- You look great.
- Aw, look at Melissa trying to be shy.
She's trying to be shy.
You look so cute.
- Her real name's Melissa. - Melissa, say something.
- Something. - Ha ha.
- Go, Melissa. - This is Melissa.
- She was Lisso, like Melissa.
She was L-I-S-S-O. - Hey, Melissa!
- This is the backstage, and this is the wall
where our name's going to be next year.
- And then it went to Lizzo.
And for a while, no one knew Lizzo.
- My mama knew Lizzo. [laughs]
- Please welcome Lizzo.
- Ladies and gentlemen, Lizzo!
- Lizzo! - Her name is Lizzo.
Give it up, ladies and gentlemen.
[crowd chanting] Lizzo, Lizzo,
Lizzo, Lizzo, Lizzo...
[cheers and applause]
[moody chords]
- Someone calls a girl, "OK, Lizzo,"
because she's big and she's Black,
and she's doing something that they don't think
big Black women should be doing,
like dancing and being confident.
I can only turn Lizzo into a compliment
by being a best version of myself.
♪ I got a feeling I'm gonna be all right ♪
♪ It's bad bitch o'clock ♪
♪ Yeah, it's thick-thirty ♪
♪ I been through a lot, but I'm still flirty ♪
♪ OK! Is everybody back up in the building? ♪
♪ It's been a minute, tell me how you're healing ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm about to get into my feelings ♪
♪ How you feeling, how you feel right now? ♪
♪ Oh, I've been so down and under pressure ♪
♪ ♪
♪ I'm way too fine to be this stressed, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, I'm not the girl I was ♪
♪ Or used to be ♪
♪ Oh, bitch, I might be better ♪
♪ Turn up the music ♪
♪ Turn down the lights ♪
♪ I got a feeling I'm going to be all right ♪
♪ OK ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ It's about damn time ♪
♪ I'm coming out tonight ♪
♪ Coming out tonight ♪
♪ I'm coming out tonight ♪
♪ Coming out tonight ♪
♪ OK ♪
♪ All right ♪
♪ It's about damn time ♪
[chatter, laughter]
- Hear me out. - What's up?
- Can you hear me? - OK, I got you.
- "2 Be Loved" starts off
the way "Truth Hurts" ends, right?
I'm marrying myself,
I pull the veil back, run, right?
I'm about to have a panic attack, right?
I'm a runaway bride. I hop in the car.
I speed off.
Then, somewhere in between, a U-Haul pulls up,
and it's, like, a bunch of my girls.
And we can have moments of dancing and all types--
Ever since I was very young,
I would...
I would want something so badly.
OK, talk to you later.
- Take care. - Bye.
And I would get it.
I would just, like, manifest,
and I would get it, specifically with music.
I'd be like, all right, let's go,
and I would just... make it happen.
♪ ♪
But it took nearly ten years
to get to where I am today.
I worked so much and never said no.
No matter what part of my story you come in at,
I'm always chasing the music.
Why is she sleeping in her car?
She's chasing the music.
Why did she move to Minneapolis?
She was going where the music is.
And I also might not made it a few times.
Because nobody was fucking with me.
Nobody was trying to sign a fat Black girl
that rapped and sang and played the flute.
Y'all have no idea how close I was
to this not being a thing.
♪ Ooh, better ♪
♪ Better, ooh better ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh ♪
♪ Ooh, better ♪
[thunder rumbling]
[quiet music]
♪ ♪
You know, I was born in Detroit.
You know, my whole family Detroiters.
- I'm from the Eastside, and my mom and dad,
they both worked for Chrysler.
I met Michael at church.
We had only dated for about a month,
and then we got married. [laughs]
Because, I mean, you just know, you know?
So the next year, we started having children,
and they were born, like, two years apart.
Melissa is the only child that took me all the way to term.
Her brother used to tease her when she was little,
and she would just scream.
Oh, my God, she had a set of lungs on her.
But I would never tell her to shut up or be quiet,
because I just knew she was going to
use her voice for something.
- Ever since I was little, I was the person
who had to mediate family arguments.
I was the only person my dad would listen to.
It taught me how to communicate.
- Hi.
- My father was extremely pro-Black.
He had a lot of Black pride, which I loved,
and he taught us a lot.
He taught me about injustice.
He taught us about Emmett Till.
I learned about these things growing up
because my dad just wanted to show me
the way the world was,
and he really enforced in me
to never ever switch up.
You know what I'm saying?
♪ You, you, you ♪
♪ You, you, oh ♪
♪ ♪
- Whoa!
[thunder rumbling]
[indistinct greetings]
♪ ♪
- Oh, there's the picture.
That's the one you're talking about, right there, huh?
- This one. It's my great-grandma.
That's Mama Kirkwood.
- Her and her husband, they founded the church.
- My church was a family church,
so everyone was kind of my cousin.
My mom played piano in church, and she sang.
- I was in the choir at my grandfather's church.
You know, and then my cousins and I,
we formed a little group
called the Gospel Nightingales.
- Come on, matriarch.
- And then later on, I met the Winans,
and I was able to sing with them, too.
- We were brought up around
like major gospel players in Detroit,
and our dad would even promote their concerts.
So, like, being around them, Lizzo saw the professionalism
of the music industry in Detroit.
[crowd cheering]
- Music has always had a physical effect on me
because of the way
that I would get so lost in the music in church.
[crowd cheering]
- ♪ If you think ♪
♪ You got me dickmatized ♪
[dramatic musical sting]
♪ I need to get you ♪
♪ Out of my life ♪
New York, can I get a amen?
[Lizzo's "Heaven Help Me"]
♪ ♪
When I walk on stage, I black out.
It's not even blackout. It's a light.
It's a bright light. It's lights on.
♪ Heaven, help me ♪
♪ If love ain't dead, I'ma kill it ♪
♪ 'Cause it's killing me ♪
♪ Cold world, got me living in a fantasy ♪
♪ Like me, it's the only thing I'll ever need ♪
♪ Heaven, help me ♪
My shows are the way they are
because I want you to catch the spirit.
And if I'm on that stage,
we're connecting to something higher.
♪ If you think you got me dickmatized ♪
♪ Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah ♪
♪ I need to get you ♪
♪ Out of my ♪
♪ Life ♪
♪ Heaven, help me ♪
♪ If love ain't dead, I'ma kill it ♪
♪ 'Cause it's killing me ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
New York, can I get a amen?
- Amen!
[moody music]
- When I was a little girl,
I really believed that I was a bad singer--
not because I didn't try.
It's because I actually was singing
and it wasn't good, like... [laughs]
After I had moved to Houston,
when I was like 10 or 11,
I would write these pop songs, and I would try to sing it.
And I'd be like you know what, I'm gonna get somebody
to sing that part.
Like, I could hold a note,
I always had good intonation and pitch,
but I didn't have the confidence
or the power in my voice.
If there was a singer in my head
that I wanted to sound like,
it was probably Lauryn Hill and Beyoncé.
And I didn't sound like that, so I didn't bother.
- Yeah. - Let's pull it out.
- This is my letterman jacket,
the one thing we saved from my past, Jefferson.
They give you line names, and I don't know why.
They were like, and you gonna be spotlight.
I was like, OK.
Hello, hello, helloey!
And this is, um, I was Ms. Melissa.
Ooh, Ms. Melissa is so bougie.
Band, of course.
Flute.
And then this side was class of '06.
- '06. - Jefferson--I put an
exclamation point on it, too. - No way.
- And that's funny.
My Lizzo signature has a exclamation point,
so some things never change, ho.
And it's huge because I was insecure,
and I was like, I need the biggest jacket you have.
'Cause I was scared to get something too small,
and everyone would make fun of me.
Why she got that old little jacket on?
[exaggerated laugh]
- Why would they even laugh like that?
- 'Cause that's how they was. They were so mean.
- [imitating laugh]
- They was so mean in Houston.
Seventh and eighth grade
is when kids started to notice differences.
I wore my hair different.
I didn't have the body type. Like, I was chunky.
There were things I would hide about myself,
like hiding that I liked anime,
or that I read Sailor Moon fan fiction.
