Beth Ditto has always been one of those artists who defies the concept of a straight answer. Ask her about Real Power, the first Gossip album in over a decade, and instead of some calculated PR-ready response, you get a conversation that jumps from band dynamics to Subway sandwich assembly to why Rick Rubin says Long Island in a funny way.
This, by the way, is exactly why Gossip still feels vital in 2025.
Ditto, guitarist Nathan Howdeshell, and drummer Hannah Blilie have reunited, though reunited might not be the right word. “We’re not very good at planning things,” Ditto says. “If we had, I don’t think it would’ve worked out. It had to just be like, ‘Oh yeah, I guess this is happening now.’”
She compares their band dynamic to a road trip, where Hannah is the meticulous planner and she and Nathan are “like untamed cats in a car, somehow loose from the pet carrier.”
That chaotic energy is a big part of what made Gossip’s Music for Men era so electrifying—and what makes Real Power feel like more than just a nostalgic victory lap. They recorded the new album with Rubin, whose presence in the studio Ditto describes as “we’ll know when we get there.”
That, apparently, was all she needed to hear. “I don’t want discipline,” she laughs. “If I wanted discipline, I’d do something completely different.”
She wonders how Rubin works with other bands—whether he adapts his style or if his whole approach is just one big Jedi mind trick—but for Gossip, it was about stripping things down and trusting instinct. “It’s not a pissing contest. It’s just about sounds, what you can make with what you know,” Ditto says.
What they know is how to make music that still feels like an act of rebellion. “Rock and roll can be so gross and macho, and Rick isn’t that way at all. He respects Nathan’s style, which isn’t technical virtuoso, but it’s his.”
The record’s title track, Real Power, is a statement on the progress they’ve seen since their early days—without ignoring how much work there’s still left to do. “We’ve always been here, making art, creating something. And now, finally, queer artists are topping the charts. That’s huge. But at the same time, we’re watching people debate our right to exist,” she says. “That is [expletive] crazy.”
Ditto gets fired up about social movements, how they build momentum and then hit resistance. “Change never happens fast enough,” she says. “But when you see younger queer artists making incredible work and not hiding, that’s what it’s all about.”
For now, Gossip is back, Real Power is out, and Ditto is still bringing her whole wild, unpredictable, brilliant self to every moment. And yes, she still loves fashion. “You ever see someone just feeling themselves in the most ridiculous outfit?” she asks. “That’s my favorite thing in the world.”
Watch the interview above and then check out the video below.
