And “it won’t stop” according to Sevyn Streeter!
The 36-year-old singer has had longevity in the music industry for a long time. From her girl group days in TG4 and RichGirl to her solo career with hit singles like “It Won’t Stop,” she’s been “it.”
She recently performed at this year’s Essence Festival. Following her performance, Streeter dropped some encouraging words about seeing more Brown skin ladies in music.
When 360 asked how she feels seeing leading ladies such as Jazmine Sullivan, Summer Walker, Normani, Justine Skye, and Lizzo, to name a few, she said,
“In all transparency [colorism has] been around for a very long time. But I see a shift and it makes me very happy. I’ve seen it when it was really crazy.”
She added,
“I’m a Brown skin girl who was in fair-skinned girl groups. And I would sing and record the [song] and ‘they’ would let them lip-synch and record the video. I’ve seen the worst of the worst. But it’s a lot of representation right now and it makes my heart very happy.”
The songstress believes that with more conversations addressing the issue, the better the outcome. “I’m looking at the progress,” she said. Because we’re going to keep screaming from the mountaintop.”
Colorism has been a considerable debate not only in the Black community but how it can be marginalized in other professions.
Back in 2019, research was conducted at Texas Southern University. The results unveiled that over a 15-year period, lighter-skinned women fared better in the music industry and received better airplay in order to chart on Billboard, per The Guardian.
Matthew Knowles, the father of megastar Beyoncè, said his daughter would’ve had challenges if she were of a darker hue. “I think it would’ve affected her success.” Knowles serves as visiting professor on TSU’s campus with The Knowles Institute.
Destiny’s Child alum, Kelly Rowland, sat with British TV personality Tan France in April. During their conversation, Rowland expressed how she was constantly compared to group members given she was the “darkest one.”
Between Normani, Summer Walker, Jazmine Sullivan, Ari Lennox, and countless others, that Black Girl Magic knows no bounds.
