The ultimate role model, or is she?
It wasn’t an instant success for Lizzo. She released her first album, Lizzobangers, in 2013, without any of the tunes generating much interest.
In fact, the first singles from it, a few non-album singles, and the follow-up album, Big Grrrl Small World (2015), didn’t catch the general public’s interest, sell, or chart at all.
The first release with an impact was Coconut Oil (2016), an EP with the tune Good As Hell. Although, as a single, this didn’t do well at first either.
Coconut Oil had lyrics about body positivity and self-love, something that became Lizzo’s general message, and a huge contributor to her success.
Alongside topics such as LGBTQ and plus-sized body-positive models getting attention, even magazine covers, Lizzo started to thrive.
It was as if the stars started to align when she released Boys in 2017, her first charting hit which went to #1 in Israel.
With lyrics describing how everyone is good for her, she unapologetically described her dating pool.
Her third album, Cuz I Love You (2019), had the lead single Juice, and now things started to pick up as Lizzo is charting, perhaps not high, but still charting, in many countries worldwide.
Eventually, Juice sold 2 million copies in the U.S., with the album half that.
Other singles are Tempo and Truth Hurts, although it is only included on the deluxe version of the album.
Truth Hurts becomes a sleeper hit, a tune that over time does really well. In fact, at the time of writing, it is her most-played tune on Spotify.
The same goes for Good As Hell; over time, it became a well-known tune worldwide, even though it wasn’t an instant chart-topper.
In 2019, she also recorded a cover of Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees) for the comedy horror Happy Death Day 2U.
The following year she sings Sam Cooke’s classic A Change Is Gonna Come for charity Globalcitizen.org, clearly demonstrating her vocal ability and general good nature.
In 2021, when she drops her album Special, Lizzo is massive all over the world. She has big music videos, festival appearances, and talk shows. She’s a role model for the tolerant, all-inclusive, body-positive movement.
The single About Damn Time is also centred around this self-love, body-positive topic and does very well straight away; it doesn’t take months as her previous hits had.
Lizzo has by now become the voice of her generation, claiming that we should accept each other for who we are. We shouldn’t be racist, homophobic, fattist, or judgmental in any way.
And then halfway through 2023, the big news hits: Lizzo is being sued by her former employees for being just that. She’s accused of body-shaming and generally humiliating her dancers.
Her gigs are getting cancelled, and even the Super Bowl halftime show dropped her after more and more people are coming out against her, saying she ain’t all that.
Are these people trying to take Lizzo down, or do they have a point? We shall all wait and see.
Lizzo Tunes | Related Pages
A Change Is Gonna Come
You can learn how to play A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke using chords, lyrics, a chord chart, chord analysis, and Spytunes video guitar lessons.
| G | G | Am | Em |
I was born by the river, in a little tent, oh and just like that river I’ve been…
About Damn Time
You can learn how to play About Damn Time by Lizzo using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Bbm | Bbm | (guitar only)
It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah, it’s thick-thirty…
Juice
You can learn how to play Juice by Lizzo using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Dm7 | F7sus4 F7 |
Mirror, mirror on the wall don’t say it ’cause I know I’m cute (ooh, baby).
Stayin’ Alive
You can learn how to play Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recording.
| Fm7 | Eb Fm |
Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk…
Lizzo on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was an article about Lizzo tunes, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.