How Size 8’s Childhood Self-esteem Issues Led Her to Music

In an interview with Protel Studios’ 99 Degrees, Size 8 made an interesting revelation. Apparently, she has had image issues and was apparently teased for her size. That’s weird because the singer is known for her bold and provocative stage performances.

“I started off in 2009 in August, I released Size 8 as my first single. When I was in primary school, people used to call me Skele Mabony. I was the thinnest in school and had the biggest head so I had self-esteem problems. People don’t believe it when I’m on stage performing but, yeah, I had serious self-esteem problems.”

She further talks about how she used the experience to make a song. “When I went to high school, there’s another chick called Sophie, she was a first former like me. She was so huge, I think she was a size 16 or 18. When she entered the dining hall the first day, all the fourth formers laughed at her. She never went to the dining hall again until those fourth formers left.”

She adds, “So, I’ve just seen women going through image issues, size issues, you want to be a size something, sometimes it’s impossible. I can’t add weight. I can never, so I have to accept myself with the way I am. My sister even had problems with her husband after the weight gain after she had a baby. So, I sat down and asked myself why do we allow ourselves as women to go through such things?”

And then how she made a song out of it, “So, I said, why can’t I write a song that empowers us women? A song that tells us haijalishi, it doesn’t matter. Haijalishi kama unafikiri mi ni wa udu. It doesn’t matter if you think I’m not good enough whether niwe na hips, ninone nikose nikonde. So, that song was for me.”