Stevie Nicks shares hilarious advice she gave Katy Perry about pop rivalries: ‘Get off the internet’
"I don’t have rivals. I have friends," Nicks said
By Alim Kheraj
Stevie Nicks knows a thing or two about being a musician. The 76-year-old is the only woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then again as a solo artist. She’s sold millions of records, toured the world countless times, and continues to release incredible music. She is an icon.
Of course, given her stature in the music industry, it’s safe to say that she likely has advice to give younger artists about how to navigate the world of pop.
In fact, in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the ‘Edge of Seventeen’ legend recalled an anecdote about the time she shared some words of wisdom with Katy Perry and, whether she intended it to be or not, it’s actually quite hilarious.
“I don’t have rivals. I have friends” – Stevie Nicks
Nicks was discussing how she doesn’t have the internet activated on her iPhone (“It isn’t connected, it’s just a camera,” she said), when she went on to talk about how much she loathed the online world.
“I hate it,” she said about the internet. “About 10 years ago, Katy Perry was talking to me about the internet armies of all the girl singers, and how cruel and rancid they were. I said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t know because I’m not on the internet.'”
When Perry asked Nicks whether she had any rivalries with other artists, the ‘Leather and Lace’ singer had an incredible response.
“I just looked at her,” she recalled. “It was my steely look. I said, ‘Katy, I don’t have rivals. I have friends. All the other women singers that I know are friends. Nobody’s competing. Get off the internet and you won’t have rivals either.'”
Amazing!
When asked whether she was glad that Fleetwood Mac didn’t have to deal with social media, Nicks said: “It would’ve been terrible.”
Continuing, she added: “We never had terrible paparazzi. Our fans always really honoured us and treated us with care. Nobody chased us down. It was all fun. It was never terrorising. It was never stalking. It was never weird. I couldn’t live like that.”
Whether Perry ended up taking Nicks’ advice is hard to say, although the singer did make up with her long-time rival Taylor Swift in 2018 after sending a literal olive branch to the ‘Bad Blood’ singer on the opening night of her Reputation Tour.
The pair later appeared together in the music video for Swift’s song ‘You Need To Calm Down’ in 2019.