I knew people were making fun of me
or laughing at me.
I have memories of raising my hand,
and people being like...
"Damn, you going to answer that question, too?
Damn!"
Of girls hiding my clothes from me after gym class,
boys calling me fat ass on the bus.
By the time I was going through the ninth grade,
I was like, I am sick of being nerdy.
I want to be cool.
So I started throwing myself into rap.
♪ Yeah, I'm movin' like a snake ♪
♪ In the woods... ♪
That was my first rap performance.
I remember I went out into the crowd,
and everybody just started screaming and going wild.
- Go, Melissa! - [rapping indistinctly]
And that's where I fell in love with live performance.
In Houston, freestyle rap was everywhere.
You'd put on the radio, Lil Flip was freestyle rapping,
and he was the freestyle king.
[overlapping shouting]
Then Ludacris came out, and I was like, oh,
I want to rap like Ludacris. This is it!
♪ I will probably outlast every nigga flowin' ♪
And mind you, that was the time
when I was taking Phentermine.
I was wearing trash bags.
I was, like, putting on girdles.
I was doing all of this shit in high school
to be, like, thin.
Like a lot of people, I grew up
learning how to hate my body.
And...it worked.
You're just so disgusted with your skin and your flesh
and your muscle and your bones
and the way that they're designed.
And the fat in your body is just, like,
you wanna cut parts of your body off.
Like, how do you-- how do I stop that?
I don't want to feel this way anymore...
you know?
So I was just like--music.
[somber instrumentals]
Boys don't like me. I don't need boys.
Music is my boyfriend.
I was very focused.
The first song we wrote for Cornrow Clique
was "It Don't Matta Doe."
- How did it go?
- I have it.
- Play it. - Here we go.
[clears thought] ♪ Mayne, it don't matter ♪
♪ If I wear white or black ♪
♪ 'Cause when I'm in the club ♪
♪ Niggas be on my back ♪
♪ Never failing, never falling off of the track ♪
♪ When I walk away, look at my back ♪
♪ 'Cause they can't face me and disrespect on my clique ♪
♪ If you even breathe wrong, ho, expect to get huh ♪
Wow. Performing to a room of people
on their phones--my dream. [laughing]
My dream.
♪ ♪
When I land in Houston, it's always like, whoa.
This is really where I grew up.
Detroit is where I was born,
Minneapolis is where I was branded
and where I became an artist, like a solo artist,
but I was such an adult by then.
Houston is really where I was, like, bred.
I moved down to Houston in 1997.
My parents had a business in real estate.
There were days where we had a lot of money,
and there was days where we were squeezing it.
My brother and sister got involved.
It was a family business,
and I was the only one not involved
because I was like, I'm going to band practice.
♪ ♪
[murmuring, chatter]
Hi.
It's crazy to be back.
This is where I used to rehearse
with my band and--yeah.
I went to the University of Houston on flute scholarship.
[jazzy flute music]
♪ Big girls got to cry ♪
The Houston Rodeo was like the biggest thing
that I've ever done--period.
- Are y'all ready to see who the mystery performer is
for Black Heritage Day?
- It's me! I'm coming back to Houston.
♪ ♪
It feels like a homecoming.
And I remember just thinking,
that is the biggest thing you can do--
like when Beyoncé did it and when Selena did it.
I've never played a stadium.
I've never played a venue that has 75,000 ticketed to see me.
I sold out the [bleep] Houston Rodeo in seven min--
[bleep], I sold out the [bleep] Houston Rodeo
in seven [bleep] minutes, [bleep]!
Oh my God, look at Brazil.
And I sold out the [bleep]--
God is good. I want to say thank you
to everybody who bought tickets to the Houston Rodeo.
It's about to be a [bleep] party [bleep].
[laughing] I love y'all.
Damn!
[upbeat music playing]
♪ ♪
- We all knew that it was probably a matter of time
before this was going to happen.
So now that this has happened
and we have a community spread,
this isn't about the Rodeo.
This is about large gatherings
and protecting the community.
[somber music]
- We just got news that the Rodeo is officially canceled.
- Oh.
OK.
- So I--they literally--
I just hung up with them two minutes ago.
[phone chime]
♪ ♪
We can hop on a plane anytime you want.
- I'm sorry.
- It sucks.
♪ ♪
- I was pretty fucking sad,
but people were expecting me to be sad,
so I'm like, I'm gonna keep it together.
Everything's gonna be fine.
Welcome. Um...
as some of you might know,
I was scheduled to play the Houston Rodeo today...
and we had to cancel.
A lot of people are sad right now.
A lot of people are sad right now...
because somebody they know is sick
or they might be sick
or we might be afraid of what this means
for life as we know it.
[playing flute]
The pandemic was the cause,
and everything else was the effect.
I had to stop what I was doing
and sit with myself.
I was staying home and working on music.
I told myself that Monday,
this Monday, tomorrow,
would be my deadline for having
a bunch of demos, listenable demos,
to play for my A&R.
[sighs]
[starts to sing] [shrill feedback]
Fucking idiot. I hate when I do that.
I'm so annoyed with myself right now.
♪ Being in love, you gotta have some ♪
♪ Self-control ♪
Lately, I just...
I don't...I don't see it.
I just feel like there's people out there,
there's artists that are way cooler than me.
There are artists that are way more
politically impactful than me.
There's artists that are way more mysterious
and mystify people more and wake people up more.
Like, I just don't think that...[sighs]
It's like the stakes changed.
♪ Ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ♪
I think I was like, ugh, how do I--
how do I write bangers when I'm fucking sad
and mad and hurting?
I'm such a conduit when I write music.
I can't fake it, you know, and I was blocked
because I was holding on to a lot.
[electric guitar playing]
♪ ♪
I've always been a little, quote-unquote, different.
I was really, really bookish,
and I couldn't wait to go home and read
and just sit in my room.
I can lay in my bed and, like, daydream
and imagine things all day,
and music was definitely an escape.
The flute was part of that world that I could go away to,
and I would just practice for hours.
[upbeat band music playing]
The flute was this weird thing that just happened.
Mr. Broughton was my first band teacher ever,
and he looks at you and picks your horn for you.
And for me, I was just chosen for flute.
I remember walking into the band hall every day
excited about what piece Mr. Broughton had for us.
He would write out his own music.
He would score it out, and it was normally
like songs from the radio.
He just made playing instruments cool.
People assumed that because I was Black
I wouldn't be good at the flute.
And I'm just like, let me prove all y'all wrong.
- Let's bring out Sasha.
This is Sasha the Flute, the final flute.
Oh, Sasha Floot. - Her name is Sasha F-L-O-O-T.
Sasha, she gonna post this on her Instagram
because she's a cocky little biyatch.
Hey, y'all, it's Sasha, and I'm walking you through
the Library of Congress. No one in 200 years
have ever heard this flute get played.
So, of course she had to twerk.
Oh, my God.
Are you kidding me?
♪ ♪
- Where do I blow?
- Heh. Well...
[trilling notes]
[applause]
♪ ♪
This is a beginner flute.
My dad would come to the concerts with my mom,
and they thought that, you know,
Mr. Broughton's band was cool.
But he didn't really get invested
until I learned "The Carnival of Venice."
Whew! [clank]
Oh, shit!
Wow.
This is the sickest thing ever.
"The Carnival of Venice" is this technical feat.
It's like a flute's piece and chain.
You know what I'm saying? A flute showing out.
And my dad thought that that was the coolest thing ever.
He was all, she good at this. [chuckles]
♪ ♪
He was like, you need to get a lavalier mic,
and you need to start playing the flute
and putting synthesizers on it.
My dad just motivated me a lot.
Bye, guys.
♪ ♪
Oh, God. I don't even wanna think about this.
He had his first stroke when I was 16.
I remember in my mind being like,
I'm going to become successful.
I'm gonna make money
so that I can just make sure that my dad is healthy.
I can buy him a nice house with Mommy,
and I'll get a live-in nurse that can just, like,
juice for him every day, and a chef.
And I had all these big dreams and plans
and goals to help him.
2006 to, like, 2010
was a hot mess blur for me.
