FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
IN THIS PHOTO: Lizzo in March 2019/PHOTO CREDIT: Erik Tanner for Rolling Stone
who will be remembered decades from now, Lizzo must be on most people’s lips. As we speak, she is dominating the planet and bringing her incredible live set to the people. She is in Europe at the moment, but she is heading to her native U.S. at the end of the month. Born Melissa Jefferson in 1988 in Detroit, Lizzo is this incredible artist who had the music bug instilled in her at a young age. She moved to Houston at a young age where she started performing; she later moved to Minneapolis where she began her career as a recording artist. Although her big moves happened from 2013, Lizzo performed with various groups whilst she was in Minneapolis – including Lizzo & the Larva Ink. Lizzo’s experience working with other groups and taking to the stage definitely helped her when it came to her solo career. I caught on to Lizzo’s music about two years ago, and it is really interesting looking back and seeing how she has grown as an artist. Her debut, Lizzobangers, is aptly named: it is a confident and memorable debut that shows Lizzo was complete and stunning right from the get-go! Released on the Totally Gross National Product label in 2013, Lizzobangers was re-released by Virgin Records in 2014 and won critical acclaim. There is a little bit of conflict regarding the album, as Lizzo herself removed the album (briefly) from streaming services; she wanted her career to start with the 2016 E.P., Coconut Oil.
It is a shame Lizzo has sort of reset the clock and wanted her debut to be stricken. The album is amazing and received a lot of love. In their review, The Guardian had this to say:
“Don't tell us to slow it down, we won't listen – we're twentysomethings." She's speaking on behalf of her age group here, but Lizzo, a Texan rapper based in Minneapolis, could also be referring to her own delivery. In this super-charged debut, which harks back to early-90s hip-hop, she delights in speeding it up, be it to dazzle male counterparts, as on Pants vs Dress, or simply as a release. At times joyfully nonsensical, Lizzo's stream-of-consciousness rhymes can also be lethally pointed. When she declares herself "the only rapper with a womb/ That'll spit that 16 bars to send you rappers to the tomb", it doesn't sound like an idle warning”.
I love Lizzobangers, but I can understand why Lizzo might feel that better work was ahead of her. You cannot deny the fact Lizzobangers is uplifting and has bags of personality. Lizzo demonstrated she was a compelling singer and someone who could write songs with heart and then, when the mood called for it, raise the roof and get the body shaking! In their review, Drowned in Sound were full of wonderment:
“Then there are songs which straddle both these modes such as 'Be Still', which builds its foundations on rampant flute loops and loose rhythms only to give way to crunching, doom laden synths. 'Faded' apes 'Skankonia' era Outkast, its frantic pace culminating in a wash of oscillating feedback and stark strings. Lazerbeak and Olsen employing a subtle bombast that propels the tracks forward, yet never threatens to overrun the songs; constantly balancing their sounds with the fluidity of Lizzo's rhymes.
Perhaps the greatest achievement of Lizzobangers is how momentum rarely drops across the 14 songs, each a delirious earworm, each more engaging and entertaining than the last. Lizzo's arrival feels like something definitive, as though she's teetering on the edge of major stardom so snap this up before she inevitably goes pure R&B/pop for her second album (she's already collaborating with Clean Bandit) and cherish this for what it is; one of the finest hip-hop”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lizzo
As there were very few artists of Lizzo’s calibre around in 2013/2014, there was a lot of media interest. Perhaps Beyoncé matched Lizzo in terms of her style and sound, but Lizzo’s unique personality and story meant there were a lot of eyes trained her way. The early interviews are really interesting and, now that Lizzo is a superstar who has played enormous gigs, there is something quite modest and understated regarding those earliest interviews. When Billboard spoke with her in 2015, we learn a lot about the young star. One of the key messages Lizzo has been sending out is body-positivity: feeling comfortable in one’s skin and accepting who you are. She touches on this in the interview:
“For quick background, Lizzo was born Melissa Jefferson in Detroit and grew up in Houston, playing the flute, listening to gospel and Beyoncé, and later singing in an experimental rock outfit called Ellypseas. She eventually moved to Minnesota and, during a bout of writer's block, found a spark in Lava Bangers, an album of beats by producer Lazerbeak, best known for his work in the hip-hop collective Doomtree. While writing new lyrics over his music, she tweeted at him, saying she'd love to work with him, and soon after she found herself at a party with him, Ryan Olson of Gayngs and Poliça, and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon. With Beak on the beats and Olson producing, she released her excellent debut, Lizzobangers, in 2013, mixing boastful and playful rhymes with messages about gender, race and politics.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lizzo
"Everyone looks to an artist for something more than just the music and that message of being comfortable in my own skin is number one for me," she says. "It's like, 'She's comfortable in her own skin. Can I just put on her music and sing along and pretend I'm like that for a second?' That's the story I get from a lot of girls. They say, 'Thank you for making this body-positive music. Thank you for being a body-positive performer, and thank you for being you.' That helps me be comfortable. It's a journey but I'm getting there."
As her profile grows, she's also happy to get fewer questions about being a woman in hip-hop. "It's started to shift because what I stand for is something bigger than saying that I'm a female rapper," she says. "I feel like I've started to create my own culture of being a voice for something and that's what people want to know about. I love that because I am a woman and because I a rap and I look the way I look, I can connect with the demographic of people who feel like they have a voice in me. I'm glad I'm a woman, I'm glad I'm a rapper because I get to speak to these people who did not get spoken for in this genre”.
If Lizzo was a little reserved or dissatisfied with her debut album, her 2015 release, Big GRRRL Small World marks an arrival; a moment when this fantastic artist stepped into her stride. Just before I get to that album, I wanted to mention that, back in 2014, Lizzo appeared in StyleLikeU’s What’s Underneath project. She removed her clothes and discussed her relationship with her body. There are not many artists now who are talking about body image and that side of things. In 2014, Lizzo was a bit of a rarity. It is doubtless she inspired many men and women around the world in that respect.
In terms of changes between albums, there was not a huge leap. I think Big GRRRL Small World is a bigger and more ambitious album that Lizzobangers; maybe there is greater consistency and diversity. I maintain Lizzo was fully-formed from the off, so Big GRRRL Small World pushed her story on and brought her music to a new audience. Maybe this is the album where her career began (in her mind) and is a better representation of who she was and what she wanted to say. With some brilliant material already under her belt, critics were prepared for what arrived in 2015. Actually, as the album was released in December of that year – always a risky time to release -, some critics did miss it, assuming not a lot of awesome music would be out at this time. The Guardian are one of the sources that missed out and caught up with the album. In their review, The Guardian highlight the many positives of Big GRRRL Small World:
“These are important topics, not all of which are being discussed much elsewhere in hip-hop. You can understand why people are impressed, but the danger on focusing on them is that Big Grrrl Small World starts to sound like a worthy-but-dry exercise in earnestness, the kind of album that people describe as “necessary”: indeed, in some quarters Lizzo is perceived as being so right on that one reviewer expressed surprise at her lyrical thumbs-up for a chain of Brazillian steakhouses called Fogo de Chão, wondering aloud at what the rigorously vegetarian Sleater-Kinney made of their tour-mate knocking back the bacon-wrapped fillet mignon and slow-roasted costela de porco. But the Lizzo who at one juncture hollers “gimme a soapbox” is balanced out by the Lizzo who mutters, midway through My Skin, that she’s “done with the struggle”, adding, “I just want to enjoy life”.
When it came to defining albums in 2015, I don’t think there was anything as strong as Lizzo’s Big GRRL Small World – maybe Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly was more important, but Lizzo’s pearl is an album that deserves a lot of new appreciation and promotion. One of the reasons why I think Lizzo is an icon of the future is the fact she is such a positive role model. I know there are other artists who are sending out positive messages and setting a great example, but I know Lizzo is giving so much strength to people; going against the perceived ‘norm’ of a female artist: that they need to be skinny and look a certain way to sell records. In terms of creative progression, there were changes from Lizzobangers to Big GRRRL Small World. She was asked about her music and evolution early in 2016:
“You’ve moved around a lot. How would you describe your sound?
Even though I was born in Detroit and grew up listening to gospel music, my sound is very connected to Houston rap. I’ve always loved the swag and sing-songiness of rappers like Lil’ Flip and Mike Jones. So on record you’re going to hear a lot of Houston influence, whereas on stage you’re going to see straight-up Detroit gospel soul. Minneapolis has helped me grow on the production side. And if you listen very closely you’ll hear some classical influence – I was studying flute for half of my life.
PHOTO CREDIT: Lizzo
How did the new album come together?
As soon as Lizzobangers came out, I started writing new songs, but lyrically it wasn’t going in the right direction. I made at least 25 demos that didn’t end up on the album. Then I finally got to a point where I figured out what I wanted to say and it flowed.
What else changed?
