Kelly Rowland reveals how constant comparisons to Beyonce affected her
"It was the thing that would constantly be on my shoulder," she said.
Kelly Rowland recently opened up on life as a former member of massively successful girl group, Destiny's Child, and the effects of being in the group.
During Tuesday's semi-final episode of "The Voice Australia," she bonded with contestant Chris Sebastian, the younger brother of the singing competition's first winner, Guy Sebastian.
The two connected over their mutual feelings of being constantly compared to those close to them when the Australian competitor admitted that he struggles with creating an identity that's separate from his successful brother.
"I know this feeling. Can you imagine what it’s like being in a group with Beyoncé?" Rowland cracked.
Following her former bandmate's breakout success with the album "Dangerously in Love" in 2003, Rowland revealed she struggled to establish a name for herself because every faction of her life and career always elicited comparisons to Beyoncé.
"I would just torture myself in my head," Rowland relayed. "Like, I can’t wear this dress because they’re going to say it’s like B. Or, I can’t have a song like that because it sounds too much like B ... They’re gonna compare anyways."
Rowland was upfront that she felt bothered by this and shared how it affected her mental state. "There was a whole decade, if I am being completely honest, a decade where it was like the elephant in the room," she continued. "It was the thing that would constantly be on my shoulder."
She stressed to the contestant that he can't obsess over things he cannot change. "This is your opportunity to carve your own path, even with [your big brother] sitting in that chair down there," the Grammy-winner told him.