I graduated high school, and I went to college.
My dad was kind of in the house a lot,
couldn't really work that much.
That was the same time the financial crisis hit.
My parents' business suffered, but also my dad was sick.
The pressure really got to me,
and I really kind of like froze
when it was time to go back to school.
So yeah, I just kind of abandoned it.
My dad would be manifesting for me.
He would be like, you know, I was praying for you today,
and I really want you to go back to school,
and I really want you to study music
and be successful in music.
He wanted us to be, like, stars
because my dad believed he was a star,
and he believed that my mom was a star.
Not a star in the, like,
you're going to be famous type of way,
but like, do you know who you are?
You came from me, so you should be great.
He was actually doing better.
He was at a hospital,
and, um, I still don't know what happened to him.
I still don't know. He was...
he was getting better.
When he passed away,
I kind of lost the will to make music.
I lost the will to live.
[heartbeat thumping]
A lot went to shit in that time.
I lost my apartment. I lost my job, I lost my dad.
I was sleeping on floors, sleeping in, like,
my band's rehearsal studio, sleeping in my car.
It was a old 1998 Subaru,
and the side was T-boned in.
I slept in my car on Thanksgiving,
and I just cried.
I lost everything.
[background chatter]
I didn't talk to anyone. I didn't respond to questions.
I don't know what this was.
It was some weird psychotic break.
I would go out in the streets all alone,
and I would sing by myself.
And the thing that came out was just ugly and raw and dark
and therapeutic all at once.
♪ Ooh ooh ♪
My relationship with myself had to change,
because in order to pick myself back up off the floor,
I had to trust myself.
I had to love that person.
♪ Am I ready? ♪
♪ ♪
I was like, all right, well,
I can't stay in Houston anymore,
and I kind of threw myself into the unknown.
♪ ♪
Hello.
I'm going to be singing "Ghosts."
It is one of the songs I sing with my band, Ellipses,
and it's written by Jean Guillory,
not me, Melissa. OK.
♪ I will never touch you ♪
♪ Rather, you will never touch me ♪
Good luck, though.
♪ Lost in the desert ♪
♪ And losing your mind ♪
♪ Looking for something you were hoping to-- ♪
♪ [indistinct], biopic ♪
♪ I'm moon walking on Mars ♪
I had been doing, like, Skype sessions with this producer.
- That's my cousin.
- That's my sister.
- And he was like, let's go to Minneapolis.
That's where the music scene is.
So I hopped in his Jeep, and we drove to Minneapolis,
and I found my voice.
♪ Nah mean? nah, you don't ♪
♪ Anyways I get that green ♪
♪ They said I won't ♪
♪ Was the rumor since the womb ♪
♪ And I continue steady blooming ♪
♪ Dooming, glooming, on these people ♪
♪ That be thinking that they doin' something ♪
First, I was in Lizzo and the Larva Inc.
Then I was in The Chalice.
And then I was in
GRRRL PRTY.
♪ Shooting you from every angle ♪
♪ Hurt your feelings and your paycheck ♪
♪ Got a feeling you won't make it, bye ♪
♪ Oops, I didn't know you was a wegula ♪
♪ Oops, my bad ♪
I met Sophia Eris like the first week
I moved to Minneapolis at a block party.
♪ Oh, you's a wegula ♪
♪ Oops ♪
It was hardcore, it was party, clast,
it was, like, rebellious, it was very punk rap, you know?
And her and I together, we were just, like,
trying to do anything we could.
We were hungry.
- Sophia became my DJ.
It was kind of like we needed each other,
and we didn't really know what this was all gonna be,
but we're sisters, you know?
♪ Running and running until I can't go ♪
♪ I cut the piece, put that P in pocket ♪
♪ Partly polyethylene ♪
♪ Partly a polygon made up of particles ♪
♪ Sparkle, that glitter ain't gold ♪
I was working in a producer's home studio,
and his style was very Rap Olympics,
where I'm like... ♪ Remember that gooey gooey ♪
♪ You took us at, ooh wee, ooh wee, I need two-a towey ♪
And he's like, all right, one more time.
And I'm like...[inhales] ♪ Remember that gooey gooey ♪
♪ You took us at, ooh wee, ooh wee ♪
♪ I need two-a twoey-a these for my baby boo-y ♪
And then I evolved into Big Grrrl Small World
where I was like, I wanna get weird.
[vocalizing]
I started getting into like sonics.
The throat got all these little nuances to it.
You got to get under-- I studied music theory,
and I was like, I need to flex that.
And so for Big Grrrl Small World,
I got very in the driver's seat.
♪ B-b-b-b-b-b-big girl ♪
♪ S-s-s-s-s-s-small world ♪
Because nobody knows my truth, you know.
I have to like find it.
Got a lot on my chest,
so here's my breast reduction.
I hear the sound of gums bumping.
They ain't saying nothing.
I'm sick and tired of being typecast
like Lindsay Lohan
when I'm gon' probably outlast
every nigga flowing.
♪ All these niggas want to ride it ♪
♪ All these niggas wanna ride ♪
♪ I-i-i-i-it ♪
Boom!
[laughs]
"Lizzobangers," what I did with Lazerbeak,
kind of came out unexpectedly for me
'cause I have been in girl bands my entire life.
- And now we just got word of a new solo record.
- Yay! - Big Grrrl Small World.
- I'm so excited.
I finally just went in and started recording.
And I had this breakthrough moment
where I wrote a song called "My Skin."
When I wrote that song, I was like, now, I know my mission.
Like, I know why I'm here,
I why I have this mouthpiece.
And everything else became super, super clear.
- What do you love the most
about your body?
- My skin.
I love my skin. [laughing/crying]
And this is something I was born with, you know?
You can't buy this at the store, so...hey.
Your whole life, when you are on the other side
of the spectrum of, like, what's hot
or what the models are walking in on the runway,
you're called these names.
You're called fat, you're called big, you're called ew.
I remember being like, should I call myself big?
I mean, I might as well call myself big
before everybody else do on the internet.
And then one day, I was like, yo, like,
I'm going to be in this body forever.
I'm going to be this bitch forever,
so you either live your life not liking her,
or you live your life trying to love her.
♪ Uh yeah ♪
♪ Ooh what's deeper than ♪
♪ What's deeper than the darkest ♪
♪ Best kept secret ♪
♪ Beneath the surface, we could ♪
♪ Let it bring us together... ♪
Before that, I hadn't heard anyone say
I'm in love with myself on a song.
But people connected to it, and it was personal,
and it was real.
So I realized that was who I was.
♪ Beautiful thing that you ever seen ♪
♪ Is even bigger than...♪
I used to wanna be a cool rapper,
but after "My Skin," it really hit me, like,
I'm really a songwriter.
And I wanted to write a song
that the whole world could sing back to me.
♪ My skin ♪
♪ Your skin, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, I can't wash it away ♪
♪ No, you can't take this from me ♪
Minneapolis accepted, like, every single part of me,
the part of me that had a little bit of a accent
and loved to freestyle rap,
and then the other side of me
that was like, I listen to indie rock music
and play classical flute.
♪ Ooh, my skin... ♪
I feel like this city gave me the opportunity
to just be who I am.
I don't think I would have left Minneapolis
if it weren't for MTV Wonderland.
It's going to be on and popping, Khaled.
You got to watch it.
It premieres September 15 at 11:00 p.m.
Honestly, hosting that TV show
was the only reason why I moved to LA,
which, it weren't for that,
then I would have never met Myke.
And then I would have never fallen in love.
But that's a long story.
Wow, all these people are just, like, regular drivers.
They don't know that I'm fucking--
- A first timer? - Yeah.
Whew, another car, look.
[Lizzo's "Fitness"] [thumping steering wheel]
Why am I not honking?
[thumping] [honks horn]
There it is.
Full stop.
I don't do no California--whoa!
- When was the last time you drove?
- 2000 and, um, [mumbles].
[both laugh]
I haven't been able to get a license
for, like, mm...years
'cause somebody had stole my identity,
and I had two licenses down in Houston.
And one of them had so many outstanding fucking warrants
that, you know, I was riding dirty.
