For Lizzo, the truth hurts about her crossover success.
“The thing is, when a black artist reaches a certain level of popularity, it’s going to be a predominantly white crowd,” the 34-year-old star, born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, told Vanity Fair in its November cover story.
“I am not making music for white people. I am a Black woman, I am making music from my Black experience, for me to heal myself [from] the experience we call life.”
Although Lizzo’s music is rooted in R&B, hip-hop and even gospel, she has scored pop hits with life-affirming anthems such as “Juice,” “Good As Hell” and, most recently, “About Damn Time.” But while she may have amassed legions of white fans since her Grammy-winning breakthrough, 2019’s “Cuz I Luv You,” Lizzo says that she’s speaking to black women first and foremost.
“We need self-love and self-love anthems more than anybody,” she said. “So am I making music for that girl right there who looks like me, who grew up in a city where she was underappreciated and picked on and made to feel un-beautiful? Yes. It blows my mind when people say I’m not making music from a black perspective — how could I not do that as a Black artist?”