You can't master your future if you're still a slave to your past.
RihannaRead
If you're performing music that is not who you are or where you're at, it is painful. It's painful for the performer and for the audience.
Interpretation
Authenticity in performance is essential for both the artist and the audience.
Rihanna highlights the importance of genuine expression in music. When artists perform material that does not resonate with their true selves or experiences, it creates a disconnect that is uncomfortable for both the performer and the audience, emphasizing the need for authenticity in artistic endeavors.
In practice
This quote can be used during a panel discussion about the importance of authenticity in the arts.
You can't master your future if you're still a slave to your past.
I used to feel unsafe right in the moment of an accomplishment - I felt the ground fall from under my feet because this could be the end. And even now, while everyone is celebrating, I'm on to the next thing. I don't want to get lost in this big cushion of success.
When it comes to everybody else's thing and their lane and their timing, I'm never doing anything intentional to, like, come after somebody. That will always be my biggest mistake or anybody's biggest mistake if that's their intention.
Keep your eyes on the finish line and not on the turmoil around you.
People - especially white people - they want me to be a role model just because of the life I lead. The things I say in my songs, they expect it of me.
Once you're back on your feet - if you ever make it back on your feet - that's the ultimate achievement. I remember I was in New York at the Trump Hotel and I woke up and I just knew I was over it. It was a different day. I felt different. I didn't feel lonely. I felt like I wanted to get up and be in the world. That was a great, great feeling.
Every song is like a kid. How can you have that many kids and have a favorite? Which one do I like to hang most with? Probably the one that I haven't hung most with recently.
You can write any time people will leave you alone and not interrupt you. Or rather you can if you will be ruthless enough about it. But the best writing is certainly when you are in love.
Japan lives with drastic segregation between the sublime, the ugly, and the utterly without qualities. Dominance of the last 2 categories makes mere presence of the first stunning: when beauty 'happens', it is absolutely surprising.
Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
One of the greatest experiences I ever had was listening to a conversation with Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. Just to hear them talking, my mouth was open. They understand each other perfectly, and they make these leaps and jumps because they don't have to explain anything.
The eye speaks with an eloquence and truthfulness surpassing speech. It is the window out of which the winged thoughts often fly unwittingly. It is the tiny magic mirror on whose crystal surface the moods of feeling fitfully play, like the sunlight and shadow on a still stream.
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