I was riding dirty just being there.
- But you got your license. - I know.
Drivers don't want to wave? - [laughs]
- So much has changed in all those years.
- So much has changed since 1900 and--
- Watch the squirrel. - Squirrel!
I'm not going to hit the squirrel.
I'm a defensive driver, you know, I mean,
I can say I'm probably the best defensive driver there is.
[metal scrubbing]
What? Oh, my God.
Am I not supposed to hit that?
[laughter]
Whew!
Wow!
Suck it, Texas.
Texas was trying to keep me down, man.
But you know what?
I'm a driver now.
♪ But I don't do this for ♪
♪ You-ooh-ooh-ooh... ♪
♪ ♪
- Artists are never allowed to come back
on the sophomore record with, like, something real.
It always has to be something that's, like, so constructed
that it's, like, bulletproof.
- Of course, I wanna be like, yeah,
let's go out with something fucking vulnerable.
Like, trust me, I got a lot of pent-up shit
that I be just watching. I'm like, damn,
I wish I could say this, I wish I could say that but--
- What are actually some of those pent-up things
that you feel like you can't say?
- When I'm feeling shitty about myself, I'm honest.
But then the whole internet goes crazy,
and it's, like, on the fucking news.
But I'm like, I'm just being honest, you know.
I'm just saying the things that people feel
about themselves, whether they're big or small,
every single day.
- In this fucking world of Instagram supermodels,
you're the only girl your size, your style, that they accept.
Even the people that talk shit about you,
they're talking shit about you because they're confused
as to why you're accepted. - Yeah.
I'm so fucking happy with the way that I look and who I am,
and it's so crazy, 'cause you put my body
next to Kim Kardashian's and, baby,
people would think that I'm wrong.
But I'm like, this is the body I was given.
- Now we're talking. - You know?
I don't think I want to write a song
tackling everything at once that we're talking about.
- Right. - I think to do something else
and then drop these kind of like
unabashed truths in there,
and then people are like, oh, OK.
[track playing]
♪ Hi, motherfucker ♪
♪ Did you miss me? ♪
♪ I been twerking, making smoothies ♪
♪ And all these rappers, they've been sexting ♪
♪ I'm in a meeting, and I look better ♪
♪ Than you seen me last ♪
♪ I been training I can flex that ass ♪
♪ So when I shake it, I can shake it fast ♪
♪ Make that camera flash, camera flash, camera flash ♪
♪ If you're looking for the sign, bitch, I'm it... ♪
She talking about making that album.
Hey! A album?
A album, bitch?
A album? Absolutely not.
I'm not making no fucking album.
♪ Just a second, let me fix my wig, yeah ♪
♪ Now it's time to finally talk my shit, yeah ♪
♪ Oh, did you forget I'm still that bitch, yeah ♪
♪ I live inside your head and pay no rent, yeah ♪
A album!
♪ I'm blessed, I said ♪
♪ I'm getting some head ♪
♪ I'm Texas Toast ♪
♪ I'm cornbread-fed ♪
♪ I'm good, I'm great ♪
♪ I'm two hours late ♪
♪ But I'm on my way ♪
♪ Hey, hey, hey ♪
- Yeah. Something like...
'cause the second verse is good.
There's just some things in the first verse,
and then there's like a few things in the hook,
and then the second time, when the pre comes.
- So the whole song?
[laughter]
- There is more pressure
from not only my management team
but from the label.
- Get, like, an update on, in case nobody told you--
- I was writing good songs, and I was like,
oh, shit, like, I've got some really good songs.
- Should we see how it sounds? - Yeah, let's hear it.
I played them for Atlantic Records.
And for me, I thought they would be like...
"This is it. You've done it again.
Girl, you did it."
And, um...
they just were like...
"Yeah, um..."
I was so fuckin' mad that day.
I was like, I don't trust the damn label right now.
I need to trust myself.
- I mean, it sounds insane,
but they're just super thorough.
- You are coming from a place where just--
you're now in a...you've won Grammys and shit now,
so they wanna keep that up too.
They want critical acclaim.
- I don't know what music is.
I don't know what songwriters do.
I'm tired.
- When did you write "Good as Hell" and "Truth Hurts"?
Did you care?
- No.
- Did you overthink those songs?
- No. - All right.
- You got a point there, buddy.
You got a point there, buddy.
It's OK.
The story of how "Truth Hurts" evolved...
I got my heart stomped on in 2017.
I wish that there were cameras then.
Shit.
'Cause it was really just a sad day.
It was around my birthday,
and I had a voicemail and this phone call from this guy.
He was like, please don't contact me, don't call me,
don't text me.
And I was like, huh?
[somber music]
It was painful, like I slid down the wall.
I was crying. Like, I was crying for days.
I didn't eat.
So I go into the studio,
and I was just talking about my day.
It was that weekend.
Like, there was this dude on the Minnesota Vikings
who wanted to go on a date with me, so I hit him back.
And then, I took my weave out
and just went and got my hair washed and pressed and cut.
I just wanted some new energy.
I took a bomb photo, and I was like,
life is fucked up right now, but at least I look good.
Remember, I was like, oh, you trying to break my heart?
Huh.
Breaks my heart.
'Cause you ain't never even had it.
It was just like a magical moment
of everything I've ever said out of raw emotion,
and I just put it in a song.
That's why it's so important
that I just keep writing shit like that.
♪ Ah ah ♪
I'm glad it happened.
Sometimes I'll be laughing to myself like, this boy.
And I just sing the song about him.
Ha ha.
This is my favorite part.
♪ I just took a DNA test ♪
♪ Turns out I'm 100% that bitch ♪
♪ Even when I'm cryin' crazy ♪
♪ Yeah, I got boy problems ♪
♪ That's the human in me, bling bling... ♪
This is the cover shoot of "Cuz I Love You."
Like, that is the black backdrop,
and I sat right where he is.
I just got so excited.
We're gonna listen to the album.
I'm about to be naked. It's be about to be fucking--
I'm about to fuck shit up it, bitch.
What's good? [laughter]
Just a little tit.
[electronic guitar riffing]
It was kind of the beginning of this wild ride.
♪ Turn it up ♪ I was just excited.
♪ Slow songs, they for skinny hos ♪
♪ Can't move all of this... ♪
- You're the one killing it.
- A genreless pop star, a woman of color.
- Hey, girl, color in black!
- Peace and beauty. - Can I get a amen?
It's always kind of been like this,
and then this year, it was just like--
I don't know why this bathtub
is full of Skittles. It gets weird.
♪ ♪
- Yeah, girl... - We love you!
- ♪ Kitty cat, kitty cat, kitty-kitty cat ♪
♪ Look at my ass, it's fitty-fitty fat ♪
It is incredible.
Oh, my God.
♪ Girls get love ♪ Whoo!
♪ Slow songs, that's for skinny hos ♪
♪ Can't move all of this here to one of those ♪
♪ I'm a thick bitch, I need tempo ♪
Goddamn! That's fine!
♪ Fuck it up to the tempo ♪
♪ Slow songs ain't for skinny hos ♪
Fuck it up to the tempo.
Fuck it up. Fuck it up.
Whoo!
[Lizzo's "Truth Hurts"]
♪ New man on the Minnesota Vikings ♪
♪ Truth hurts, needed something more exciting ♪
♪ ♪
All your guitars and shit that you added are missing.
Maybe it's just in my ears.
Do you hear it in the house, Devon?
- [Devon, indistinct] - So it's missing, yeah?
Tracks are missing.
It hurts my feelings.
This is my show, this is my music, this is my life.
Please don't hurt my feelings. Please don't break my heart.
Let's all be the best we can fucking be.
This is fine, but this is a rehearsal.
But when it's time to go tonight,
it's time to motherfucking go.
Thanks, everybody.
I think in 2019,
I was growing faster than I could keep up.
Like, holy shit, now we're doing Coachella.
And I wanted the set to be perfect.
And, you know, I was a little big for my britches.
♪ Everybody, hands up ♪
♪ Hands to the sky ♪
We gon' have us a good-ass time today, Coachella.
[music cuts out]
Nothing but body positivity and self-love.
