Before you read further: it’s best you know that this interview with Lizzo took place in a Vogue House boardroom. By no means the most corporate location in London, but a tabled room with little else in there. It’s not the first place you imagine the American popstar seducing all who have listened to her music holding court.
In what can only be described as a leopard-print power suit, Lizzo settles at the head of the table, as quick to answer questions as she is to go off on a tangent and spark a whole new thread of conversation.
Her debut album, Cuz I Love You, out now, is one of the summer’s most-anticipated with standout tracks “Juice” and the one the album takes its name from already proving radio favourites. Listen, sing, dance along – just don’t pigeonhole Lizzo as one kind of artist.
“I didn’t ascribe to a genre for a long time,” she began. “Now, because I remained so true to myself, I finally am getting my time in the sun. I just hope that when people listen to my music, they get the tone of the celebration and conversation.”
The way that we consume music today has impacted the way that musicians now claim genres, Lizzo believes. Spotify Discover proving most influential. “I think it’s almost impossible to say that you’re one type of sound now – streaming and the internet has made music a super accessible thing so for me to claim a genre would be a lie.”
Lizzo’s debut album isn’t her first foray into music. A classically trained flautist, who has been in rap bands since high school, this star has been waiting for the moment to go from rising to the megastar for some time.
“I’m the most discoverable new artist, always,” she laughs. “I’ve been that artist that someone ‘just discovered’ since 2012. I’m a new idea to people. I’m not the cookie cutter that you expect from a mainstream pop artist. I’m always going to be a novel idea to people, but that’s what makes me, me and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
And she’s right. When was mainstream music last blessed with the arrival of an artist like Lizzo? A tall, plus-sized black woman who believes that one of life’s “great honours” is being photographed in a diamond thong. She’s fabulous, and not afraid to live it either.
Confidence is a word you could be quick to align with her, but it wasn’t always that way. “[Growing up], I had a lot of confidence in myself as a musician. I wasn’t body confident; I wasn’t confident in my social skills; I wasn’t confident in a lot of things, but I was super confident in the fact that I was good at music,” she explains. “I knew to an extent that there would be some boxes that would have to be checked [to be a musical success] but it was almost impossible for me to check them. I’m not a thin white woman. So how could I be Britney Spears? How could I be a popstar? So, the fact that I didn’t even have access to those prerequisites, I knew I’d have to make my own lane.”
Her own lane has so far included collaborations with Missy Elliot and Bastille, a place on the judging panel of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, seats front row at fashion week and now an album with universal acclaim. At 30, she’s happy that her mainstream fame is coming into fruition later than it could have been.
“I would probably have been doing Vogue interviews when I was 17,” she continues, explaining how a broader sense of the term popstar would have impacted her success. “I would have popped off younger because there would have been women holding up that space, carving out that lane for me to occupy.”
“I didn’t have enough women to look up to and they weren’t given enough space in the industry to carve out a lane for big girls that are brown and black and want to sing and dance without getting shit talked and body shamed. I’m out here and I set my mind to it. I want to be a sex symbol and music goddess and I’m out here trying to make that happen for myself. I’m here for the fantasy but I want to be a part of that fantasy. I’m just as fine as those girls.”
It’s often said that to be a popstar you need to have the full package. And boy does Lizzo have it. In recruiting “the greatest minds” to work besides her on the visuals from fashion to art direction: “We call it playing in the playground,” she laughs. “So, even my look today is playing in the playground.”
“I always thought that everybody was as micromanagey as I am, but it turned out that when I got signed to Atlantic Records, that is not the case,” she explains. “I came with a creative team and a strong vision, and that can be a pain in the ass sometimes because it’s like let’s just get the job done but I’m there on the phone at six o’clock in the morning saying it’s not ready yet.”
The perfectionist in her has released music videos that look to the medium through vintage-tinted glasses: old-school aerobics videos, sacrilegious Madonna-like visuals and major beauty moments that are calling for Lizzo to secure a campaign any moment.
“I’ve always admired beautiful things and I’ve been a fan of beauty my whole life,” Lizzo adds. “I think I’ve had the opportunity to have my own definition of beauty and I think that fashion is just an extension of your personal relationship with beauty.”
“Fashion should never be something that is out of your reach or unobtainable. It should be something that you can use as a tool to discover your own personal brand of beauty and to satisfy your taste. I think as a big girl, the fact that my brand of beauty is very risqué is very sexually liberating. It is about being aware of yourself in the space that you exist in and the people that you influence is important. I’m also just grateful for my journey and to remember that I was once only able to wear Dressbarn and now I’m wearing diamond thongs. So, fashion is a journey of self-discovery.”
Lizzo’s surge in popularity might only have boomed of late but this album has been a journey of over three years for the musician. “Now [that the album is out], I think I have to figure out how to be satisfied so I don’t become this insatiable artist that is never happy… My definition of success has never been pertaining to fame or celebrity or any type of clout or look. It has been more; can I sell out a tour? Can I play Madison Square Garden? Is my music going to help shape the culture and help change people’s lives for the better? I’d be happy with this, but I know that there’s a lot more to come.”
I know I’m not alone in believing her on this.
