{"id":244564,"date":"2026-05-26T23:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244564\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T23:32:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:32:51","slug":"lizzo-addresses-the-backlash-and-performs-live-at-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244564\/","title":{"rendered":"Lizzo Addresses the Backlash and Performs Live at The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March, the Grammy-winning singer Lizzo joined The New York Times music and culture show \u201cPopcast\u201d for a special live edition in front of an audience of Times employees.<\/p>\n

In an interview about her rise and career hurdles as a purveyor of \u201cuseful music,\u201d Lizzo addressed a spate<\/a> of<\/a> recent lawsuits<\/a> that has punctured her public reputation, as well as her new music that has been fueled in part by those setbacks. She then performed a stripped-down set of four songs.<\/p>\n

Lizzo\u2019s new album, \u201cBitch,\u201d is scheduled for release on June 5, taking inspiration from Tina Turner (\u201cI have a diva for every album era\u201d); Meredith Brooks (whose 1997 hit \u2014 with the same name as the new album \u2014 she covered in concert); and Missy Elliott (who Lizzo said had given her \u201cincredible advice\u201d).<\/p>\n

Watch the full episode of \u201cPopcast\u201d with Lizzo below, or read edited excerpts from the conversation. For more \u201cPopcast,\u201d follow the show at YouTube.com\/Popcast<\/a> and wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n

JOE COSCARELLI You had this whole career, pre-fame, as an independent rapper. What did you pick up that helped you become a pop star?<\/p>\n

LIZZO I think that when you\u2019re an underground artist, you have to work your [expletive] ass off. It\u2019s saying yes all the time. And it is doing any and everything to get your music to connect with people. When I became a pop star, I applied that same kind of work ethic because I know this look cute, but my god, they put you through it. I\u2019m not complaining, because I get to dress up in glitter and shake my ass and people love it. But when you look at somebody\u2019s schedule, there\u2019s no moment unaccounted for.<\/p>\n

JON CARAMANICA You said something onstage at the Blue Note recently that really stuck with me about the importance of playing \u201cuseful music.\u201d I wonder if you can talk about arriving at that as a concept.<\/p>\n

LIZZO I did not start off making useful music. I started off very braggy, what I thought rap was. I had this pivotal moment in my songwriting life, I wrote this song called \u201cMy Skin.\u201d<\/a> And it was the first time I had ever written a song that I guess you would call a self-love song. I saw how people connected to that particular song. People were crying. I saw an opportunity to help people.<\/p>\n

Signing a major label deal to make music that strokes my own ego isn\u2019t the point. If I want to stroke my own, I can be an indie artist. But in order to be a major artist or a pop star, what am I going to do with that responsibility? And I chose to only make positive music.<\/p>\n

COSCARELLI And it really worked for a while. You became this \u2014<\/p>\n

LIZZO Excuse me!? For a while?<\/p>\n

COSCARELLI That\u2019s what I want to talk to you about. You became this symbol for people of all of these things: pro-Black, pro-women, body positivity, etc. And then you\u2019ve had a turbulent couple of years in the public eye. You\u2019ve been the subject of litigation as a boss and a songwriter, some of which is ongoing, some of which has been thrown out.<\/p>\n

This really punctured, I think, this good-vibes, inspirational character and persona that you were putting out into the world. I wonder if you can talk a little bit about how that affected you on a personal level, but also how it affected what character you want to play as a pop star.<\/p>\n

LIZZO You use really, really interesting words, because I think the thing about it is that it\u2019s not a persona and it\u2019s not a character \u2014 it\u2019s who I am. Everything that I have shown the world is me. And I think that always puts someone in a vulnerable position. I think pop stars have built a sort of protection of themselves, and they put the pop star character in the front. And then the real them gets to sit in the back. I never did that because I came from the indie world.<\/p>\n

This is who I am. I don\u2019t have anything to hide. I love myself. And the world loved me back for it. I think that the beauty of everything is that I get to evolve as a person, and I get to have more depth as a person, because it isn\u2019t always happy-go-lucky. And I feel like moving forward \u2014 it\u2019s kind of hard to talk about.<\/p>\n

CARAMANICA Is it hard to share that, even just talking candidly about, Hey, I\u2019m not always on like this?<\/p>\n

LIZZO In today\u2019s climate, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s appropriate. There\u2019s so much pain and darkness and people hurting \u2014 you think of the economy and the government and what\u2019s going on and for me to be in this very privileged position as a successful musician and to go on the internet and pontificate and complain about what\u2019s going on with my life? I\u2019d much rather stick to my mission of being someone who can help bring positive change by articulating how I got through dark times.<\/p>\n

CARAMANICA Do you think you get your proper credit in the R & B conversation?<\/p>\n

COSCARELLI Or rap, for that matter.<\/p>\n

LIZZO You know, Missy Elliott gave me incredible advice. She told me: \u201cIf you\u2019re waiting to be in those conversations, don\u2019t wait, because you are your own conversation \u2014 you\u2019re in your own lane. There\u2019s nobody like you, and stick to that. That\u2019s all you need.\u201d I felt that so deeply. I\u2019m going to go down in history as being me. And that\u2019s incredible, because can\u2019t nobody stand next to that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In March, the Grammy-winning singer Lizzo joined The New York Times music and culture show \u201cPopcast\u201d for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[174,95505,2538,9,11,10,20075,6161],"class_list":["post-244564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-content-type-personal-profile","tag-lizzo-1988","tag-music","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-pop-and-rock-music","tag-rap-and-hip-hop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}