David Byrne has a new album coming out this Friday called American Utopia, and last week he posted a photo on Instagram of the many collaborators he worked with while writing and recording the album over the past two years. It was a rather straightforward post that Byrne probably didn’t think would incite any backlash, but that’s probably because he failed to notice a distinct lack of women in the wall of photos:
A number of people left comments on Byrne’s post, pointing out the lack of female representation, but rather than ignoring them or dismissing their concerns, he returned to Instagram to apologize and thank the commentors who called him out. “This matters a lot to me,” said as part of his apology, adding that his photo “clearly reveals this problem” of a lack of representation for women in the music industry—something he admits is “wide spread.” He even says he regrets not “hiring and collaborating with women” on American Utopia, saying it’s “ridiculous” that he didn’t and that it doesn’t line up with who he is or how he’s worked in the past. He points out that his live show “has a slew of diverse creators and collaborators,” but instead of suggesting that this makes up for the lack of women on his album, he says this makes him look “even more negligent.”
He ends his post by saying that he never thought he was “one of those guys,” but he understands that no matter how hard you try to make the world a better place, “sometimes you are part of the problem.”