[cheers and applause]
The music kept cutting in and out because...
♪ And baby, worship me ♪
...our system had overheated.
I'ma keep singing this shit. ♪ Worship me ♪
♪ Yeah-ea-eah ♪
We just kept dancing, and I kept singing.
♪ And baby, worship me ♪
Back then, I felt like who I am now.
But everything around me
was always kind of like half done.
♪ Ee ee ee ee ee-ah ♪
[cheers and applause]
I want the show to be so much bigger and better
than it is right now. - Yeah, yeah.
- As I'm standing there, I was like, huh?
We need pyrotechnics.
We need videos.
It breaks my heart because
these people want to see a big show,
and I want to put on a good show.
Our infrastructure was tiny back then.
And at that point, I was, like,
living in a one-bedroom box apartment.
[chatter, light laugh]
It's like, it wouldn't be
a fucking Lizzo award show performance
if it wasn't down to
the fucking wire. [knock on door]
I'm just so fucking tired.
- It's 2:00 a.m.
- Welcome. - Oh, my God.
- Welcome to my crowded apartment.
- Welcome. - I don't know how
you got this done in less than 24 hours.
Fingers crossed.
Should I put it over my head? - No, you're good.
- [sighing]
T-minus seven hours before the AMAs.
We were struggling back then.
♪ 2:00 a.m. ♪
♪ In my apartment ♪
♪ Trying on a fucking gown ♪
- Beautiful.
- But I gotta give everybody credit.
Like, I was working with such a small group of people,
and we kept going.
- Look. Look at it from behind.
- ♪ Jerome ♪
The show don't stop.
The show must go on.
[Lizzo's "Jerome"]
♪ Poor little baby ♪
♪ Who told you that you stood ♪
♪ A chance with this royalty ♪
♪ You're so sweet, bless your heart ♪
♪ Can't let a pretty face distract me from business ♪
♪ And God as my witness, your ugly ass won't either ♪
I'm sorry.
The music has been my first love.
Music has been my most consistent lover.
And I always felt like my music is
a conversation with the people who listen to it.
♪ Jerome ♪
But when I perform music sometimes,
I relive painful experiences.
But music didn't do that to me, life did.
And because of music, I can express that pain
in a way that makes life easier.
♪ Jerome ♪
♪ Go on and take your ass home ♪
♪ Where the peaches have ♪
♪ Thorns ♪
♪ Don't cry for me, baby ♪
♪ Don't cry, no ♪
♪ Oh, don't cry for me, baby ♪
♪ Oh, oh ♪
[audience cheers]
Me and Myke had been friends since "Wonderland."
It's complicated because we're friends
with a lot of feelings.
I didn't really know what to do with all those feelings,
so we were off and on, you know?
One day we were on, and the next day we were off.
It hurt because I loved him,
but honestly, I don't think I was ready for love.
I feel so bad.
[sobbing]
I don't know.
I feel so bad.
I don't know how this person just has,
like, all of my heart.
You know what I mean?
I don't know what I'm going to do.
I just want it to, like--
I just want, like, the feelings to stop.
You look so nice, Shelby.
[laughs] - Thank you.
Girl, this a hard one.
I don't even got no words for you,
'cause I know exactly how you feel.
- Yeah. Isn't it so scary just being like,
what if this hurts, or what if it doesn't work?
Like, it's not even about him.
It's just about, like, fear, like, I have a lot of fear.
You know?
This is the first time I've ever been so close to someone
who doesn't need me or doesn't ask me for anything,
which was something I thought was nice at first.
It was refreshing.
And then, now, it's like, oh, no, you don't need me.
You don't need me at all.
Ugh.
Just put on the Harry Styles album.
[Harry Styles' "Falling"]
Oh, fuck.
♪ ♪
- ♪ I'm in my bed ♪
♪ You're not here ♪
- I love this fucking song.
- ♪ And there's no one to blame ♪
♪ But the drink in my wandering hand ♪
- Bitch!
Don't sing my truth, bitch.
- ♪ What am I now ♪
- What am I now, bitch?
♪ What if I'm someone I don't want around? ♪
♪ I'm falling again ♪
♪ I'm falling ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ I get the feeling ♪
♪ That you'll never need me again ♪
- [weeping]
I forgot he said that.
♪ ♪
[whispering] Love these lyrics, bro.
- ♪ What am I now? What am I now? ♪
♪ What if you're someone I just want around? ♪
- Why did you want me to turn it on?
- I don't know. Why did he say that?
I was good till he said that.
- ♪ What if I'm down ♪
- I'm sorry. - It's OK.
- ♪ What if I'm someone you won't talk about? ♪
♪ I'm falling again, I'm falling again ♪
♪ I'm falling ♪
- You know, music is really powerful.
- You know, you should watch a Lizzo show.
- Ha ha. - I can't.
It's impossible.
Can I sing to y'all?
[cheering and applause]
♪ I will always... ♪
♪ In case nobody told you today ♪
♪ Dun-dun-duh, dun-dun-duh ♪
♪ I'm so glad that you're still with us ♪
I love that.
Write that down.
- ♪ In case nobody told you today... ♪
- I want to say celebrity is new to me,
and so is people judging me, but that's not exactly right.
- Fame is pretty new to me.
I'm used to people judging me.
- ♪ Fame is pretty new, but I got ♪
♪ But I been used to people judging me ♪
♪ That's why I move the way I move ♪
♪ That's why I'm so in love with me ♪
- You can say "and."
♪ That's why I move the way I move ♪
♪ And why I'm so in love with me ♪
- ♪ Do do do do do do do ♪ Pow.
♪ In case nobody told you today ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ In case nobody made you believe ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ Well, I will always love you the same ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ I'm so glad that you're still with us ♪
♪ Broken, but damn, you're still perfect ♪
OK, now I sing it in tune.
♪ Oh ♪
♪ ♪
♪ In case nobody told you today ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ I'm so glad that you're still with us ♪
♪ Broken, but damn, you're still perfect ♪
[echoing]
- OK. 1, 2, 3, 4.
5 and 6, 7, 8.
[Lizzo's "Truth Hurts"]
♪ ♪
- The big girls are an extension of myself.
I'm not small,
and I remember being like, well, if I'm gonna have
people on stage with me, they gotta look like me.
So it inspired me to just be like I need big girls.
And I was like, we can call them the big girls.
The big girls went from being a physical thing
to like an energetic thing, like how big is your spirit,
how big is your heart?
How we feeling, y'all? - Good.
[cheering]
- I just want to let y'all know,
I watched the footage from the rehearsals yesterday,
and it just looks so good.
And now that we have perfection, I think it's time
to just bring realness to it, so the whole world can
fall in love with the person that we've fallen in love with,
you know.
So I want to talk about what we felt
and talk about how we can feel better.
Not even better, how we can feel actually good as hell
when we're performing this song.
Because, I'm not going to lie,
yesterday, I didn't feel good as hell.
I was stressed out
instead of just kind of opening up and letting it
flow from me, you know, but that's me.
We'll start over here, and we'll move through.
Like, how did you feel, as you were going through?
- I feel like you feel like we are capable of everything,
and you think that I'm capable of
more than I think I'm capable of.
And so I was fighting this inclination to shrink
and to, like--it's OK to, like, for all of us
to be, like, big, to take up space.
Even stepping on the train sometimes,
I know for me the first thing I do is try to shrink up
to space for other people.
- Isn't that funny that that's our inclination,
is to shrink ourselves.
Why do I have to shrink myself?
Why is this too big for you?
Do you know what I mean?
And this ain't too big for the main stage.
If anything, it's just the right size--
- Come on. - For an arena, for a stadium.
Light me up. [laughter]
[overlapping chatter]
But, um...
And so being there and going through the steps,
and going through this whole process with everybody,
it's just like, yo, now I have to give myself permission
to be in this moment, so...
- There's nothing I can do to take away
the fear of vulnerability.
But I think we can use that when you're performing
tomorrow, and realize how strong you look
and realize how much strength you're going to give people.
- I gotta be on point. I have to.
I can't--you can't let nobody see you sweat.
