knows who EA is) is how she milks her bipolarity for fame. Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness, not a marketing tool. When I first listened to EA I got the impression she used her music to get ahead and defeat her bipolar; boy was I wrong. Her bipolar defines her life, her music career, her stage shows. It's nothing more than exploitation. Emilie makes mental illness seem beautiful or artistic or poetic. There is a reason why so many of Emilie's fan base are preoccupied with mental illness, self diagnose or let their disorders define them. People say EA brings awareness or that it helped them out so we should stop being critical, but that's straight up BS. There are other ways to shed light to mental illness and help others with mental illness relate that isn't exploitative. As someone with depression and anxiety, I find that Emilie adds stigma rather than helps alleviate it.

All in all, I find that Emilie isn't so genuine or magical anymore as I used to. Now she just comes across as vain, selfish (she doesn't seem to care if what she's doing hurts other people and instead cares more about her own personal gain) and honestly, ignorant. I'm with you. I lost respect for her as well.

While I respect your right to voice opinions, I'm not quite sure whether this is the right place to post this. I came here looking for views on EA's music, not her personal life. Perhaps move it to a forum instead?