Solange Knowles Opens Up About Beyonce Comparisons, Her Divorce, and Her Humble Childhood

By: Amanda Anderson-Niles

Solange Knowles is like many other little sisters, and fights hard to make the differences between her and big sis Beyonce quite obvious. But the differences just don’t stop at hairstyles and fashion choices, but both are like night and day when it comes to the kind of music they feel compelled to produce in the studio. Although Beyonce has found success in R&B music and Pop stardom, Solange has gone a totally different direction with her sound of music. While most consider Solange’s music to have a little bit more soul than Beyonce’s, that hasn’t made Solange a commercial success. She’s had issues with record labels, and had to see some of her projects be met with less than stellar record sales’ which is something her big sister Beyonce has yet to really experience. Regardless. Solange says she doesn’t mind the Beyonce comparisons, no really.

She tells The Guardian:

“She’s a beautiful person to be compared to… actually [my music] is a whole different sound.”

But what Solange does mind is labels and being referred to as a “hipster”:

“Hipster? I despise that word! Come on. It’s just a lazy way to describe someone who doesn’t define themselves in a narrow way, culturally speaking.”

Although Solange disagrees with the term in a civil way, she’s quite aware that her interview with Fox a few years ago has many thinking she’s the stereotypical “angry black woman” who simply loathes answering questions about her superstar sister Beyonce. But Solange says there was way more to that story. She says she simply snapped since she caught Fox mocking her family behind the scenes:

If I was a male rapper responding in that way, it would have been no big deal. But when a black woman stands up for herself suddenly she has an attitude problem. Besides, who cares? It’s Fox.”

Solange realizes that Beyonce is a superstar, but she still insists that she and her sister aren’t that much different from anyone else, and their childhood isn’t that much different than most:

“My sister and I were not allowed expensive clothes. We so badly wanted these Fila sneakers as kids but my mother took us down to the flea market and got imitation ones. Look at the early Destiny’s Child videos, you’ll see!”

But many would say Solange’s life at age 17 wasn’t normal in the least bit. While embarking on her singing career, she got pregnant and married at age 17. And a few years later while working on music, she ended up divorcing the father of her son Daniel:

“In retrospect, it was very young to get started on those things, but I had been working since I was 13, so I felt I had a head start. I’m sure deep down my parents were not completely thrilled, but I had my own money. I’d been working for five years by then, so there wasn’t much they could do but offer moral support, which they did.”

Solange is set to drop her new album “True “at the end of November. It will feature 7 tracks.

Check out the video to single “Losing You” below: