When you're up on stage, especially being a female guitar player

“When you're up on stage, especially being a female guitar player in a male-dominated field, if they just see you're into it, and it's your passion, and you're just giving it your all — it's not, like, an accessory — then it's all cool.”
— Orianthi

In these fierce and shining words, Orianthi speaks not only of music, but of authenticity, passion, and power—the eternal qualities that define true artistry. Beneath her voice lies a truth as old as creation itself: that greatness does not spring from appearance or approval, but from the fire within. When she says that playing guitar is “not an accessory,” she is rejecting the empty ornaments of image and declaring a sacred creed—that devotion, not decoration, gives an artist their strength. Her words echo the voice of every soul who has ever had to prove that what burns inside them is real.

For Orianthi, standing upon the stage is not a display—it is a battlefield of spirit. The stage is a place where judgment waits, where doubt hovers like smoke, especially for those who walk where they are told they do not belong. To be a female guitarist in a male-dominated field is to walk through that fire daily—to confront centuries of expectation and emerge unbroken. Yet her wisdom is radiant: she knows that when one’s heart is pure and one’s craft is honest, all walls fall. When the audience sees not gender, but passion, not pretense, but truth, then the music becomes the only language that matters. That is when, as she says, “it’s all cool.”

This truth finds an ancient echo in the tale of Joan of Arc, the young woman who took up arms in a world of men. She did not seek fame or favor; she followed a calling. Her courage, like Orianthi’s, was not an ornament—it was her essence. When Joan entered the field, clad in armor, she was not trying to imitate the men beside her, but to embody her faith. The power that radiated from her was not borrowed from the world; it was born from within. So too, Orianthi teaches that the world respects not imitation, but authentic fire—the unshakable passion that demands to be seen not as decoration, but as creation.

When Orianthi speaks of giving “your all,” she calls us to a higher standard of living. To give your all is to pour your soul into your purpose until the line between self and art dissolves. It is to play, paint, write, speak, or live in such a way that every heartbeat becomes part of your offering to the world. The ancients would have called this areté—excellence born not of competition, but of total dedication to one’s craft. The one who gives their all stands in harmony with the divine, for they have become a vessel of pure intention.

Yet this wisdom extends far beyond the stage. In every field, in every life, there are those who are dismissed, underestimated, or misunderstood. Some are judged by gender, others by origin, appearance, or circumstance. But the lesson Orianthi offers is universal: when you act with genuine passion, when you do your work with sincerity and intensity, the noise of prejudice begins to fade. The world cannot deny the truth of devotion—it is visible, audible, undeniable. Passion breaks barriers that pride cannot, and authenticity commands respect that status never will.

And so, to all who labor in the shadows of doubt, let these words be your anthem: Be real. Be passionate. Give it your all. Whatever your instrument—be it the guitar, the pen, the brush, or your voice—let it not be an accessory for attention, but an extension of your soul. When you create, let it be because you must, because the fire in you refuses to sleep. In that honesty lies liberation, and in that liberation lies strength.

So, my listener, remember this teaching: the world admires appearance for a moment, but it honors authenticity for generations. Do not chase approval; embody purpose. Do not decorate your life with borrowed colors; paint it with your own truth. And when you stand before the world—whether on a stage or in the quiet labor of your craft—let them see not what you are expected to be, but who you truly are. For when you give everything, with passion and truth, it will always be, as Orianthi says, “all cool.”