While encouraging women to embrace a love for their hair might initially sound like promoting vanity, that’s not the point of Kelly Rowland’s new video for her song, “Crown.” Instead, Rowland wants to inspire women to embrace their natural, cultural appearance and love their looks. “Crown” is Rowland’s latest power song, and is a call for women everywhere to embrace self-identity through their hair styles. In fact, many women have felt bullied in the past for wearing their hair certain ways, and Rowland is no exception.
Rowland’s own experience with her hair as a child created a huge amount of embarrassment for the singer. In fact, she told Essence, “It just made me think about what I went through with my hair as a kid. I was five or six when my mother put a perm in my hair and all of my hair fell out.”
Not only does Rowland’s power ballad reflect her own personal experiences as a child, the theme of “Crown” connects with women everywhere. Once Rowland started sharing her own hair struggles with the general public, other stories started to emerge about other women. According to Teen Vogue, back in August, two sixth-grade girls, Tyrelle Davis and Faith Fennidy, from Terrytown, Louisiana, arrived at school in braided extensions and were sent home. After hearing about their experience, Rowland decided to feature the two girls in her video as symbols of young women who have experienced public shaming over their hair, and also as a reminder of how women can overcome that type of shaming.
WATCH: Kelly Rowland Releases Inspiring New 'Crown' Video with Dove To Help Girls Love Their Hair https://t.co/HJpejb88sW
— People (@people) February 6, 2019
Rowland felt the experience of these two sixth-graders, and the fact they were forced out of school because of their hair extensions, is one example of how young women can be mistreated for their hairstyles, and forced to doubt their appearances.
“Crown” came not just from her own story, and the stories of other women, but also from her association with Dove’s “Love Your Hair Campaign.” The combination of the powerful, relatable lyrics with Kelly’s amazing voice shouts out a theme with which many women can relate. As Rowland’s lyrics remind women to wear it proud, both her and Dove are promoting female empowerment through the #MyHairMyCrown campaign.
“Growing up, I felt many of the pressures young girls face today when it comes to embracing their hair, but my mom would always tell me that your hair is your crowning glory and you should wear it proudly,” Rowland told Teen Vogue.