This article originally appeared in the August 2016 issue of ELLE. Read it in its entirety here.
“I don’t know what propelled me,” says founding Garbage front woman Shirley Manson of her new, chic, candy-pink dye job. “I woke up one day and thought, I cannot stay red-haired for one second longer! My hairdresser didn’t want to do it. But I needed a break from myself. When she pulled the towel from my head and I saw my pink hair, I burst into this huge grin and gasped: ‘I look amazing!’ And I’ve never said that about myself in my entire life.”
This is a woman who, since Garbage’s first electro-tinged, trip-hop-traced, self-titled album in 1995, has challenged what it means to rock hard and—with her punky mix of combat boots, acid-bright clothes, and iconic black eyeliner—looked great doing it. She’s the hard-core fighter pilot Queen Astarte in Garbage’s sci-fi hit video “Special.” She has seven Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist in 1997 and Album of the Year in 1999. She’s sold more than 17 million records. She’s kicked open doors for every modern-day pop-rock heroine, from Charli XCX to Karen O. She’s even recorded a Bond theme (1999′s “The World Is Not Enough”)!
But what would Garbage be if Manson—who somehow turns 50 this month—weren’t still tapping into the insecurities that have fueled the group’s most iconically angst-ridden hits? “Sometimes I look in the mirror, feel my shoulders slump, and am disappointed with what I see,” Manson says. “And I have imaginary voices about what people might say about me having pink hair at 50. But I’m at that point where I don’t give a fuck if you think it’s appropriate or not. Go fuck yourself and be boring! I want to be free to explore the person I want to be.”
