The singer/actress opened up about what she’s learned from being in the spotlight at the 2023 ‘Glamour’ Women of the Year awards.

Among the talent honoured at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards in London on Tuesday was the Little Mermaid star, 23. The actress/singer expressed her gratitude for being recognised during her acceptance speech for the Gen Z game-changer award and on social media following the event. She also discussed how difficult it can be to be a public figure.

Bailey talked up about her personal experience coping with superstardom after Lashana Lynch gave her the award and she praised the “female souls” that made it possible for her to be there. “I know that my personal journey, although filled with my own struggles and challenges, sometimes pales in comparison to a lot of what y’all have gone through,” the singer of “Angel” added. “However, I also realise that with the spotlight comes the obligation to speak about my experience in the hopes that it will be able to offer some guidance and inspiration to those girls and women who look to me standing under that spotlight.”

The Color Purple star continued, “It’s been an adjustment to live my life under the scrutiny of that spotlight, but in the age of social media in some way, we all live under that same scrutiny — from our bodies, what our bodies look like from what we wear to who we love to the things we care about, it’s all open to scrutiny.”

So here’s my honest advice: Turn it off when you need to find inner peace, OK. But also, live your life for you,” the R&B hitmaker said. “Don’t waste time living it for social media. Everyone has an opinion, but the only opinion that matters is your own, and you already know deep down what’s right for you.”

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It’s quite weird that I’m now featured on posters and influencing the young females that approach me. I simply want to keep making them proud, she continued. The singer, who will soon be seen in a musical film rendition of The Colour Purple, also released her first solo single, “Angel,” over the summer. She has hinted that there would be more brand-new music shortly.