Earlier this year, David Byrne announced details of his first solo album in 14 years confirming that the likes of Brian Eno, Sampha, Oneohtrix Point Never, Jam City and many more had contributed to the record.
Earlier this month, he posted an image to Twitter showing all of the artists he’d collaborated with while writing and producing American Utopia, which you can see just below. It was quickly pointed out however that no women featured amongst the collaborators.
Byrne has now responded to the criticism sharing a statement via Instagram in which he admits he had been "negligent" in enlisting collaborators for the record. "I’d like to thank those of you who wrote for calling attention to this – this matters a lot to me," his statement says.
"I regret not hiring and collaborating with women for this album – it’s ridiculous, it’s not who I am and it certainly doesn’t match how I’ve worked in the past. It doesn’t represent my current live show, which has a slew of diverse creators and collaborators, making this even more negligent on my part."
He continues: "I never thought of myself as ‘one of those guys’ but I guess to some extent I am. Your responses serve as a corrective. Thank you."
You can read the full note below.
