From Lizzo to Julia Fox, stars share the vibe at Vanity Fair party
From Lizzo feeling “Good as Hell” to Julia Fox calling it the best one yet, see what stars are saying at the Vanity Fair party.
Video Team – USA TODAY Entertainment
After a swoosh of lulling strings, Lizzo gets to the point.
“Here’s a toast to wasted time and all the energy I put into these people,” she sings on “Toast,” the opening track of her new album, “Bitch,” out now.
It’s been four years since the candid singer/songwriter born Melissa Jefferson released a new record, and the 12 tracks on her latest showcase a Lizzo who has been through it, dug deep and has a few things to say.
She also expands her signature amalgamation of R&B, hip-hop and pop – as heard on hits “Good As Hell,” “Truth Hurts” and “About Damn Time” – with elements of go-go music (“Sexy Ladies,” which samples the classic go-go track “Sexy Lady” from Washington, DC, stalwarts UCB) and saucy synth-funk (“That GRRL”).
Lizzo’s cherished flute gets the spotlight on the jazz-flavored “Too Nice,” and she’ll further underscore her love of the instrument with the Sept. 8 release of her first children’s book, “Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’,” which features a “smart and brassy flute” as a main character in the adventure story.
In an unguarded interview with USA TODAY, Lizzo, 38, talked about the meaning behind the title of her new album, how she pulled herself out of depression and the meaning of body positivity.
Question: With this album, do you feel like you’re reintroducing yourself or redefining who Lizzo is?
Lizzo: I don’t think I have to redefine myself. I think this is about reclaiming who I am. A lot of my identity has been manipulated by people outside of me, so this album is me taking that back − showing the Lizzo everybody knows and loves, letting her tell her side of the story and just letting her play again.
Why was reclaiming the word “bitch” important for this album?
There’s this Katt Williams joke he made about me where he was like: “They’ll come for anybody. They came after Lizzo and she’s unproblematic, but that just goes to show, you could be fat, you could be Black, but you can’t be no fat, Black bitch.” And I was like, “Whoa, that is the realest.” Like, God forbid, you’re having a bad day or God forbid you weren’t rainbows and sunshine one day. You will get crucified, especially as a Black woman in this industry and in society. I wrote the song around that with a sample from Missy (Elliott’s “She’s a Bitch”) and the interpolation of Meredith (Brooks’ “Bitch”) on top. So it was like a bitch-on-bitch sandwich.
You also changed the album title from “Love in Real Life” and said that shifted the tone from something softer to something more bold. Why was that important?
It was very intentional. The world has changed a lot in the last few years − not just politically, but emotionally and psychologically. I had to change with it. Artists don’t project what the world should be, we reflect what it is. Right now, we’re in a time of conflict. So I’m fighting for myself, and that’s where the energy of this album comes from.
There’s still humor on the album, like in “Whose Hair Is This?” That has a great kicker.
That was the last song I wrote for the album. (Laughs) Yeah, that really happened. I was freaking out over some hair that I found and then realized it was from a wig I wore. I was like, this is so funny. I had to put that in a song, because it’s relatable. It was like, you were tripping and there’s no reason to trip.
You’ve been open about going through a dark period a few years ago. How did you get to a place where you could write a song like “Happy to Be”?
That’s a really good question, because I don’t think I write happy songs when I’m happy. I write happy songs when I’m trying to be happy. I wrote that song when I was searching for gratitude. I remember thinking, “I’m not feeling this,” and then I had this vision of myself singing it to my fans in the audience. I got emotional, I cried, and that’s when I found the gratitude. It became about reminding myself where I was and where I’m going. And that I have my fans to help me get back to joy.
You’ve always been very much yourself in public. Has that changed?
I’m way more protective of myself now. I choose what I want to share and how I want to share. I’m an oversharer by nature. I’ll type things out and not post them. (Laughs) But I’ve learned the internet doesn’t need every thought in my head. I have boundaries now, and everything I share is on my terms.
Has that shift come from wanting to avoid backlash?
It’s not even about what people say back to me. I don’t really care about that. It’s about responsibility. I have people depending on me, my family, my team. I have too much to lose. So I’ve learned how to protect my heart and my mind.
Your message around body positivity has also evolved. How do you see it now?
It evolved before my body ever did, because I knew I was going to change, whether I got bigger, smaller, older, whatever. Body positivity originally meant “we deserve to exist,” especially for people who had been erased from media and culture. But people changed that definition. So I don’t subscribe to the new version. What I’ve always been about is making space for everybody, not just one kind of body.
It’s like the goalposts keep moving.
Yeah, like, oh, body-positive just means fat. And that’s not true. Body positivity is a movement that people who were in the disabled community, who were in the plus-size community and Indigenous and queer, trans community, it was a “Hey, we deserve to exist.” We have been erased in culture, in media, in society. And we’re just saying that we deserve to exist and be happy about it.
You recently played a series of jazz club shows, which are very different from arenas. What do you get from those kinds of performances?
Freedom. In an arena, you’ve got 20,000 people, a huge crew, everything has to be exact. You can’t just say, “Let me try this real quick.” In a jazz club, I can meander, show different sides of my musicianship. It’s more intimate. You can feel the audience in a different way. But I also came up that way, playing small rooms for 50 people. So it’s not new for me. It’s a return to my roots.
It’s interesting you say that, because it does seem as if there are so many new artists bypassing the climb and heading straight to arenas.
There are so many (expletive) arena tours going on all at once right now that is unprecedented. And, I mean, I’m adding to the fray.
Yeah, but that’s different. You paid those dues.
It’s different because I have a touring fan base that’s 10 years old of people who love to come to our shows. However, you’ve got people who are TikTok-famous that are playing arena shows one year out in the game. And I just feel like that jump has shifted a lot of things. It’s shifted the quality of a show, the quality of the showman. It’s also just like, “Yo, you were supposed to open for someone in an arena first.” … I’m not knocking it, but I came up touring, building a fan base. I’m going to be doing this when I’m 70, like Tina Turner.
You also have a children’s book coming out. What do you hope kids take away from it?
It’s about trusting yourself and believing in who you are. The character goes on this adventure trying to find her identity in all these different places, but she realizes it’s been within her the whole time. I also want kids to get excited about music, about playing an instrument, about being creative. That’s what saved me when I was young. And honestly, I just want it to be fun. I want it to feel like music on the page.
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