Shirley Manson Rejects Ageist Commentary: ‘I Will Continue to Wrinkle and Flub’

Shirley Manson is pushing back against media commentary about her appearance, calling out what she describes as “weaponised” language used to diminish women in music as they age.

On Saturday (April 13), the Garbage frontwoman took to Instagram to share a screenshot of a Daily Mail headline that claimed the band looked “unrecognizable” in new promotional photos for their recently released single, “There’s No Future in Optimism.”

The track is the first preview of their upcoming eighth studio album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, due May 30.

“Quite a header from the Daily Mail yesterday,” Manson wrote in the caption. “What is THIS supposed to mean?!? The Druids look almost exactly the same as they have always done for thirty years, so I can’t help thinking this is directed at me.”

“Look – I’m nearly sixty years old. Of course I’m not going to look anything like my late twenties self?!?” she continued. “Quite honestly I think it would be a bit creepy if I did but hey that’s just me. Either way – this kind of language is weaponised to put a woman like me in my place.”

The “Stupid Girl” singer went on to reject the idea that aging should be viewed negatively, adding, “This gift is a fail. I shall continue to age as I am. I will continue to wrinkle and flub – lose an inch of my height here and gain a new inch or two there – but I will still look cute in my pyjamas with bed head and no make up on and I will always – no matter what I look like – no matter what they say about me – I will always – and forever – rock HARDER than most.”

Garbage will support Let All That We Imagine Be the Light with a 31-date U.S. tour later this year, including stops in New York, San Francisco, Washington and more. It marks the band’s first North American headlining run in nearly a decade, following a co-headlining trek with Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds in 2023.

Let All That We Imagine Be the Light follows 2021’s No Gods No Masters and continues the band’s legacy of politically and personally charged alternative rock — themes that, as Manson’s post proves, are just as vital off stage as they are on it.