I think that I developed as a songwriter. I did less sitting down and writing in a journal and more freestyling in the studio, which made a huge difference.
With every album, Lizzo gets stronger and more electrifying. Maybe it is the passing of time and the fact she hones her live act. Maybe it is something else but, in years to come, you wonder just how good she will be! 2016’s Coconut Oil E.P. is, to her, really the start of her career, but one would be foolish to dismiss something as fantastic as Big GRRRL Small World. It is the perfectionist in Lizzo: not truly happy and assured unless she is at her very peak. If the U.S. songwriter was still seeking her finest work in 2016, this year’s Cuz I Love You certainly cannot be disputed or faulted. Whilst there are some more reflective and emotional tracks on the album, I think it is the sense of empowerment and confidence that defines Cuz I Love You. It is Lizzo’s finest achievement to date and provides a fascinating glimpse as to where she is going to head next. There are not many Pop bangers that stay in your head these days; Juice is one of those rare cuts that has that nuance and is an instant smash.
Although there are a few producers and writers in the mix, it is Lizzo’s voice and passion that stand out on Cuz I Love You. When we get to the year-end lists of the best albums, I expect many publications to name Lizzo’s latest in their top-ten. There is that nice balance of the heartfelt and anthemic that splices Disco, Soul; some Pop and other genres. The reviews for Cuz I Love You are the strongest of Lizzo’s career so far. In this review from The Telegraph, they talk about how accomplished Lizzo sounds and how impactful the album is:
“Her sound draws on a particularly sparkling vein of pop where disco meets rock and funk. Sophisticated operators such as Nile Rodgers, Was Not Was and the Tom Tom Club come to mind, as well as Pharrell and his squelching, bouncing soul grooves. Chord progressions draw on standard rhythm and blues tropes, and old-school horns and guitars punch in behind the vocals.
The most modern thing about this album is Lizzo’s unabashed attitude. She stamps herself over these tracks with the brassy pizzazz of Bette Midler crossed with Millie Jackson, with an extra dash of contemporary feminist fervour. “Only exes that I care about are my chromosomes,” she declares on the bravura Like a Girl, in which she threatens to run for president and win Wimbledon for good measure. I wouldn’t put anything past her: Cuz I Love You is absolutely splendid, a joyous album to put a smile on your face, a song in your heart and your booty on the dance floor”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Vogue
Cuz I Love You is one of the best-rated albums of 2019, and it goes to show there is an immense amount of respect out there for Lizzo. It is in my top-ten albums of the year; I think there are plans for next year regarding new music. In another review, The Guardian were keen to give their kudos to Cuz I Love You:
“Lizzo’s lyrical concerns roamed widely, but encapsulated the female experience: errant guys, lots of sex, not enough sex, body positive self-love – both masturbatory and more spiritual – and (as one righteous track on her debut, Lizzobangers, had it) Bus Passes and Happy Meals. In short, a little bit of everything. The styles, along with the producers, varied widely – Lizzo did backpack rapper, she did trappy, she did edgy digitals, she did straight-up flows, she did a bit of singing. Men from indie bands, rather than A-list hip-hop beatmakers, stood behind her consoles for Lizzobangers (2013) and 2015 follow-up Big Grrrl, Small World; Lizzo toured with Sleater-Kinney before opening for Haim. The unifying theme throughout was her wit and personality: she is an eye-rolling, natural comedian who landed on hip-hop as her metier.
Cuz I Love You marks a conscious desire for Lizzo to accentuate the positive, to make the biggest-sounding record a set of speakers can hold. Official production credits were unavailable for research purposes, but there are writing teams on board now.
I was checking Lizzo’s Twitter feed when the reviews were coming in for Cuz I Love You. I think there was one less-than-positive review and, in a moment of annoyance, Lizzo expressed her shock and disproval. That goes to show that she put her heart into the album and, whilst she cannot win everyone and gain positive reviews across the board, it is apparent that her stock is rising, and she is among the most popular artists of today. Lizzo is an artist who speaks to women and she has that relatable edge, but she also has this wide-ranging appeal that touches everyone. If you did not see her performance at Glastonbury this year, then you need to have a look! Lizzo is one of the most compelling artists and around; someone who will continue to burn and strike for years. I will end by bringing in a recent live review, but I wanted to source from an interview Lizzo provided Elle last month. Lizzo chatted about Cuz I Love You and what might come next:
“But for Lizzo, success is not necessarily measured by chart positions or streaming numbers or awards shows. It’s about making the music she wants to make, and getting it to the people who need to hear it. “If my next album doesn’t do anything like this [one], and this was just a one-time thing, I’m going to be grateful. And I’m also gonna have a fan base that I can tour on. I’ve been touring for a long time—why would that stop? I’m gonna continue to do that forever.”