You have to be three times better than.
It's not two times. It's three times.
You know what I mean? - Yes.
- And it's just, oh, my God.
[soft music]
♪ ♪
- Being big, your body is politicized.
Being Black, your skin is politicized.
Being a woman, your gender is politicized.
So we're actually making quite the political statement
being all three.
Look where you are, you know.
This performance isn't like, oh, we have,
like, a token big girl.
This performance is about us.
It's for us. And it's not-- [clapping]
And it's not a joke. It's dead serious.
I want you to imagine that you walked to that train
and then you hopped in a limo and drove to the VMAs,
and you looked back at that girl walking to the train,
and you said, I knew it, girl. I told you, didn't I tell you?
You are the self that your younger self saw.
They would look up to you.
[overlapping chatter]
Let me talk to y'all for a second.
[cheers and applause]
I'm tired of the bullshit.
And I don't have to know your story to know
that you're tired of the bullshit, too.
It's so hard trying to love yourself in a world
that doesn't love you back. Am I right?
[cheering]
So I want to take this opportunity right now
to just feel good as hell
because you deserve to feel good as hell.
We deserve to feel good as hell.
♪ So tell me how you feeling ♪
- ♪ Good as hell! ♪
- ♪ Tell me how you feeling ♪
- ♪ Good as hell ♪
- ♪ If you don't know what to do ♪
♪ Yea-ea-eah ♪
♪ If he don't love you anymore ♪
♪ Walk your fine ass out the ♪
♪ Door ♪
♪ Oh oh ♪
♪ ♪
- ♪ Feeling good as hell ♪
- ♪ Say good as hell ♪
- ♪ Feeling good as hell ♪
- ♪ Say good as hell ♪
- ♪ Feeling good as hell ♪
Yeah!
[cheers and applause]
[soft, stirring music]
♪ ♪
♪ Crazy, sexy, cool, baby ♪
♪ With or without makeup ♪
♪ Got nothing to prove ♪
OK, so basically,
Myke is coming to my house at noon to talk.
- Wait, what?
- He wrote me yesterday.
- Wait, what?
- I know.
- Wait, what?
- I was like, are you frozen or--
[laughter]
Even if he wants to be with me,
I don't think that I could...
I couldn't handle that.
- No, you couldn't.
- I just want to talk to him.
We had such a great relationship.
We talked about things that I can't really
talk about with anybody.
I just hope that I don't fall in love with him
all over again after seeing him,
because he got ASAP Rocky braids now, bitch.
Aah! [laughs]
But anyway.
Going live.
[background chatter]
62nd Annual Grammy Award Nominations Announcement.
- We got to pack up quick because we got, like--
- Fuck. We're boarding our fucking plane.
- Whoo! - It's starting.
- Oh, God. Mic it in.
- Best Pop Solo Performance.
"Spirit," Beyoncé.
- Yes.
- "Bad Guy," Billie Eilish.
- Shit. - Oh, my God.
- "Truth Hurts."
[cheering]
- Oh, my God.
Wow!
Oh, my God.
That's crazy. [laughter]
Oh, my God!
[laughs]
Oh, shit.
♪ ♪
So I told Alex my Grammys idea.
He's the first person to hear it.
It came to me on the plane today.
♪ Why men great till they gotta be great? ♪
All of a sudden you see these thick Black girl ballerinas.
Boom. Yes! Boom.
They're ballerining.
You could have had a bad bitch.
Here come the big girls, so I want
to go back and forth between a Baroque version
and a trap version. ♪ I don't play tag ♪
♪ Bitch, I been there ♪
Sasha comes down from the sky. - Ah!
- 15-second flute Baroque solo.
[imitating flute]
You know what I mean? And everyone's like,
what the fuck, I ain't know the flute was so lit.
♪ Bum, bum, de-dum, de-bum, bum ♪
Last chorus, everybody, ballerinas
dancing, big girls dancing.
Orchestra's back--♪ boom, boom, boom, boom ♪
Actually, in my crazy-ass head, the orchestra
been there the whole time.
♪ Bum, bum, de-bum, de-bum, bum, bah ♪
Bah!
And it's period.
- I love it.
So good.
- Wow.
[video chat alert]
- So here's my idea.
It involves finding some thick Black girl ballerinas,
so you need to find them now.
- I hear you 100%, but Black ballet dancers
are so much of an anomaly.
- I know.
It's like, I've seen ballet dancers,
but I've never seen a curvaceous, thick Black
ballet dancer.
Because they don't get the training,
and they don't get the training because people don't want
to teach them because of their bodies or their skin,
you know.
That's why it's important to me.
- All right. I'm already on it.
I'm going to search the country high and wide.
- High and thick.
[piano music playing]
♪ ♪
- ♪ Why men great till they got to be great? ♪
♪ I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100% ♪
[horns]
Fuck yes.
All these Black girls at the fucking Grammys
shitting on these niggas? Period!
Y'all came the fuck through.
Y'all was like, oh, you want loud, bitch?
[screams]
[laughter]
That's what I want. You know what I'm saying?
They told us to shut up for too long!
But I'm--I'm so proud of you all.
And thank you so much for being a part of this.
I'm going to leave, and I trust y'all.
Y'all sound beautiful.
Fill up the room.
Take up all the space in the music, in the theater,
in they face, in your life.
You know what I'm saying?
This is like-- it's raining blessings, so just receive it.
[Kirk Franklin, "The Storm is Over Now"]
- [vocalizing]
♪ Over now ♪
I woke up this morning, and I was just like--
- I know, like--
- Fucked up in a bad way. - Yeah.
- Thanks, guys.
- I'm so proud of you. - I know.
- Damn.
I know. I woke up this morning,
and I was in my bathroom.
And I was like, whoa, look what--
I was like, shocked.
I was like, what am I about to do today?
[laughing]
- That's good. - Like, look what--
look what God has done.
I was talking about, that's crazy.
It's like, my first rap crew, and then
when I moved to Minneapolis, The Chalice, like--
so glad y'all are here.
[applause]
[orchestral music playing]
♪ ♪
[rhythm picks up]
♪ Why men great till they gotta be great? ♪
♪ I just took a DNA test, turns out I'm 100% ♪
♪ That bitch, even when I'm crying, crazy ♪
♪ Yeah, I got boy problems ♪
♪ That's the human in me ♪
♪ Bling, bling, then I solve them ♪
♪ That's the goddess in me ♪
♪ Could have had a bad bitch, noncommittal ♪
♪ Help you with your career, just a little ♪
♪ You're supposed to hold me down ♪
♪ But you're holding me back ♪
♪ And that's the sound of me not calling you back ♪
- And the Grammy goes to Lizzo.
[cheering and applause]
♪ Tell it straight to my face ♪
♪ Best friend sat me down in the salon chair ♪
♪ Truth hurts, needed something more exciting ♪
Thank you so much for lifting me up.
Let's continue to reach out, hold each other down,
and lift each other up.
God bless you. Thank you so much.
[flute playing]
♪ ♪
Period!
♪ So if you fight like a girl, do your thing ♪
All of this feels unavoidable.
I've always described my life as being
on a certain type of track.
Now I know why.
Sometimes I feel so connected to the Black women
who came before me who didn't really get their praise--
like my grandma or my great grandma.
I do this for them and so many Black women,
like Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Big Mama Thornton,
who, like, literally invented rock and roll.
And none of them get the credit.
So it's like, well, this is for her.
♪ And if you feel like a girl ♪
♪ Then you real like a girl, bitch ♪
♪ ♪
- Breaking news out of Louisville, Kentucky,
where a grand jury handed down its decision
of three officers involved in the deadly police
shooting of Breonna Taylor.
No one is charged with anything directly related
to Breonna Taylor's death.
- I wonder if some shit's going to pop off in LA
because of this Breonna Taylor shit.
- At the end of the day,
I don't think it's going to be as
extreme because I think Black women's lives
matter way less to people.
Breonna Taylor was, like, us really crying out
for respect this time, but I still
don't think it was enough. It's sad.
It really fucking pisses me off.
I think there's just so much work to be done in the world,
and there's so many people who are suffering
from the system,
Like, I will never understand...
