“Hi, motherfucker, did you miss me” might not be a suitable greeting for all audiences, but one thing that can be agreed upon is that the world truly missed Melissa Jefferson aka Lizzo’s music. She might be trending on social media, (see the dance craze over the instant summer hit About Damn Time, produced by her “Truth Hurts” collaborator Ricky Reed and Blake Slatkin), but her fourth album Special is what fans have anticipated for three years. Why the delay? Lizzo says in “A Very Special Message from Lizzo,” that the long wait was in part due to the pandemic but in her words, “… I also took time for you… I felt like this was what not only I needed to hear. But you needed to hear and the whole world needs to hear.”
Lizzo didn’t just use her Truth Hurts producers to shape Special; the album draws inspiration from artists like Coldplay which can be heard in the jazz-infused song with the same name as the band as well as Lauryn Hill’s memorable hook in Break Up Twice. There are several songs that are reminiscent of other greats like Diana Ross and Lady Gaga. But unfortunately, even the combined power of these iconic artists doesn’t elevate those songs to mega-hit territory and just feels cliche. Despite this, Special is still the highest charting album released in 2022 by any female artist on the Billboard 200 (https://chartdata.org/).
Even with this success, Lizzo is no stranger to the trolls that come along with modern fame. She even comments on the pressures of social media in the album’s title track: “Woke up this morning to somebody in a video, talking/ About something I posted in a video/If it wasn’t me then would you even get offended?” But when Lizzo is called out for something legitimate, like with the recent controversy of the lyric, “spaz” in “Grrrls”, she did what leaders should do. She apologized for making a mistake and corrected it, ‘I Never Want to Promote Derogatory Language’ she shared in an Instagram post about the incident.
There are a few song lyrics (the disco hit for the modern era “Everybody’s Gay”, for example) that try too hard to be inclusive. Lizzo shines best when she addresses her own body image, like when she exudes full confidence in “Naked” or exposes her more vulnerable side in “If You Love Me” and “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready).” Half of the album is composed of uplifting music with body positive messages for all shapes, sizes, and colors, a cause that Lizzo has recently brought to her next venture, Yitty shapewear, a collaboration with Fabletics. In an interview with Forbes, Lizzo said the inspiration for the concept of the brand came from the nickname her aunt gave her when she was younger “[My aunt] was a full-figured woman and one of the coolest people ever with bold, beautiful energy. I wanted that energy in this brand.”
Whether it’s shapewear or music, Lizzo has a pulse on what the world wants and doesn’t let haters stand in her way. Nonetheless, her charm can only take the music so far and, by the end of the album, listeners might be left wondering why some of these songs made the cut when she had almost 170 to choose from. The tracks that did make the final cut of Special are 37 minutes of fun, and, as she says, it’s not just about powerhouse vocals and toe-tapping beats; “Cause if you don’t take nothin’ away from this album, I want you to know You’re special.” And so is Lizzo.
E.J. Inkmire 