PHOTO CREDIT: ModCloth
Then came Cuz I Love You, a genre-defying album that could double as both the female-empowerment playlist for your next girls’ night out and the cathartic soundtrack to your next breakup. “My songs feel happy, but they come from a sad or frustrated place,” she says. “My songs are always the silver lining or the ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ moments.” That’s especially true of “Soulmate,” “Truth Hurts,” and “Crybaby,” all three of which she either wrote or recorded through tears. “Those songs are actual anecdotes, like real stories about real moments in time. ‘Pull this car over, babe’—that is something that happened to me. ‘New man on the Minnesota Vikings’—that happened to me. ‘Old me used to love a Gemini’—that happened!”
Letting herself be that exposed and vulnerable wasn’t always easy. “I was the worst communicator, emotionally, when I was younger,” she explains. “I would stop talking to my family; I would stop talking to my friends. I would go deeper and deeper into that dark place, and the deeper I went, the harder it was to reach out of it.” It took her a lot of time and effort to change that, but now she prides herself on being vocal about how she feels. She even opened up about her mental well-being on Instagram back in June. “I’m depressed and there’s no one I can talk to because there’s nothing anyone can do about it. Life hurts,” she wrote. Her fans quickly flooded the comments with messages of love and support, thanking her for speaking up and letting her know she wasn’t alone. The next day, she returned: “I learned in the last 24 hours that being emotionally honest can save your life. Reaching out may be hard, but as soon as I did it, I was immediately covered in love.”
These days, Lizzo is happy to live life as herself. She’s busy touring and working on new music for 2020, but also trying to take time to enjoy her success so far. On the road, that means being present in each moment as it happens. So when she’s onstage and a crowd is chanting her name, for example, she can feel every syllable, every voice, coursing through her body. “I don’t need an encore chant after every song, even though they do that sometimes. But when it does happen, I open my arms to receive it, because it’s happening for a reason, and I’m so grateful for it.”
There are a lot of interviews out there, and I would suggest people follow up on them as Lizzo is a fascinating subject and is one of the realest and most accessible artists around. It not only her interviews and songs that are captivating and amazing: her live sets are among the most energised and hypnotic you will find. She is touring Europe at the moment, and she is collecting golden reviews and incredible feedback. Lizzo is conquering the globe and is an artist who will go from a star to an icon in years to come. I want to bring in a review of a recent live show where it seems like she brought her double-A-game:
“Lizzo’s gig has so many high points that you could probably see it from space and mistake it for a major geographic feature. She starts the set in a pulpit wearing a gold robe in front of a backdrop of stained glass themed around hearts, launching full pelt into the gospel-house opener Heaven Help Me. At the end, for a huge rendition of Juice, she whips out Sasha Flute – an instrument named after a Beyoncé alter ego Sasha Fierce – and twerks while playing.
In between, Lizzo makes her fans inhale positivity and sigh out negativity a full three times, like a particularly bossy yoga teacher. Throughout, there is the joyous succour of a crowd of people singing an entire album of self-affirmation back at its author, who fans herself and tears up.
Amid the wall-to-wall bangers, a few questions surface. Lizzo performs without a band, and while singing to backing tracks is not rare at this level, it is a shame. The funk and the horns and the nimble, three-dimensional musicality of Lizzo’s album deserve musicians of flesh and blood.
There is also the small matter of the way this latest, most mainstream iteration of Lizzo centres on her sexuality. As liberating as the carefree jiggle is intended to be, a little of Lizzo’s intelligence, nuance and versatility is eclipsed by all the twerking going on. There is a clear line from Aretha Franklin’s Respect (which Lizzo quotes tonight) via Whitney Houston’s Greatest Love of All through to Lizzo’s music, and you can’t help but feel self-actualisation shouldn’t really be confused with wearing lingerie”.
Make sure you get involved with Lizzo’s music if you have not done so already…and keep an eye out for her in 2020. Cuz I Love You is one of this year’s best albums, and one feels she has not even neared her peak yet! This rate of progress is incredible, so I will be keeping my ears primed. It has been an incredible year for Lizzo, and I know she will have big plans ahead. She is, musically and in terms of her personality, a…
PHOTO CREDIT: Lizzo
MODERN day titan.