page_title: Solange Knowles
section_title: Public image
hierarchical_section_title: Solange Knowles / Artistry / Public image
caption_attribution_description: English: Solange Knowles at the Cannes Film Festival
context_page_description: Solange Piaget Knowles, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and actress. Expressing an interest in music from an early age, Knowles had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, which featured her elder sister, Beyoncé Knowles, among its members, before signing with her father Mathew Knowles's Music World Entertainment label. At age 16, Knowles released her first studio album Solo Star. Between 2005 and 2007, Knowles had several minor acting roles, including the direct-to-video Bring It On: All or Nothing and continued writing music for Beyoncé and for former Destiny's Child group members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.
  In 2007, Knowles began to record music again. Her second studio album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams deviated from the pop-oriented music of her debut to the Motown Sound of the 1960s and 1970s. It peaked at number nine on US Billboard 200 and received positive reviews from critics. She followed this up with the 1980s pop and R&B–inspired extended play True on Terrible Records and her imprint Saint Records.
context_section_description: Knowles has always been compared by the media to her sister, Beyoncé, whom she considers one of her role models. She has expressed her opinion of the comparison in the lyrics to "God Given Name": "I'm not her and never will be" – which was purposely set as the opening track of Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams to show their differences. In his review for the album, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine referred to the lyrics as a declaration of independence. Beyoncé was unwilling to bring her sister into the recording industry, reasoning that it "involves a lot of pressure". Knowles countered by saying, "It's good to have her advice, but we really have different goals". In her sister's self-titled album, Beyoncé credits Knowles with the lyric "my sister taught me I should speak my mind", as she acknowledges the impact her family has made on her life.
  In recent years, Knowles has also garnered considerable attention as a fashion icon. Her knack for bold colors, mixed prints, and retro styles, as well as her knack for glamorous, fashion-forward looks in her music videography and public appearances, has become integral to her current image. She has been photographed wearing Alexander Wang, Alexander McQueen, and Chanel. The music video for her 2012 single "Losing You" featured a heavy demonstration of the contemporary sartorial movement throughout Africa, La Sape.
  Similarly, her decision to grow her natural hair initially generated strong reactions from the public. In a cover interview with Toyin Ojih Odutola for Cultured Magazine, Knowles addressed her shift to minimalist fashion and the response she received from the public, “This idea that black women could not be minimalist, we could not be subtle— we have to be big, we have to be loud, we have to be an explosive presence."
  At the 2017 Glamour Women of the Year awards, Knowles wore a yellow Jean-Paul Gaultier couture gown and was named a Woman of the Year.
  Knowles is an activist for the Black Lives Matter movement and has openly made many statements in opposition to police brutality against African Americans. On the day of the mass shooting at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, Solange released a statement posing the following questions: "Where can we be safe? Where can we be free? Where can we be black?" Knowles has stated on several occasions that as a black woman, she is "not really allowed to be mad" without enforcing racial stereotypes, however, she has "a lot to be mad about".
  In July 2016, she took to Twitter to critique police who were present at a peaceful protest in Baton Rouge, saying "Protesters/marchers have been nothing but peaceful today in Baton Rouge. Police are here pulling out tear gas while children are around" and "Most of the march/protest speakers in Baton Rouge were all under 17 years old... We all left feeling uplifted...Yet as I walked back to my car I personally saw @BRPD pulling huge assault rifles out on peaceful protesters...."
  Her 2016 album, A Seat at The Table, acknowledges the inequalities that black women face in America. With songs like "Mad", "Don't Touch My Hair", and "F.U.B.U", Knowles addresses stereotypes of young, black Americans, such as criminality or the fixation people have on black women's natural hair, saying she's "got the right to be mad".
caption: Knowles at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
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