Creativity Quote by Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack is pointing a quiet finger at the speed with which America canonizes and cancels. “Criteria” sounds formal, almost civic, but she immediately undercuts it with “very fickle” - a word that belongs to romance, not ethics. That collision is the point: in the U.S., taste and morality often behave like crushes. They surge, they fade, and they’re easily redirected by whoever controls the spotlight.

Coming from a musician whose work made intimacy feel radical, the line reads less like a complaint about reviews and more like an indictment of a culture industry that confuses heat for truth. Flack’s career moved through eras when Black women artists were praised for “soul” while being boxed into palatable narratives; her warning is that the public’s standards aren’t just inconsistent, they’re convenient. What gets labeled “good” can depend on timing, optics, political mood, or whether an artist flatters the audience’s self-image. The “especially in this country” adds bite: she’s not describing human nature in general, she’s calling out an American habit of moralizing consumption - turning songs, celebrities, even public tragedies into quick tests of virtue, then changing the answers without admitting the test was rigged.

The intent feels protective as much as critical: don’t mistake applause for legitimacy, and don’t mistake outrage for principle. Flack is asking listeners to notice the machinery behind consensus - and to choose a steadier compass than the trending one.