Creativity Quote by Robert Smith

Robert Smith’s genius has always been making defeat sound like liberation. On the surface, this is a shrug at a chart dip - the Cure “slipping down into the second division,” as if pop stardom were a soccer league with relegation and petty commentators. The move is strategic: by insisting he “never expected to be in the first division anyway,” Smith pre-empts the culture’s favorite sport, the fall-from-grace narrative. You can’t be “exposed” as less important if you’ve already refused the premise that importance is the prize.

The subtext is classic Cure: a protective pessimism that doubles as an aesthetic stance. Smith isn’t just downplaying commercial status; he’s declaring a kind of anti-ambition as authenticity. In a music economy that constantly audits relevance - sales, radio rotation, festival slots, streaming metrics - this is an artist refusing to let external ranking systems define the work’s value. The self-deprecation is armor, but also a wink: he knows the “first division” is a mirage built on hype cycles and gatekeepers.

Context matters: the Cure emerged from post-punk, where suspicion of mainstream validation was practically a credential. Smith’s line keeps faith with that lineage while acknowledging how fame haunts even the bands that supposedly reject it. It’s not a denial of ego; it’s ego redirected. If the world insists on scoring you, he’d rather play a different game, and call it victory.