FEATURE 46
FEATURE 46 www.glamsquadmagazine.com
FEATURE and dad, Michael, an entrepreneur who died of a stroke when she was 20. A self-described nerd, Lizzo learned how to play the flute in fifth grade. In high school, she was in the marching band and trained with the Houston Ballet Orchestra. By that point Lizzo (first it was Lissa; then, inspired by JAY-Z, the S’s became Z’s) knew two things. One, what she wanted to do. Two, the kind of world she was about to enter. “I grew up in a family that was very proud of our Blackness,” she says. In 2017 she released “Truth Hurts.” It took two years for the song to become a hit, after finding popularity on TikTok and being used in the Netflix movie Someone Great. She added it to her third album, ‘Cuz I Love You (in the music video, she marries herself), and the song’s viral lyric “100 percent that bitch” became part of the cultural lexicon. Lizzo Says ‘Nothing Changed’ When She Became Famous: Her ‘Anxiety’ and ‘Depression’ ‘Didn’t Go Away’ As Lizzo’s music took off—she’s earned three Grammys, two Soul Train Awards and millions of fans— her body became a topic of conversation. “Okay, we all know I’m fat,” she says with a sigh. “I know I’m fat. It doesn’t bother me. I like being fat, and I’m beautiful and I’m healthy. So can we move on?” Lizzo lists the stereotypes women like her face: “The funny, fat friend. I played that trope in high school. Or the friend who is gonna beat your ass ‘cause she’s big. Or it’s the big girl who’s insecure ‘cause she’s big.” She pauses. “I don’t think I’m the only kind of fat girl there is. I want us to be freed from that box we’ve been put in.” www.glamsquadmagazine.com 47
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