Lizzo has landed on the November cover of Vanity Fair magazine for an interview in which she spoke about abortion, being fat, and President James Madison’s crystal flute. The pop star also addressed criticism that her music is aimed at white audiences.
“I am not making music for white people,” she said.
Presenting our November cover star, @Lizzo.
Halfway to achieving EGOT status, the Emmy and Grammy winner sat down with Lisa Robinson for a frank conversation about internet criticism, the nuances of positivity, and the “love of [her] life.”
🔗: https://t.co/jt7AnpZLhN pic.twitter.com/WNpBOKtQ1J
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) October 11, 2022
Lizzo spoke about her meteoric career ascendance as well as the notion of black singers appealing to white listeners.
“That is probably the biggest criticism I’ve received, and it is such a critical conversation when it comes to Black [sic] artists,” she said. “When Black people see a lot of white people in the audience, they think, Well this isn’t for me, this is for them. The thing is, when a Black artist reaches a certain level of popularity, it’s going to be a predominantly white crowd.”
She added: “This has happened to so many Black artists: Diana Ross, Whitney, Beyoncé.… Rap artists now, those audiences are overwhelmingly white. I am not making music for white people. I am a Black woman, I am making music from my Black experience, for me to heal myself [from] the experience we call life.”
Lizzo, who hit the campaign trail for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020, said the public conversation about her weight has taken on a life of its own.
“People have been calling me fat my entire life,” she told the magazine. “And if one person says it, then another person says it, it multiplies like a fucking virus. If enough people on the internet start echoing sentiments about you, it becomes part of your public persona and it’s out of your control.”
The pop star also spoke about her pro-abortion activism, which includes a $500,000 donation to Planned Parenthood and the National Network of Abortion Funds. As Breitbart News reported, Live Nation matched her donation.
“I know plenty of people who would have died if they hadn’t had that procedure,” Lizzo said. “It shouldn’t matter if I had a personal experience or knew somebody; it shouldn’t matter what my opinion is. Opinions is what got us in this shit in the first place — what people think people should be doing with their bodies.”
She added: “These days, we don’t create laws that support people having health care, never mind abortions. How about letting people have access and resources and mind their fucking business?”
As for President James Madison’s crystal flute, which she recently played on stage while twerking, Lizzo had this to say to her detractors:”I don’t want to leave history in the hands of people who uphold oppression and racism. My job as someone who has a platform is to reshape history.”
Story cited here.
