What does this FW lyric mean?

[Antoni 5,332]

“I'm not nothing without a steady hand, I'm not nothing unless I know I can, I'm still something if I don't got a man, I'm a Free Woman”.

The line in bold. What does this mean? Unless I know I can what? I just don't get it.

[dynamite 50,362]

I think it's the double negative that's confusing, read it as "I'm nothing unless I know I can" - maybe meaning belief in yourself

Edit: omg I'm watching the Zane Lowe interview and she just said those lyrics right after I posted. Free Woman next single confirmed

[River 95,746]

No one can say that she's nothing, unless she's the one that can say that.

Like she's in control of what she is, negative or positive.

[Archduchess 2]

Something is nothing until it isn't anymore

[shame 25,360]

her grammar could mean anything

[ToxicHot 6,430]

"I'm not nothing unless I know I can"

I think it's pretty much about persistence. She's in control of herself and can do anything as long she puts her mind to it. She's not NOTHING if she doesn't give up and continues to work toward achieving her goals. 

 

(Maybe? )

[ChromaticRaccoon 1,761]

It's a double negative. 

So, someone might say "I'm nothing, unless I know I can" saying to believe in yourself, that you can succeed. And if you can't believe that, then what's the point 

However, Gaga is saying "I'm not nothing, unless I know I can" implying that just because she doubts herself, just because she has days were she doesn't believe she can do it, doesn't mean she isn't worth it, she's still her, flaws and all.

[Hybrid AT 78]

Unless she can... achieve anything. She's knows she can achieve anything and that's why she's not nothing. The double negative makes it a little confusing but at least that's how I interpret it.

[Antoni 5,332]

1 hour ago, dynamite said:

I think it's the double negative that's confusing, read it as "I'm nothing unless I know I can" - maybe meaning belief in yourself

Edit: omg I'm watching the Zane Lowe interview and she just said those lyrics right after I posted. Free Woman next single confirmed

This makes the most sense of the comments so far and yet still doesn't make any sense 

"I'm nothing unless I know I can" still has no meaning to me even without the double negative 

[BlingNotTheMusic 28,097]

My grammar-n*zi brain was triggered the first time I heard that line 

[Quasi 10,610]

With the double negative there, don't they cancel out? So it would then be a positive, like "I'm something unless I know I can" which I think contradicts the message behind that line. Double negatives confuse the hell out of me. 

tease. 

[Stephen 29,662]

I think the line is grammatically incorrect unfortunately. The double negative doesn’t really make sense. She’s done this before like on Marry the Night, “NY is not just a tan that you’ll never lose.”

The proper grammar would be either “NY is not just a tan that you’ll lose.” OR “NY is a tan that you’ll never lose.” Having both not and never contradicts the meaning 

I think in both cases (MTN and FW) the double negative doesn’t matter; it’s meant to be understood as a single negative. It should be “I’m not nothing, [as long as] I know I can”. Meaning as long as she believes in herself she IS something. 
 

Spoiler

Unless I’m missing the point 

 

[ShadowHunter 866]

2 hours ago, ToxicHot said:

"I'm not nothing unless I know I can"

I think it's pretty much about persistence. She's in control of herself and can do anything as long she puts her mind to it. She's not NOTHING if she doesn't give up and continues to work toward achieving her goals. 

 

(Maybe? )

This is the right answer. I’m not NOTHING unless I know I can, I’m not NOTHING without a steady hand. 
 

you thought i’d be nothing without a steady hand? Well I am NOT nothing. 
you thought i’d be nothing unless I knew I could? well I am NOT nothing 

idk either JAJAJA it is confusing still 

[Awrah999 3,492]

1 hour ago, Quasi said:

With the double negative there, don't they cancel out? So it would then be a positive, like "I'm something unless I know I can" which I think contradicts the message behind that line. Double negatives confuse the hell out of me. 

tease. 

I agree with this! It’s confusing but you broke it down well. 

In the first line she’s saying she’s something without a steady hand aka she can be anxious/imperfect and still amount to something. 
 

In the second line she’s saying I’m something...unless I know I can. So she’s something of worth, but if she knows she can do something she isn’t really something after all. 
 

It’s like saying I know I can do something and therefore I don’t amount to anything at all 

 

Sonically it sounds great in the song and flows well so I don’t really care, but I agree with the OP it’s confusing as hell and acts like a triple negative. It would have made more sense if she said “I’m not nothing at least I know I can” OR “I’m not nothing unless I don’t care” which are two wrong variations of the lyrics floating around before Gaga confirmed the actual (triple negative) lyrics herself  At least with those two it was only a double negative and would align with the message of the song being uplifting rather than saying you’re basically nothing if you believe in yourself