Now 34 years old, the Sk8er Woman is expressing her maturity by appearing on the cover of Head Above Water , her first album in five years, in moody black and white, like a Camden High Street busker as directed by Fellini .
Stripping off, jumping in a large puddle and strategically manoeuvring her body behind an acoustic guitar, we can see neither nipples nor pudenda but plenty of leg, a smidge of sideboob and a Brigitte Bardot bouffant.
So what does this particular pose mean? It means you are allowed to love your body (that’s if you’re a slim, conventionally attractive blond white woman). It means that women should be naked before they’re comfortable and vulnerable before they’re powerful . All of which means that the patriarchy is still winning. Goddamn those guys.