Solange Knowles has lost out on opportunities because of her determination to "own" her body.
The 31-year-old singer has found huge success in the music industry and released her latest album A Seat At The Table last year. However, the younger sister of Beyonce admitted that her strong morals have often led to her missing out on gigs.
"To be honest, owning my body this year was really important to me," she told ES magazine. "That can mean a lot of things. That can be in physical form - wanting to have control over my physical body - and also wanting to have control in the way it is presented to the world.
"And it isn’t always easy. I often lose opportunities based on my will to want to navigate through that ownership of my body in the most authentic way."
She also credited her mother Tina for giving her such a strong personality, adding: "And I really kind of attained a lot of that from my mother."
A Seat At The Table is Solange's third offering, with the singer describing it as a project about identity, empowerment and independence. Part of the album was recorded in New Iberia, Louisiana, where her grandparents lived until they were forced out by the Ku Klux Klan.
Speaking about the region, the mother-of-one explained: "It can be colourful. It can be vivid. But one of the things I immediately think of when I think of Southern storytelling is its slower rhythm and slower pace.
"I think of times growing up when I would hear an aunt, an uncle, or a great-aunt tell a story, taking you through all of the different twists and turns and valleys and rivers of it. And as a writer I think that has really kind of influenced my pace. I really kind of take my time through the process."
