She was controlling her own narrative, telling her coming-of-age story in real time as it happened—strumming her fate with her fingers, singing her life with her words. But the guitar was also a shield. She arrived in the post-Britney era, a time when pop girls were relentlessly sexualized and objectified, when the bare midriff was a standard part of the image. The guitar was a barrier against the camera’s gaze.