I mean, I actually do understand white supremacy
because it's working.
♪ How...how do you think it makes Black women ♪
♪ Feel when you never see us, and you never will? ♪
[whispering] Fuck, I don't know.
Oh, what if it's--
♪ When you never see her ♪
♪ When you never see us someday ♪
- But someday you will. - ♪ But someday you will ♪
- Oh, I like that.
- ♪ How do you think it makes a Black woman feel ♪
♪ When you never see her but someday you will ♪
The system is effective because of racism
and sexism and classism.
We just need everyone to realize
that this isn't working for all of us.
♪ My love, my love ♪
♪ Just hold me close ♪
- We're going to take over Brooklyn Boulevard.
[applause]
- ♪ And I pray for protection ♪
♪ From many evils or elections ♪
♪ Because when they finally see us ♪
♪ They going to see it for themselves, oh ♪
♪ How do you think it makes a Black woman feel ♪
♪ When you never see her? ♪
♪ But someday you will ♪
♪ ♪
Black women have been the heartbeat of every movement,
from Sojourner Truth to the Black women
leading the Black Lives Matter movement.
We are at the bottom, but yet,
we always raise our voices first.
I'm so proud to be a Black woman and an activist
because when I'm loud, they hear this mouth.
Period.
[applause]
I feel like, as a Black woman,
I have been put in this position that I didn't really
ask for of, like, making people feel good
and making noise about issues to make a change.
Because that's what we do.
It's what Black women do. We've always done that.
But sometimes I wish that that wasn't
always kind of put on us.
Because I know that easily, as a Black woman,
I can wear that burden
and let it weigh me down like a mule.
And I don't want to be anybody's fucking mule.
[moody music]
♪ ♪
- I have 1, 2, 3.
["Truth Hurts" playing]
- It was really important to me
that the big girls could twerk.
- Whoo! - Hey!
- I've been twerking since I was 12.
And it's in the music that I listened to growing up,
from New Orleans bounce to Southern rap.
Twerk, the word, is a newer way to describe the dance
move that has been going on for hundreds of years.
There's forms of twerking in almost
every Indigenous culture.
Black culture is the only sect of culture that
becomes mainstream and loses its origin.
When you know where it comes from,
you put more respect on it.
- Thank you, Christy. Good job.
- Blackness is a commodity. It's a hot commodity.
The media described twerking as, I quote,
disturbing and disgusting.
Once mainstream, twerking was misunderstood
and taken out of context.
So I want to do everything in my power
to prevent the erasure of Blackness from twerking.
♪ Look up in the mirror ♪
♪ Oh, my God, it's me ♪
♪ So much Prada on me, I'm a prodigy ♪
♪ Coconut and rose in my skin regime ♪
Shaking that ass is this thing that is sexy.
It's exciting. It's extremely feminine.
♪ Feelin' like a stripper when I'm lookin' in the mirror ♪
♪ I be slapping on that ass, getting thicker and thicker ♪
Sing it to me.
It beats at the heart of my ancestors,
and it became a part of my brand.
♪ ♪
It is one of my favorite things to do.
[cheering and applause]
♪ ♪
I can't wait for this album to come out
so I can shit on everybody who's been trying
to reduce me to my body.
- So Lizzo right now is getting canceled.
- "Lizzo Is Over Party" was trending on Twitter.
- Am I getting some backlash right now?
- That dress left little to the imagination.
- With nothing underneath but a thong.
- She got a very pretty face,
but she keep showing her body off, like, come on...
- She became the number one trending topic on Twitter.
- No respect for art history or any historical artifacts.
- I don't think people should be canceling Lizzo.
- Being overweight is the new gold.
- She's merely shucking and jiving for an audience
of white feminists. - On Twitter,
a large amount of Black people
have decided they don't like Lizzo's music.
What they end up saying about her music
is she makes music for white people.
[dramatic chord]
- I think there's nothing that hurts my feelings more
than the rejection of my own people.
But I feel like, the bigger you get,
the more your Blackness is taken away.
I was, like, so sad last night because
I saw something on TikTok.
And it was, like, this thing where it was,
like, comparing some other artists to me.
The reason why this person doesn't have
as much, like, mainstream success is because
Lizzo makes palatable music
and makes white people feel comfortable.
I don't make nobody comfortable.
I've never walked in a room and been like, like me.
I walk in a room, and I'm like, accept me.
And the fact that people use me as this think piece
or why someone else doesn't have success
because of my proximity to whiteness,
it's like, bruh, like, huh?
♪ ♪
The James Webb Telescope just published a photo
of a grain of sand,
and there are millions of stars and planets
and life forms and celestial bodies
within that grain of sand.
You think username Fuck That Bitch
has any authority on your existence and why you're here?
No.
♪ Girl, there ain't a doubt ♪
♪ What you talking about? ♪
♪ You gonna figure it out ♪
OK, so here's the tea. I'm back with Myke.
- So y'all actually going somewhere or--
- No, just to a park.
I'm going to be like, happy birthday,
let's go on a picnic, you know.
- Spend some time with your boo.
- I'm going to cuss him out too, though.
Like, yeah, we're on good terms, but...
[laughs]
So that's the tea.
Hey, guys. - Hey.
- All right, I'll talk to you later.
- All right. Bye, girl. - I warmed up for you today.
- OK, I worked out for you. - Really? You did?
- Yeah.
A lot of my issues with my dad.
No, I'm just kidding.
- [laughing]
♪ Talked to my girlfriend just today ♪
♪ They reminded me of when you had me crying in the car ♪
Me and Myke needed the space.
And I'm grateful 'cause we grew,
we learned about ourselves, and most importantly,
we learned that we didn't wanna be apart.
And I, like, prayed about it.
I was like, help me be an unconditional lover,
because to love somebody with conditions
hurts too fucking bad.
♪ Cause, boy, you know me better ♪
♪ You know me so much better ♪
He's my muse. I've written quite a few
songs about him-- "Break Up Twice,"
"Naked," "Cold play," "To be Loved."
[laughs] The whole album.
♪ You know that I don't break up twice ♪
- Hell yeah.
- ♪ But I never had nobody with a love like you ♪
♪ It would be a shame not to see this through ♪
- That's it. - Who gonna put up with
your Gemini shit? OK, cool.
- I don't know who would put up with the Gemini shit.
- I haven't done stage banter in so long.
Jesus Christ, there's so many mosquitoes in this car.
Oh, my God. Uh-uh.
- They are still in here. - This is a nightmare.
Ouch. - I'm sorry.
- Minnesota for you. Welcome back.
- This is exciting. It is.
Oh, my God. This the first show in what?
A year. - If I didn't play a show
before January, it would've been two years.
- Wow.
- Oh, my God, you guys.
All right, everybody.
Close your eyes and just squeeze the hand
of the person next to you.
We did not think we would make it here,
but Lord God, you brought us here to put this show on
to make people's nights better, Lord God,
their lives better. Thank you for putting us here
to be positive change in the world.
We're so grateful for the whole team.
I would be nothing up there without you guys.
Every person in this circle is a part
of the bigger picture, a part of bringing
light into the world.
This show is already done, and we have
already won, in Jesus' name.
Amen.
[cheering]
[crowd noise, chanting Lizzo]
I never thought I would make it back to the stage, man.
This is my first show in nearly two years,
and it feels so special to be doing
it here back in Minnesota...
♪ ♪
Where my solo career took off.
Thank you so much for accepting me for who I am.
[Lizzo's "Juice']
Here we go. 1, 2, 3, sing!
♪ Mirror, mirror on the wall, don't say ♪
♪ It because I know I'm cute oh baby ♪
♪ Louis down to my drawers, LV all on my shoes ♪
♪ That's how I roll ♪
♪ If I'm shinin', everybody gonna shine ♪
♪ Yeah, I'm gold, I was born like this ♪
♪ Don't even gotta try, now you know ♪
♪ I'm like Chardonnay, get better over time ♪
Y'all don't know how much I been through
to be right here, right now on this stage.
