By now, Australia has been hit hard with Lizzo fever. The African-American singer, rapper and flautist has burst onto the world stage after years of being at the cusp of viral stardom. But just as women like me and my friends are worshipping at the feet of Lizzo’s phenomenal presence, . What is it about Lizzo that has many women so obsessed?
Earlier this week, the fierce musician headlined the MTV Video Music Awards, singing to a backdrop of a huge, inflatable ass, backed up by incredible women of all sizes dancing behind her. In an Instagram post following the event, Lizzo pointed out that every single woman on stage with her had a story of why they didn’t believe they should be in the spotlight.
“Imposter syndrome is a privilege to the most marginalized [sic] group in America. Not only were we taught to believe we didn’t belong in the spotlight, but when we finally get to a place to self-worth the world tries to knock us down. Not this time. The world smiled with us. The world sang us. The world saw our beauty last night. The world saw black women feeling Good As Hell and cheered us on.”
This message goes to the very heart of why Lizzo is the role model we need right now.
Lizzo is a body-positivity goddess whose number one message is radical self-love. Her music is sassy and fun and fool of great hooks, but the lyrics and delivery are what keep women like me coming back.
I’m talking about gems like, ‘If I’m shiny, everybody gonna shine/I was born like this, don’t even gotta try’. Or ‘Cuz I’m my own soulmate/I know how to love me/I know that I’m always gonna hold me down’.
It might not seem like these sentiments are new. Hasn’t Beyoncé been chanting about being a survivor, and not needing a man for a while? Doesn’t she also preach self-love?
Well, sure. But the difference is that Beyoncé conforms to conventional beauty standards, while Lizzo is a plus-size woman who makes no apologies for her body. She has been consistently promoting positive self-regard for her nine-year career, and she is also with her fans about when her positive body image is more precarious. Where the Beyoncés of the world stand on stage and demand to be idolised, Lizzo is idolised precisely because she doesn’t expect it – she is going to do her regardless of whether she’s celebrated for it. In an , Lizzo addressed this head on:
"I made a decision to be myself because I knew I had no choice. Sometimes the label ‘unapologetic’ bothers me because it can be loaded, because it means we have to apologize [sic] for something in the first place. I’m not ignorant to the fact that we had to have a demeanor of lowering ourselves culturally just to exist. But I’m trying to shake up the narrative about how we’re supposed to act.".
So why has Lizzo’s message finally broken through now? She has been making music since 2010, but Lizzo fever has reached its peak in the past six months, and is bringing her out to Australia in January 2020 for the FOMO festival in Sydney and Melbourne.
It’s all down to timing. Right now, we’re in a unique cultural moment, when a core group of millennial women are entering their 30s. Women like me, who have been vocal feminists since our teen years; who had to watch strong women leaders like Hilary Clinton and Julia Gillard struggle to overcome the patriarchy, only to ultimately be defeated; and who grew up on the watered-down ‘grrl power’ messages of the Spice Girls and their ilk, only to realise that hidden within those messages was an expectation that our empowerment was contingent on being straight, skinny, pretty, and preferably white.
We’ve tried fitting in, leaning in, and stepping up and have realised that constantly trying to change ourselves to fit into the box created for ambitious women by the patriarchy just isn’t going to work. We can’t all be Sheryl Sandberg, and most of us don’t even want to be.
We’re tired of liberal feminism telling us that the problem is within us – that if we just tried harder, pushed further, were more assertive (but not bossy!), we could break through that glass ceiling. Instead, we’re ready to knock down the whole building and construct a new one entirely.
We’re past the insecurity of our 20s, and as we enter our 30s, our growing self-confidence has found a muse in Lizzo.
Lizzo performed at this week's MTV Video Music Awards. Source: FilmMagic, Inc
Lizzo tells us that the problem was never us – it’s that the box was the wrong shape entirely. She tells us that being ourselves is not only enough, it’s a gift and we should be celebrated for it.
And importantly, she serves as evidence that maintaining your integrity and standing by your feminism may not be the quick road to success, but it will lead to a sort of success that is more sustainable and more rewarding in the end. In an , the star said, "Back in the Nineties being yourself wasn’t an option. You had to fit into a mold [sic] or follow a particular pop algorithm to be successful, and I think men could always be themselves, especially white men. But now, being an individual will get you there. It’s not the quick way, it takes a while, but it feels better in the end."
Lizzo is a body-positivity goddess whose number one message is radical self-love
We can believe her, because she has proven her 100 per cent commitmentto this ethos. She doesn’t hide her body, the way that fat women are expected to on stage. Instead, she wears glitter leotards and dances up a storm just like her more slender peers do.
Now that the tides are turning and Lizzo’s star is firmly on the rise, she hasn’t changed her core message either. She is still selling the same values, through the same amazing music, with the same empowering message. The fact that people are catching on to how awesome she is, is just the cherry on top of a cake that was going into the oven regardless.
