Mathew Knowles Says If Beyonce Was Dark-Skinned ‘It Would Have Affected Her Success’, Uses Kelly Rowland As An Example
Mathew Knowles Says If Beyonce Was Dark-Skinned ‘It Would Have Affected Her Success’, Uses Kelly Rowland As An Example
Mathew Knowles says that Beyonce’s lighter skin played a factor in her mega success.
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/beyonce-mathew-knowles.jpg)
Mathew & Beyonce
The singer’s father and former manager opened up about it during an interview earlier this week. He dished on a study on colorism in the music industry he conducted. He discovered that a majority of the women who topped the charts over a 15-year period (like Rihanna, Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Mariah Carey) were lighter toned.
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Screen-Shot-2019-06-20-at-9.59.30-AM.png)
Alicia Keys
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screen-Shot-2019-05-29-at-8.28.58-AM.png)
Mariah Carey
Knowles said,
“In the music industry, there’s still segregation. You know there used to be the Black division, race records…Programmers, especially at pop radio, [have] this imagery of what beauty looks like. They wanted that imagery to be the same as singing those records.”
He went point out Whitney Houston and said,
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Whitney-Houston-the-jasmine-brand-397x595.jpg)
Whitney Houston
He says,
“If you look back even at Whitney Houston, if you look at those photos, how they lightened her to make her look lighter-complexioned. Because there’s a perception and a colorism: the lighter that you are, the smarter and more economically [advantaged]… There’s a perception all around the world about color — even with black folks, there’s a perception.”
When asked if her career would have been different if Beyonce were dark-skinned, Knowles added,
“I think she would have had — it would’ve affected her success.”
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/beyoncelogo.jpg)
Beyonce
He then used Kelly Rowland as an example.
“And I use Kelly Rowland as an example. She’s a great example. But you know, the great thing is, Kelly did exceptional outside of America, especially in Australia. Kelly sold over 4 million records. She just got off-script.”
![](https://thejasminebrand.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Screen-Shot-2019-06-20-at-10.01.59-AM.png)
Kelly Rowland
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.