STACK #213 July 2022

FEATURE MUSIC

W hen Lizzo performed her number one song Truth Hurts while bouncing atop a giant wedding cake at the 2019 BET awards, eyes turned starry the world over – and the haters sharpened their pitchforks. “I remember the first time I talked to Adele was when I was getting a lot of backlash for just being a fat person,” Lizzo told Big Boy of LA radio show The Neighbourhood this April. “She called me and was like, ‘How the hell are you doing this!?’” The admiration was coming from another globally-revered female artist who has been vilified for her weight, but Lizzo’s arrival as a self-loving Black woman was extra meaningful for a very specific reason: social media. “I’m part of a new generation of artists, I’m part of a new class,” Lizzo explained to the DJ. “It’s me and Lil Nas X and Doja Cat, and we’re coming up in an age where this is normal, this is part of the game: you get abused verbally on the internet by millions of strangers every day. You kind of make that a part of your identity as an artist, and it’s really sh-tty,” she said. “[Adele] said it wasn’t even like this when she was coming out, which goes to show how much the industry has changed.” The triple-Grammy-winner may have found a way to navigate her detractors – especially notable for her humility when she agrees with them, as per her recently acknowledging, apologising for and then removing an ableist slur from the lyrics of her Beastie Boys sampling single Grrrls – but the Detroit-born musician’s journey with confidence didn’t have a smooth arc. “Physically, I did not have the confidence that I have now,” she said of her childhood self-perception. “I had to work really hard for it. Because I was born with it, and the world took it away from me. And it was my job to get it back.” She described watching television and reading magazines, plus “explicitly being told from people’s mouths,” that she wasn’t beautiful. “Watching movies where fat people were made fun of, where they’re the butt of the joke, they’re always out of breath, never the love interest, never desirable,” she said. “That is what took my confidence away from me. Some people see that and go, ‘I’m the sh-t, and you’re gonna find out!’ Not me. “I was like, ‘They’re right.’ I tried to change myself. I dieted most of my entire life, wore girdles and shapewear to middle school. I was embarrassed, I was ashamed of myself.”

CRUSHING ON SASHA There are plenty of celebs who've given their dogs, cats and cockatoos (hey Iggy Pop!) their own Instagram pages, such is the rabid fandom for those critters. Trust Lizzo to twist the trend: her flute Sasha has its own account. "She has over 300,000 followers, and an ego and attitude to match," Lizzo told Avneesha Martins in May. Check it out at @sashabefluting (and yep, Sasha has a blue tick).

freed from that box we've been put in." After the knock-out mainstream success of her third album Cuz I Love You (2019, which spawned hits Juice , the Missy Elliott collab Tempo , and the title track), Lizzo began a global tour, the schedule of which was still absolutely chockers when the pandemic hit. “I was like, ‘Okay, it’s time to work on the next album’”, she told The Neighbourhood . “I did it in the best way I could. I had a studio set up in my guest house, so I just had to figure it out. I had Zoom calls with producers, and I would sit there and be like ‘Okay, I’ve got ProTools and a dream!” Rather than sending her into a spin, the restricted environment and apparatus at her disposal took her back to simpler times. “It reminded me of when I was younger and I used to write songs, and I didn’t have million-dollar recording studios and budgets,” she smiled. The songs which resulted – and now comprise her fourth album, titled Special and out this month – are extraordinary. “I have had a lot of feelings!” Lizzo told Avneesha Martins from Sydney’s hip hop station CADA in May. ”I’ve had break-ups, I’ve had ups and down, I’ve had losses – and wins! I turned a corner and I was like ‘Ah, okay, this is the b-tch I’m supposed to be!’ And I’m so excited for people to hear how good the music is – this ain’t from the microwave. This is home-cooked, Fair Trade, organic vegetables from my garden; all the seasoning and the back of my elbow is put into this album. It tastes good, and it feels good.” Lizzo told The Neighbourhood she had written up to 170 songs before culling those that wouldn't make it to Special 's final tracklist – and described myriad questions she weighs up during the process. "I know this sounds insane, but it has to be a perfect song," she said. "There’s ingredients to a perfect song: the way the chorus lifts and makes you feel, the production sonics, the length of the song." It's also, of course, about the song's content – which absolutely must be both timely and timeless: "What [am I] talking about in this exact moment and how it affects people in 2022 – not 2020, not 2021 – how [does it] affect people right now? Is it timeless, is it gonna be able to be sung forever? How do I sound on it, how do certain words sound coming out of my mouth? Can you make it an Instagram caption? "It may not be the most viral number one song in the world, but it’s a perfect song, like a perfect sandwich.

Lizzo (and Sasha the flute) on the red carpet at the Met Gala, May 2022

(She was also a mega-nerd; the musician told Double J’s Tim Shiels in 2019 that while her peers were listening to Lil’ Flip, she was jamming to the Sailor Moon soundtrack.) The things that Lizzo always held true were her gifts. “I always knew I was the sh-t with my talent,” she attested. "My talent: nobody

I'm so excited for people to hear how good the music is – this ain't from the microwave

can take that away from me. I rap, I sing, I dance, I write music, I produce, I play the flute, I score music, I do it all.” She reached a point where the physical self-respect matched that she held for her capabilities, a journey relatable to so many – and Lizzo knows it. “I feel like when I win people feel like they win,” she said. “If I’m shining, everybody is gonna shine.” She certainly puts her money where her mouth is; take a look at Watch Out for the Big Grrrls , Lizzo's 2022 reality show in which she documents choosing the back-up dancers for her upcoming world tour. "I don't think I'm the only kind of fat girl there is,” the musician told People in March this year. “I want us to be

ABOUT DAMN TIKTOK Special 's lead single About Damn Time was given the chorey treatment by TikTokker Jaeden Gomez, and everyone piled onto the platform to show their moves. Unfortunately, Lizzo was less than impressed with some of their efforts; she soon recorded a video of herself in bare feet, sweats and space-buns laying out the moves with Sue Sylvester-level command. Not long after, actress Reese Witherspoon published a deadset hilarious reaction clip in which she nervously reponded to Lizzo's barked directions, as if she was a student struggling to keep up in the musician's dance studio classroom.

Needless to say, Lizzo loved it; she commented "THIS IS ICONIC", and later uploaded the duet to her own Instagram where she wrote "@reesewitherspoon u can be a big grrrl any day!”with a line of fire emojis.

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