Lizzo Says Comments About Her Music Being For White People Are ‘Hurtful’: ‘I Am a Black Woman’
Lizzo is again addressing comments that she makes music "for white people." The "Special" singer, whose upbeat anthems have earned her three Grammy awards and eight nominations, responded to critics on The Howard Stern Show, according to The New York Post.
“[It’s] very hurtful, only because I am a Black woman, and I feel like it really challenges my identity and who I am, and diminishes that, which I think is really hurtful,” she said when asked about the critical comments. She noted that she doesn't "gatekeep" her message.
“I feel like a lot of people, truthfully, don’t get me — which is why I wanted to do this documentary, because I was like, ‘I feel like y’all don’t understand me, y’all don’t know where I came from …'” she continued. “And now I don’t want to answer no more questions about this s–t. I want to show the world who I am.”
The 34-year-old singer also addressed the comments in her HBO Max documentary, Love, Lizzo.
She also added that her music is influenced by the feel-good songs of the 70s and and 80s. She called her songs, "funky, soulful, feel-good music."
The singer noted that she has long been criticized for her style. In a Vanity Fair cover story last month, she said that she was seen as different for the music she listened to.
“It was a Black school. Mostly Black and brown, Caribbean, I had Nigerian friends … They were all listening to what was on the radio: Usher, Destiny’s Child, Ludacris and I was into Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer.’”
“I kept it hidden, even when I was in a rock band, because I didn’t want to be made fun of by my peers — they’d yell, ‘White girl!’” she recalled.
She added she was also often criticized for the way she dressed.
“I was wearing these flared bell-bottoms with embroidery down it — and they’d say, ‘You look like a white girl, why do you want to look like a hippie?’” Lizzo recounted. “I wanted to be accepted so bad; not fitting in really hurt.”
As BET.com previously reported, Lizzo will be the final musical guest of 2022 on Saturday Night Live this Saturday, December 17.
