Beyoncé and Solange Knowles have become pop culture sensations over the last two decades. Both sisters have worked hard to get where they are, but the foundation for their success started with their father, Matthew Knowles. He helped Beyoncé’s group Destiny’s Child become one of the 1990's premier girl groups. While Solange has forged a separate path to music stardom, the Knowles patriarch admitted he wanted his younger daughter to be part of the influential girl group with her older sister. Although she never joined the group, her father shared his pride over their individual paths to fame.
The music mogul hopped on his Instagram account to praise his daughters for their different paths to success. He chose to highlight Solange in a poignant post after a follower’s request to post a photo of his younger daughter. Knowles revealed he wanted her to join the best-selling girl group but recalled her rejecting the opportunity. The music executive opened up about the Grammy-winning artist’s different view of music.
Many of you aren’t aware, but I personally wanted Solange to be in Destiny’s Child. That didn’t appeal to her. You would think joining Destiny's Child would be a dream to her, and she had every opportunity to seize the success that the group was experiencing—but she wanted to forge her very own path. She wanted to trust her own instincts. She loved music, but she just loved it from a different perspective…her own!
Following Solange’s rejection of his vision, Matthew Knowles admitted he had to let go of his desires for hers and her self-assurance. He eventually came to accept her decision. Before his younger daughter found tremendous success, he knew her resolution to superstardom would help her cope with the limelight. You can see his full post below where the music manager spoke highly of the “Cranes in the Sky” singer.
But the father of four didn’t just highlight Solange as he put up another post featuring her older pop superstar sister. This time, Knowles spoke to nurturing his eldest daughter’s need to perform on stage. He also recalled him and her mother, Tina Lawson, recognizing Beyoncé’s talent early on:
We all want to see our children excel academically, athletically, artistically, socially, and so on. Sometimes, we just need to let them have fun and let their spirits guide them to be the best they can possibly be. In Beyoncé’s case, Tina and I saw her incredible love for the stage and performing at a very young age. And we both knew that as long as she was having fun doing what she loved and was passionate about it, that she would be successful.
Having shepherded Beyoncé’s early career, Matthew Knowles remembered having to strike a delicate balancing act between being a parent and a manager. He admitted it made things complicated on a personal and professional level. Like he did with his younger daughter, he dedicated a full post to the record-setting Grammy winner with a cute father-daughter throwback pic.
As Knowles pointed out, his daughters took on the music industry in different ways. Beyoncé went the traditional route by spinning off from her successful girl group to a successful solo career. She scored plenty of hit singles and albums since her debut Dangerously in Love dropped in 2003. The pop superstar amassed numerous accolades, including a record-setting 28 Grammy awards. She even forged a successful multimedia career, spanning fields like film and fashion, landing her latest Oscar nomination this year.
For her part, Solange found success as an independent artist dabbling in many artistic endeavors. Starting on the traditional route, she evolved into her own, garnering critical and commercial acclaim with her mixture of experimental sounds and songwriting. The younger Knowles received her first Grammy in 2017 after building a sizeable following. She expanded from music into performance art, composing a score for the New York Ballet.
There’s no word on a new Solange project, but Beyoncé released her seventh album Renaissance earlier this year. The album was met with critical acclaim and commercial success along with a few controversies, including clapping back about allegedly misusing a sample again. In the meantime, you can watch Beyoncé in The Lion King and Black is King through a Disney+ subscription. Once you're done with those films, you can watch her concert special Homecoming with a Netflix subscription.
