Lizzo is a megastar with millions of fans and has been in the music industry for well over a decade. Despite all her achievements and knack for making chart-topping hits, the musician’s detractors still claim her pop stardom lacks appeal with Black audiences.
Even so, the “Truth Hurts” songstress has remained unfazed by haters debating the “Blackness” of her music. Instead of allowing her critics to get her down, Lizzo took some time to school people on their pop genre biases in a new feature story for Entertainment Weekly.
Addressing the topic, Lizzo stated: “Well, [that] genre’s racist inherently. I think if people did any research they would see that there was race music and then there was pop music.” Lizzo went on to explain that the emergence of R&B, hip hop, and rap genres was birthed from industry executives deciding that Black artists needed their own lane, which in turn allowed white artists to dominate pop.
However, a caveat to that is the undeniable success of pop icons such as Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. “I’m giving that same energy with a little bit of rap,” Lizzo said in the feature, published on Friday (Nov. 25).
The Emmy-winning musician also said people who disagree with her influence and presence in pop music are only robbing themselves of the enjoyment records like “About D**n Time” and “Good As H**l” have to offer.
“For people who don’t like pop music or don’t like Black artists that make pop music, they may eventually like me… You just gotta get used to me because I’m making good s**t. You missing out,” the classically trained flutist said.
The Special artist recently closed out her latest tour, which saw huge turnouts in Los Angeles where she performed twice earlier this month. She also surprised concertgoers by bringing out two of her favorite collaborators, Missy Elliott and Cardi B, to perform their respective joint records, “Tempo” and “Rumors.”
Check out some of the concert footage below.
Missy Elliott joins Lizzo on stage for “Tempo” on the #SpecialTour in L.A. pic.twitter.com/8PKJxXPeQ9
— Variety (@Variety) November 19, 2022
Cardi B joins Lizzo on stage for “Rumors” in L.A. #SpecialTour pic.twitter.com/sw0VpFK7Zu
— Variety (@Variety) November 19, 2022