Lizzo Once Again Responds To Claims That She Makes “White Music”

December 13, 2022 / Posted by:

Whenever I hear a Lizzo song, I tend to shut down because if not, I’ll get the urge to start flailing my arms and legs in an unrhythmic cadence like Chandler Bing (I can’t dance), and if you don’t get that last reference, then you may also be under the impression Lizzo exclusively makes music for white people. I think Lizzo’s music is for anyone with good taste. Yet people have been criticizing her music as needing a little splash of seasoning because, apparently, it’s whitewashed. Well, this has come up before, and she previously said that the criticisms bothered her until she got off the internet and heard from Black women in the real world who have been touched by her music. Lizzo talked about it once again during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show and says this will be the last time she talks about it, okay!

Uproxx reports Lizzo has moved on from her battle against small-dick energy men that constantly comment on her weight and now has to defend whether or not her music is made just for white folks. And it’s true, if you’ve ever found yourself in the midst of a raucous Wasted Wednesday event packed to capacity with Tipsy Tiffanies, you will most certainly hear one of Lizzo’s tunes sending them into a hair-flipping, drunken slurred rendition of Truth Hurts. During her November Vanity Fair cover interview, Lizzo said a lot about that criticism:

“That is probably the biggest criticism I’ve received, and it is such a critical conversation when it comes to Black artists. When Black people see a lot of white people in the audience, they think, Well this isn’t for me, this is for them. The thing is, when a Black artist reaches a certain level of popularity, it’s going to be a predominantly white crowd. I was so startled when I watched [YouTube clips of gospel great] Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who was an innovator of rock and roll. She was like ‘I’m going to take gospel and shred guitar,’ and when they turned the camera around, it was a completely white audience. Tina Turner, when she played arenas—white audience. This has happened to so many Black artists: Diana Ross, Whitney, Beyoncé.… Rap artists now, those audiences are overwhelmingly white. 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. If I can help other people, hell yeah. Because we are the most marginalized and neglected people in this country. We need self-love and self-love anthems more than anybody. 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 unbeautiful? 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?”

And she says internet criticism bothered her until she got into the “real world” and connected with Black women who told her that her music inspired them.

And when Howard Stern asked her about it, she said this:

When asked how the criticism made her feel, Lizzo replied, “[It is] very hurtful only because I am a Black woman. I feel like it challenges my identity and who I am. It diminishes that, which I think is really hurtful. And on the other end, I’m making funky, soulful, feel-good music that is so similar to a lot of Black music that was made for Black people in the ’70s and ’80s.”

But our favorite flutist didn’t stop there. Speaking about her HBOMax documentary Love, Lizzo, she let everyone know she understands now that people just don’t get her. But she will no longer allow those folks to determine who she is as an artist and will never talk about this nonsense again.

Staring at the host, Lizzo continued, “Then, on top of that, my message is literally for everybody and anybody. And I don’t try to gatekeep my message from people. So, all three of those things from me, and I’m like, you don’t even get me at all. I feel like a lot of people truthfully don’t get me, which is why I wanted to do the documentary. I feel like y’all don’t get me. Y’all don’t know where I came from. And now, I don’t want to answer no more questions about this sh*t. I just want to show the world who I am.”

Honestly, Lizzo, I don’t want you to ever talk about this mess again either because it’s silly. As long as you keep making music that every intoxicated person can badly sing along to at karaoke nights across the globe, then you’re definitely on the right career path!

Check out Lizzo’s interview with Howard below.

Pic: INSTARImages

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