Smashes such as Truth Hurts and Juice are feel-good juggernauts: brash, cheerful anthems that blow your troubles away in a whirlwind of attitude and excitement. It is scientifically impossible to listen to a Lizzo song or attend one of her concerts and not come away feeling 20 per cent better about life. That’s a rare gift, even for a pop star who has sold 20 million albums.
If you’ve seen the 35-year-old on stage you’ll know how special she is. She’s a stunning singer – and maybe a better dancer. One of her most memorable performances was at Glastonbury in 2023, where she blew the huge Pyramid Stage audience away with a performance that landed somewhere between Aretha Franklin and Prince – the sonic pyrotechnics topped off by her amazing musicianship, culminating in what was surely the most epic flute solo to ever rock Worthy Farm.
She’s also a torch-bearer for forward fashion. Lizzo’s concerts are sartorial as well as musical extravaganzas: she has rocked shows in neon catsuits, pink gowns and metallic jumpsuits – choices that mesh perfectly with her celebratory pop. Tunes, threads, flutes of fire – she brings it all.
But the past year has been challenging for the Grammy-winning artist. Lizzo has been accused of sexual harassment, racial discrimination and fostering a hostile work environment by her backing dancers – but she has yet to have any finding against her. Responding to the original claims on Instagram, she said: “These last few days have been gut wrenchingly difficult and overwhelmingly disappointing. My work ethic, morals and respectfulness have been questioned. My character has been criticised. Usually I choose not to respond to false allegations but these are as unbelievable as they sound and too outrageous to not be addressed.”
Of course, pop stardom has never been more challenging. Social media makes everyone feel like they have a right to comment on stars’ music, appearance, haircut, and fashion choices. Lizzo has had to put up with especially toxic levels of online hate. But as a woman in the spotlight who does not match the stereotype of a super-skinny star, she has also become a figure of inspiration.
That journey to self-acceptance was hard fought. In 2020, she explained that self-love was something she had worked towards after a long battle with depression.
“I don’t think that loving yourself is a choice. I think that it’s a decision that has to be made for survival; it was in my case,” she wrote in an opinion piece for NBC News. “Loving myself was the result of answering two things: Do you want to live? ‘Cause this is who you’re gonna be for the rest of your life. Or are you gonna just have a life of emptiness, self-hatred, and self-loathing? And I chose to live, so I had to accept myself.”
Such honesty is all too rare in the music industry, and these remarks will have resonated with anyone who has struggled with self-acceptance. Her message was that the fantasy of the perfect pop star was just that – an illusion sold to the public.
That forthrightness made her equally beloved and loathed. However, she never let the differing reactions to her get in the way of her songs, which remained spectacularly catchy. Yet now she is apparently calling it quits – and, regardless of the circumstances, that is a huge loss to the music industry.
