Vocalist Alexandra Burke has spoken up about her experiences of racism in the music market, exposing she was asked to bleach her skin “to look whiter”.
After winning X Aspect, Burke said she was told she would “need to work 10 times harder than a white artist, because of the colour of your skin”.
In a 15- minute Instagram video, she recalls being informed: “You can’t have braids, you can’t have an afro.
” You have to have hair … that interest white individuals.”
The 31- year-old star, who won the TELEVISION skill program in 2008 at the age of 19, described the experiences as “heartbreaking”.
Burke, who declined to bleach her skin, stated she was inspired to tell her story by fellow X Element contestant Misha B, who just recently spoke out about “being cheapened” at the hands of the music market.
Misha B claimed the X Factor projected “this angry black girl story”, using words such as “feisty” and “bully” to describe her after one a live efficiency on the show. The 2011 participant said it left her feeling self-destructive.
‘ Hurtful’
” I might have spoken up much earlier, but was too frightened to,” stated Burke, whose Instagram post has brought in a great deal of attention, and sympathy, on social media.
The music star revealed the micro-aggressions she experienced at