Lizzo is feeling better than good as hell as she promotes her forthcoming studio album, Love in Real Life. Thus far, she has dropped off two singles, "Love in Real Life" in February and "Still Bad" in March. A release date for the LP has not been announced.
What fans do know about the pop, disco and rock-inspired music is that the classically trained flutist is reemerging as a bolder version of the hitmaking artist behind the Grammy nominated Album of the Year Cuz I Love You (Deluxe). The Detroit native appeared on the new episode of "The TERRELL Show" on YouTube that premiered on Thursday (April 3).
There she told host Terrell Grice, “I feel like my albums don’t outshine my hits yet, and I really wanna create a body of work that is as good as the hit song. And I feel like a lot of people, they get hung up on ‘Juice’ … or ‘Truth Hurts’ or ‘Good as Hell’ … and they just loved ‘About Damn Time.’” Furthermore, the Beyoncé enthusiast added, “I want people to really get into the body [of work]. I put so much of my heart and soul and time and musicality and, like, musical knowledge and instrumentation into these albums. And I really want... the goal for this album is to be as loved as the biggest hit.”
Love in Real Life is personal for Lizzo as she tunes out the haters
The award-winning artist said this era of her musical legacy is proof she is done "developing my sense of self and gaining validation from the internet." That also means her sense of happiness is no longer conditional. "Love only truly exists in real life, and that’s what this album is about, navigating that, about detaching from these like external validations, you know, and, like, diving into what really matters and being around people who really love you," the platinum-record selling artist said. She doubled down on the sentiment, as she reiterated, "That’s what this album is about. It’s about me breaking up with the world and reintroducing myself to the world with a new perspective and not needing the world to validate me. I validate myself."
Lizzo turned her legal woes into her muse while penning her story on Love in Real Life
In 2023, she and her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring Inc., were named in workplace harassment lawsuits filed by three backup dancers and a hairstylist. The latter case was dismissed in December 2024, with the judge ruling the singer could not be sued personally. Partial claims made in the dancers' filings were dismissed in January 2023.
“When things like that happen to you, the world tells you who you are, and then, I’m so gullible, I start to believe it. … I think that’s what these visuals for the new album are kind of about," said Lizzo as she reflected on the parallels of the new songs and her real life. She noted, "Like, in 'Love in Real Life,' the music video, I go out, and then I start getting paranoid, and it’s like everybody’s watching me. I’m like, wait, does everybody hate me? And then they start attacking me … then they corner me, and you either beat them or you join them."
With the visual for “Still Bad,” Lizzo explained the theme was about reclamation. The superstar shared, “The thing that destroyed me, I’m gonna destroy it. Taking back power over my narrative and my story. These little bird, tweet creatures trying to come out and troll, I control the trolls."