Kelly Rowland Was Asked About Growing Up In Someone's Shadow And She Got Real About Being Compared With Beyoncé

    "I would be lying if I said, 'No, it's never bothered me.'"

    Ben Henry
    by Ben Henry

    BuzzFeed Staff

    Kelly Rowland opened up about being close friends and bandmates with Beyoncé, revealing that she "tortured" herself for over a decade because of the comparisons.

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    In a recent segment from The Voice Australia, contestant Chris Sebastian spoke about feeling like he had "grown up" in his brother's shadow.

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    Chris's brother, Guy Sebastian, is a successful singer in Australia, known for winning Australian Idol in 2003, as well as having a long-standing career that's included numerous top 10 hits.

    Like Kelly, Guy also happens to be a coach on The Voice Australia, which Chris is currently competing on.

    "For a long time, I did feel like I was in Guy's shadow," Chris explained to Kelly. "I'd play shows and people would only associate me with him and I struggled with that for a really long time."

    It seems like Chris was referencing Kelly's career and, in particular, comparisons with Beyoncé, who has always been deemed the lead singer and most successful member of Destiny's Child since they first got together as teenagers.

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    "I know this feeling," Kelly immediately responded, joking, "Can you imagine what it's like being in a group with Beyoncé?"

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    Kelly went as far as to say that constant comparisons with Beyoncé made her question her own career and style choices while she tried to carve out her own lane as a solo artist.

    "I would be lying if I said, 'No, it's never bothered me,'" Kelly continued. "That's bull. There was a whole decade, if I'm being completely honest, that it was like the elephant in the room, the thing that would constantly be on my shoulder."

    Nine Network / Via youtube.com

    "This is your opportunity to carve your own path," Kelly finished. "Even with [Guy] sitting in that chair down there."

    Kelly has previously opened up about these comparisons, most notably on the 2013 song "Dirty Laundry". On the track, she suggested she had been turned against Beyoncé during a toxic relationship and it had sparked jealousy over her success.

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    In the song, Kelly seemingly revealed that the pair had once gone their separate ways, singing: "While my sister was on stage, killing it like a motherfucker / I was enraged, feeling it like a motherfucker / Bird in a cage, you would never know what I was dealing with / Went our separate ways, but I was happy she was killing it."

    The lyrics continued to talk about Beyoncé's success after Destiny's Child, saying: "Post 'Survivor', she on fire, who wanna hear my bullshit?"

    Towards the end of the song, Kelly explicitly name-drops Beyoncé while discussing her toxic relationship, singing: "He pulled me out, he said, 'Don't nobody love you but me' / 'Not your mama, not your daddy, and especially not Bey'."

    "The whole business of comparing women is wrong — let's just make that very clear," Kelly said while discussing the song and being compared with her bandmates in an interview earlier this year.

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    "People would use that stuff against me," she continued. "The whole, 'You're not as this as the group', or 'This is Michelle', or 'This is Beyoncé'."

    You can watch Kelly and Chris's segment from The Voice Australia here.