Let us call Lizzo what she is – an ambassador for authenticity and body-positivity. With beauty and confidence to match her talent and style, she has certainly made her mark in the music industry.
Lizzo’s breakthrough was not the lightning-bolt type. She released her debut album, Lizzobangers, in 2013, her six-track EP Coconut Oil in 2016 and her third studio album, Cuz I Love You, came out in 2019. She has finally attained mainstream mega-success. In fact, seven years after the release of her first album, the Detroit-born muso keeps steadily winning the hearts of fans with her some-times cheeky, often empowering lyrics.
When Time magazine named her Entertainer of the Year in 2019, Lizzo became much more than just a singer and rapper. Hers was a rare feelgood story in the music industry. One can’t help but agree with Time because, in just one year, she had no less than eight nominations (more than any other artist in 2020) at the 62nd Grammy Awards. Of the eight, she bagged three of the golden gramophones – Best Urban Contemporary Album, Best Pop Solo Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance. In addition to that, she is also a two-time Soul Train Music Award winner and has a BET Award and Billboard Music Award under her belt.
GROWING POPULARITY
Besides her singing, rapping and songwriting skills, the 32 year old is also known for playing the flute. Having started playing in primary school, she went all the way to the University of Houston, where her focus was on classical music, and today she has more than 20 years’ experience in playing the flute. ‘I remember in the fifth grade, I just wanted to be really good,’ she told CBS News about her popular flute – that even has its own Instagram account. ‘It was so hard to be good at it. It’s a challenging instrument.
I became obsessed with being good.’ In 2019 she decided to highlight another skill, on top of her impressive musical abilities, to further increase her growing popularity, so she ventured into acting. She appeared alongside Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, and served as the voice of Lydia in the animated movie, Ugly Dolls.
BREAKING RECORDS
But music is still her mainstay. Lizzo’s third studio album finally attained incredible mainstream success – Cuz I Love You was in the top five of the US Billboard 200. The album kicked dust, spawning massive hit singles that were followed by the release of the deluxe version of the album that included ‘Truth Hurts’, a single she released in 2017.
The already two-year-old single went on to top the US Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, leaving records broken in its wake. The track held the number one spot longer than that of any other female rapper. Quite impressive for a young woman who not so long ago lived in her car for more than a year while trying to break into the music industry!
SELF-LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE
As a plus-size fashion icon and body-positive activist, Lizzo spearheads the self-love movement and is often seen celebrating her voluptuous curves. ‘When people look at my body and be like, “Oh my God, she’s so brave,” it’s like, “No, I’m not!”,’ she said in an interview with Glamour magazine. ‘I’m just fine. I’m just me. I’m just sexy.
If you saw Anne Hathaway in a bikini on a billboard, you wouldn’t call her brave. I just think there’s a double standard when it comes to women.’ She firmly believes that her message of self-love and acceptance – for all beauty in its different forms – shouldn’t be considered brave, but should be normalised by society.
‘I don’t like it when people think it’s hard for me to see myself as beautiful. I don’t like it when people are shocked at what I do,’ she said.
DOING THE GROUNDWORK
On stage, Lizzo’s charisma and her attitude are infectious. Offstage, however, she admits it isn’t as easy. It took years of groundwork to develop her unapologetic self-confidence – but she still has off days, just like the rest of us. In a recent video she shared on TikTok, she opened up about negative thoughts she sometimes has about herself.
‘I once came home and took my clothes off to take a shower,’ she said, ‘and I just started having all these really negative thoughts about myself… Maybe all the mean things people say about me are true… And normally, I would have something positive to say to get me out of it, but I didn’t, and that’s okay too.’
The megawatt personality went on to explain that her experience is shared by many others, and what she tells herself and others is to power through these difficult moments. Said to have a ‘firecracker personality which inflames the room’, she is always full of encouragement, even on her dark days.
‘I think these are normal, they happen to everybody,’ she said. ‘I just have to know that tomorrow, how I feel in here (my head) is going to change, and I can only hope it changes for the better. But I know I’m beautiful. I just don’t feel it [right now],
but I know I’m going to get through it.’
Lizzo’s uncompromising attitude extends to issues of mental health too. She cannot stress enough the importance of doing the inner work. ‘Money is great and makes life way easier, but it does not make you happy if ur sad on the inside,’ she said on her post.
CALLING OUT BODY SHAMERS
Aside from having to contend with occasional negative self-talk, she also has to deal with body shamers. Recently, political and social commentator Dr Boyce Watkins was quoted as saying that Lizzo’s popularity was a result of an obesity epidemic in America. Not one to take such comments lying down, however, Lizzo replied with a firm: ‘I’m popular because I write good songs and I’m talented and perform high-energy, hour-and-a-half shows filled with love.’ And her diverse fan base agrees.
Lizzo is always fearlessly, unapologetically herself, whether she’s making impressive fashion choices on the red carpet, calling out body shamers or adding yet another unmistakably Lizzo-stamped track to her string of hits. We know she is only getting started.
MORE ABOUT LIZZO
- She attended university on a music scholarship.
- She collaborated with Prince in 2014.
- She almost quit music in 2016.
- She worked as a sign spinner before her breakthrough.
- She once took a vow of silence for three months.
FOLLOW LIZZO
Instagram: @Lizzobeeating
TikTok: @Lizzo
BY KOKETSO MASHIKA
Reviewed by Michelle Pienaar
on
January 15, 2021
Rating:
