Lizzo has quickly become one of the most listened to music artists of 2019 largely in part to her bad-b*tch anthem “Truth Hurts.” She’s a refreshing soul that preaches the wonders of self-love and self-expression, and has worked hard to be where she is now.
Lizzo, formally known as Melissa Jefferson, has been creating music since 2013 when she released her debut album Lizzobangers (https://www.discogs.com/artist/1097928-Lizzo). Her sound has always been rooted in hip hop, and the tracks on her first album all follow a classic formula. If you compare her debut album to her music in 2019, you can hear the inexperience in Jefferson. However, there’s definitely something to be said about the untrained ferocity with which she performed. The hip hop star began to build up her base while living in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she had the amazing opportunity to work with Prince on his song “Boytrouble” for the Plectrumelectrum album. (https://www.popbuzz.com/music/features/lizzo/)
According to this article by Variety.com, Jefferson found her sound while training with Ricky Reed, a Grammy-nominated music producer and songwriter. She got comfortable with that 80’s funk sound that we’ve all grown to know and love from her.
With her new sound resonating with more and more people, Lizzo snatched her first big record deal with Atlantic Records in 2016, followed by the release of Coconut Oil later that year.
Lizzo has become an icon for representation, self-love, and acceptance, going on to say, “If you can love my big, black ass at this tiny, tiny little desk, you can love yourself” at her much-revered NPR Tiny Desk concert. In an interview with Bring Me the MN News, a Minnesota-based news company, the singer explained, “‘I went to Minneapolis and I played a show at the Varsity, and this girl came over to me crying and said, ‘I don’t know if you live here but you need to be here and we need to see people like you here.’ That was the most love I had seen from any show in one person’”. Her quest to share her enthusiasm for life and love has brought her to the forefront of the body positivity movement, and we’re all ecstatic to have her there.
Her social media accounts are constant sources validation for those struggling to accept themselves, but it hasn’t always come so naturally to the star. She’s discussed at great length her fight with obsessive dieting and exercise, particularly after the death of her father. She was just starting out her music career, living out of the back of her car when the tragedy hit, and she expressed that it was her way of trying to regain control of her life. I strongly recommend taking a listen to Lizzo’s interview with NPR on Fresh Air with Terry Gross to hear more about her experience.
Lizzo is currently on tour, bumping her latest album Cuz I Love You which dropped in April of this year. The singer continues to break down barriers (and records) in the mainstream music industry, and the world is a little better for it.