As the age old adage goes, most “overnight successes” take years.
Such is the case for rising star Lizzo, who is now reaping the rewards of a decade of grinding.
The singer made a viral splash with the single ‘Juice’ and has earned praise aplenty for major label debut ‘Cuz I Love You’ – which premiered in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 last month.
Now, as the song ‘Truth Hurts’ rockets up the charts, the 31-year-old stuns in the latest digital issue of Essence Magazine.
Within her accompanying feature, she opens up about embracing her body, her broader purpose, being inspired by Missy Elliott, and much more.
Head below for more…
On Her Career Goals:
“There’s so much I wanna do. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of making it or being it. It, for me, is a long journey.”
On Being Herself:
“I made a decision to be myself because I knew I had no choice,” she says while sipping white wine. “Sometimes the label ‘unapologetic’ bothers me because it can be loaded, because it means we have to apologize for something in the first place. I’m not ignorant to the fact that we had to have a demeanor of lowering ourselves culturally just to exist. But I’m trying to shake up the narrative about how we’re supposed to act.”
On Flaunting Her Body:
“I’m doing this for myself,” she says firmly. “I love creating shapes with my body, and I love normalizing the dimples in my butt or the lumps in my thighs or my back fat or my stretch marks. I love normalizing my Black-ass elbows. I think it’s beautiful. I think that people love authenticity.”
On Her Celebrating Body Positivity & Her Broader Purpose:
“There’s no term for body negativity, because that’s the norm.
These songs [I’m making] are for my big Black girls. Everyone can enjoy them, but I want to help us,” Lizzo muses. “This music is medicine and I’m trying to get it to my sisters. It’s so exciting to me to finally be at a level where I have exposure to my Black sisters, my big sisters, my Black trans sisters. It’s not about being poppin’. It’s not about being famous or fashion. It’s about being better and making sure that this world can hear us and respect us.”
On Being Inspired By Missy Elliott:
“Seeing Missy exist in her truth was like, Oh, I can exist in my truth. She didn’t try to hide anything, lie or cover anything up. She was as weird and freaky as she wanted to be. And I thought that was special,” says Lizzo, who grew up in Houston embarrassed of her own nerdy ways. “I want girls who look like me to feel that way [about my music].”
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More power to her!