♪ It ain't my fault that I'm out here getting loose ♪
♪ Gotta blame it on the Goose ♪
♪ Gotta blame it on my juice ♪
♪ Ya-ya-ee ♪
♪ ♪
1, 2, 3, sing!
♪ It ain't my fault that I'm out here getting loose ♪
♪ Gotta blame it on my juice ♪
♪ Blame it, blame it on my juice ♪
Oh!
[cheering and applause]
I messed up so many times.
- It was so good. What are you talking about?
The flute stuff drives everybody crazy.
Once that flute comes out. - Oh, yeah.
- Banter was on point. - Thank you.
My banter was sloppy tonight, but--
It's your first time hearing songs about you.
- I'm glad they're all jams.
- They are jams.
[upbeat music playing]
♪ I'm under pressure, and it's all on me ♪
I'm just excited because my biggest regret on
" Cuz I Love You," because I didn't have a car,
and I didn't have speakers.
I didn't listen to masters and get the timing
right in between each track.
That's my biggest regret on "Cuz I Love You."
I'll listen to it to this day and be like, ugh.
- It makes me really happy because so many people
don't care these days. - I--
- Thank you for caring. - ...overcare.
It wakes me up in the middle of the night.
I'm like, "Like a Girl" went into--
whatever my other songs are.
All right, let's listen to the end of "The Sign"
real quick into...
♪ I keep on writing these songs ♪
♪ Because he keep on doing me wrong ♪
♪ And my girls keep singing along ♪
♪ I guess that I'm not alone ♪
♪ Anyway... ♪
A bee's dick to the left, a little sooner.
So small.
- I'm saying that phrase forever.
- Oh.
Yes, OK.
♪ I guess that I'm not alone ♪
♪ Anyway... ♪ Woo!
That's it, baby.
♪ Ah ♪
[humming]
Oh, God,
this is so fuckin' buttery.
$55,000 flute, man.
It is really gorgeous.
The way that head joint goes in is a little sexual.
I'm not gonna lie. I was like, OK.
I just hope that Eri didn't make nails
that will interfere.
- Wait, you're playing flute? - Mm-hmm.
- The nails I made are definitely not--
- Let's see 'em.
What the hell?
This is literally-- this is like a wine opener.
This is fire, though.
- Do you think it's not gonna work?
- There's only one way to find out.
♪ ♪
Fuck. It's like, why do I have to make things so hard?
Like, it's already hard enough.
It's like, OK, play the flute on the carpet. Cool.
Memorize the song you're playing. Cool.
Play it with fucking corkscrew nails.
Damn!
- You feel comfortable?
- Of course not, but that's the point!
If I feel comfortable, then it wouldn't be
worth doing.
It wouldn't be--my life wasn't on hard mode.
♪ ♪
I have this huge, depressive episode
when I dropped out of college, 'cause I was like
"It was all for nothing."
You know, all those years studying flute
and those dreams of being like a famous flautist,
but now it's like, bitch, you are a famous flautist.
[sweeping classical music]
For like a 12-year-old nerd,
when Mr. Broughton was like, "All right, who 'bout to be
on flute?" And if I had a vision...
♪ ♪
[crowd noise]
Like walking on the Met Gala carpet playing flute,
but like the most expensive, beautiful flute in the world.
I'd like zoom back and be like...me!
Like, life doesn't take you too far away
from who you're supposed to be.
♪ ♪
I'm still trying to process the fact
that this is my house.
My parents, they didn't verbally say you need to
own everything, but they instilled it in me
at a young age.
You know, they owned their shit.
So as a person who slept on floors and...
rented for...my entire life
until right now,
it is a milestone.
The least we can do
is have ownership of anything, really,
in this country.
where we didn't even have autonomy of our bodies,
and our lives and our culture.
- Hello!
- Happy Juneteenth! - Happy Juneteenth.
How are you?
Juneteenth is a big deal in Texas.
It was almost like Juneteenth was like
the Black Independence Day.
I'm protective of Blackness.
I'm protective of my Blackness.
People like to mishandle my Blackness,
but thank God they don't have ownership of it.
[all whooping]
So exciting.
This is...this material? In my life,
ownership is very... important.
Like, the ownership and the pride that I have
in Yitty, my clothing line.
I've been wearing shapewear
since I was in fifth or sixth grade.
It was embarrassing and shameful
and I don't ever want anyone to feel that way
ever again.
So cute. I feel like the length
is a little long.
I remember talking to creative directors
of these huge brands and being like,
why don't y'all make clothes for big people,
and watching them kind of stammer over their words.
And because I made it happen,
I'm like, how can I clear this channel
so that girls who look like me
can just take the elevator up?
[laughs]
That's why I made my TV show.
Watch out for "The Big Girls."
I wanted to make a show about big girls
because you don't get to see big girls shown in this light,
shown as the protagonist,
and shown for her talent
and not just like the punchline of a joke.
- Today is the day fans have had circled
around their calendars--
release date for Lizzo's new album.
It's called "Special." - You finished.
- Three frickin' years, baby, I been working on this album.
I feel amazing.
♪ ♪
Last night, my dad was in my dream.
And I don't really like dream about memories.
I dream about, like...
realm dreams where I'm very aware
that he isn't physically here,
and I'm like, oh, they let you come over here.
This time it was like, oh, I'm so excited
that we get to, like, hang out for a little bit.
And it was a lotta like me clapping
and jumping up and down and being excited.
And then I woke up, and I was like, wow...
thank you.
♪ ♪
He cared so much about my career,
especially in his later years,
and I think a lot of that energy
that was put towards me
being successful and everything
it hasn't stopped, you know?
I don't think somebody's love for you stops
when they go.
Like, energy doesn't die. It just changes form.
Hi, everybody.
If we have not met yet, I'm Lizzo,
It's really important for me to know
who everyone is that's a part of my show,
'cause my music and my show is very personal to me.
[off mic] Can you hear me this way better?
That's fucking weird. [laughter]
Once upon a time,
I had one person on the road with me.
I had my DJ Sophia, and I had two dancers,
and a table with a cloth and a chair.
And, uh, now I'm emotional.
[whooping, applause]
This is wild for me, because this is my first
arena show. - Whoo!
[whooping, applause]
And I don't know how the fuck I got here,
but, um...ha ha.
I do know who I got here with,
and it's with all of you wonderful people,
and I just wanna say thank you
from the bottom of my heart.
You're making my dreams come true, so...
[cheers, applause]
[crowd cheering]
♪ In case nobody told you today ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ In case nobody made you believe ♪
♪ You're special ♪
♪ I will always love you the same...♪
I like the story of my success
because it took so much hard work and time to be here.
But I know that when people see me on stage,
they see themselves.
♪ I ♪
♪ In case nobody told you today ♪
♪ Yeah, you're special ♪
When I was a little girl, all I wanted to see
was me in the media, someone fat like me,
Black like me, beautiful like me.
[applause]
If I could go back and tell little Lizzo something,
I'd be like, you gonna see that person.
But, bitch, it's going to have to be you.
[chuckling]
♪ Special ♪
♪ I'm so glad that you're still with us ♪
♪ I'm so glad, so glad ♪
♪ So glad, so glad, so glad ♪
♪ ♪
Just look up, you know, and smile.
I want to see your teeth.
Yes!
That's the smile.
You're making me feel something, which I
think that's all that matters.
Just go for it. Go all the way for it.
Don't halfway do it.
So I want you to be like--
then you're like, this my first time riding a plane.
How did I get here? That's what I want.
♪ Don't be afraid ♪
♪ Oh, yeah when the world can't look me in my eyes ♪
♪ When the darkness takes over my mind ♪
♪ Hold me close, don't let me run away ♪
♪ Don't you be afraid ♪
♪ No no no no no ♪
♪ When the weight falls in and you're outside ♪
♪ Won't you be there standin' by my side ♪
♪ Hold me close, don't let me run away ♪
♪ Don't be afraid, no no ♪
♪ If you love me ♪
♪ You love all of me ♪
♪ And if you love me ♪
♪ You love all of me ♪
♪ Or none of me at all ♪
♪ If you love me oh oh oh ♪
♪ If you love, if you love ♪
♪ ♪