"I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist"
About this Quote
The real friction lives in the next turn: “But so many people compare me to him.” Comparisons are framed as something done to him, not by him, shifting blame onto the audience and the industry machine that loves tidy lineages. Pop and R&B are obsessed with inheritance: the “next” someone, the successor, the replacement. It’s flattering until it becomes a ceiling. Brown is naming the psychological tax of being filed under an existing brand name, especially when your artistry is still under negotiation.
“I don’t think it’ll ever stop” is resignation disguised as realism, an admission that public narratives harden faster than musicians evolve. Then comes the thesis: “I just want to be my own artist.” It’s not a lofty manifesto; it’s a defensive demand for authorship. Beneath it is anxiety about originality in a genre where style is often read as duplication, and where image can eclipse craft. The quote reads like an artist trying to reclaim the steering wheel from the comparison economy that built him.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Brown, Chris. (n.d.). I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/
Chicago Style
Brown, Chris. "I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I'm not gonna say that I hate it, because I really respect Usher and I was influenced by him. But so many people compare me to him, and I don't think it'll ever stop. I just want to be my own artist." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/im-not-gonna-say-that-i-hate-it-because-i-really-16805/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.


