Free woman lyrics

[BlueRose 397]

Hello monsters, I am not a native English speaker and I can't understand a lyric from Free woman.  I don't understand what she means by

"I'm not nothing unless I know I can" Specifically the "unless I know I can" part. 

[ristretto 883]

Not even people who speak English got that one, to be fair. 

[MiQuenDroid 5,059]

She said this during her Beats1 interview:

"I was sexually assaulted by a music producer. It’s compounded all of my feelings about life, feelings about the world, feelings about the industry, what I had to compromise and go through to get to where I am. And I had to put it there. And when I was able to finally celebrate it, I said, “You know what? 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.” It’s me going, “I no longer am going to define myself as a survivor, or a victim of sexual assault. I just am a person that is free, who went through some ****ed-up ****.”

[paradox 4,568]

you're not gonna understand that lyric, unless you know you can 

[KillerMonster 2,361]

Pretty much means she is nothing if she doesn’t believe in herself. 

[Enzo 37,977]

That line is ugly 

Contributing to place the song even lower in the Chromatica ranking

[Massive Monster 4,988]

You're lucky 

[Seeka 12,372]

The main thing about the songs is that she uses double negatives, which, while improper English, is a neat thing to use in a song, to make you do a double take. 

[Ronnie 5,786]

It's simple. She means that even when she feels that she can't do something, she's still something, she's still worthy.

It's okay to not be okay.

[derpmonster 22,412]

It's not grammatically correct. What she means is

"I'm not nothing if I know I can [do it]"

Unless makes it a double negative changing the meaning but it's common in slang and music to do that.

[derpmonster 22,412]

Just now, Ronnie said:

It's simple. She means that even when she feels that she can't do something, she's still something, she's still worthy.

that's not what unless implied though.

That would mean she is nothing in case she can do something and not nothing if she can't. Unless creates mutual exclusives.

[Ronnie 5,786]

1 minute ago, derpmonster said:

that's not what unless implied though.

That would mean she is nothing in case she can do something and not nothing if she can't. Unless creates mutual exclusives.

You're reading into it too much. Break it down like this....

I am not "useless/void" if I don't feel like I can do it today. 

[dollardays 3,664]

My take is that she has worth even when not sure if she's capable of something.

[Ronnie 5,786]

2 minutes ago, dollardays said:

My take is that she has worth even when not sure if she's capable of something.

[Daylight Jokers 14,958]

I'm guessing it means she's still something with or without telling herself that.