Did you know it’s Bitch Summer? It officially started a couple weeks ago when Lizzo released her new album Bitch. Apparently the world hasn’t caught on yet, because Bitch hasn’t cracked the Billboard 200. Her last album, Special, which was released in 2022, debuted at #2 on the same chart.
A year after Special‘s release, Lizzo was sued for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. Things were bad. Ever since, she’s been trying to rehabilitate her image and launch a comeback, but it hasn’t been going so well. A few days after Bitch‘s release, Lizzo responded to a tweet that questioned her drastic downfall. She replied:
I actually can answer this: the industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs. streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things. But I’m out here doing my absolute best and u can’t knock a bitch for that
Streaming was already well on its way to supplanting radio before Lizzo’s career took off, but it may well be true that the trend has accelerated in recent years. But DSPs are not the only modern technology ailing Lizzo. A few weeks ago, she discussed the damage caused to album campaigns by social media networks’ non-chronological algorithm. I do see her point; the algorithm might be ruining everything, album rollouts included.
“The algorithm-based way that social media functions now is destroying the music industry,” she said in a TikTok. “Now, when I say the music industry, I don’t mean music culture. I don’t mean the good music that’s out. I don’t mean our ability to connect via social media to music. I’m talking about the actual industry that allows artists to sell their music for profit.”
In that same TikTok, she stated that she’s been heavily promoting her album and that she has “280,000 people who want to buy my album, who want to see me on tour, and they’re not even seeing my promotional videos…” It’s unclear where that number came from and where all those fans disappeared to when Bitch dropped. Despite the numbers drought Lizzo’s new album is enduring, her previous hits are still doing well. In fact, “Truth Hurts” just went diamond.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stereogum.com ’
