Singer, actress and all-round showbiz veteran Bette Midler has spoken out about the sexualisation of pop music – with Ariana Grande right in her firing line.

[related] “It’s terrible! It’s always surprising to see someone like Ariana Grande with that silly high voice, a very wholesome voice, slithering around on a couch, looking so ridiculous,” Bette told The Telegraph.

“I mean, it’s silly beyond belief and I don’t know who’s telling her to do it. I wish they’d stop. But it’s not my business, I’m not her mother. Or her manager. Maybe they tell them that’s what you’ve got to do. Sex sells. Sex has always sold.”

In London to promote her latest album, It’s The Girls, the Hocus Pocus star doesn’t seem to be a One Direction fan either.

Speaking of her time at the Royal Variety Performance, where she and 1D both appeared on Thursday night, Bette said, “I saw them from across a crowded room. Simon Cowell was there so I didn’t dare approach them.”

Interviewer Bryony Gordon comments, “She (Bette) mimes a theatrical retch as she says this.”

However, there were two guests at the Royal Variety with whom Bette was extremely pleased. “I met the beautiful Duchess (of Cambridge)and her wonderful, handsome husband and they’re lovely, lovely people and I was delighted to be introduced,” she said.

As for any positive comments on pop music? “I like Destiny’s Child. I think that was the last great girl band there was.”

In the words of Drake, girls love Beyoncé – even the most difficult to please of girls, it seems.