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About UsAdvertiseInvestor RelationsJobsNewslettersEditionUSUKAustraliaBrasilCanadaDeutschlandIndiaJapanLatamCalifornia residents can opt out of "sales" of personal data.Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2022 BuzzFeed, Inc PressRSSPrivacyConsent PreferencesUser TermsAccessibility StatementAd ChoicesHelpContactSitemapBuzzFeed NewsReporting on what you care about. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing.BuzzFeed TastySearch, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place!BuzzFeed GoodfulSelf care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life.BuzzFeed Bring MeObsessed with travel? Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me!BuzzFeed As IsSomething for everyone interested in hair, makeup, style, and body positivity.Celebrity·Posted 8 minutes agoLizzo Opened Up About The Inherent Racism Of Pop Music Genre, And The Truth Hurts
“I think if people did any research, they would see that there was race music and then there was pop music."
by Mychal ThompsonBuzzFeed Staff
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Don't @ me, but Lizzo is a worldwide superstar and deserves all the wins — and nothing less.
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I recently watched her HBO Max documentary Love, Lizzo, and I laughed, cried, twerked, and felt immensely inspired.
HBO Max/Live Nation Productions
Love, Lizzo was filmed over three years throughout her Cuz I Love You world tour, the peak of the pandemic, and the recording of her latest album, Special.
So when Lizzo talked with Entertainment Weekly about her stage anxiety, proximity to Harry Styles and why she refuses to be put into a box — I knew I would fall in love with her spirit again for the hundredth time.
Debra L Rothenberg / WireImage
My biggest takeaway was her dissection of the stigma of pop music, music genres' problematic origins, and the backlash of her music "not being Black enough."
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Melissa Viviane Jefferson (professionally known as Lizzo) is a 34-year-old multihyphenate powerhouse — a skilled rapper, beautiful singer, skilled flautist, and successful businesswoman.
Kevin Mazur / WireImage
She's won three Grammy Awards, a BET Award, two Soul Train Music Awards, a Billboard Music Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Competition Program for Lizzo's Watch out for the Big Grrrls. We're on the EGOT track, and I'm cheering from the sidelines.
But, even though her career is constantly on the rise — there are a few barriers that will take some time to break down despite how much Lizzo's universal music continues to top the charts.
Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Pandora
Lizzo got my full attention when she opened up with EW about the stigma of the pop music genre and race music. “Genre’s racist inherently," she said.
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“I think if people did any research they would see that there was race music and then there was pop music. And race music was their way of segregating Black artists from being mainstream because they didn’t want their kids listening to music created by Black and brown people because they said it was demonic and yada, yada, yada.”
Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images
Basically, she's saying certain "genres were created almost like code words" for categories dominated by people of color: “I think when you think about pop, you think about MTV in the ’80s talking about ‘We can’t play rap music,’ or ‘We can’t put this person on our platform because we’re thinking about what people in the middle of America think’ — and we all know what that’s code for."
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"So yes, because of that — fast-forward to 2022 — we have this well-oiled pop machine, but remember that it has a racist origin. And I think the coolest thing I've seen is rap and hip-hop artists become pop. Now pop music is really rap in its DNA — rap is running the game, and I think that's so cool," she added.
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Instagram: @lizzobeeating
"But we forget that in the late '80s and the early '90s, there were these massive pop diva records that were sang by Black women like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey. And I'm giving that same energy."
Kevin.mazur / WireImage / Getty Images
For Lizzo, making music that's considered in the pop genre does have its perks, but it also comes with a few headaches.
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Like she mentioned in the documentary, she's faced backlash from people thinking her persona and music aren't Black enough — but, Lizzo has a positive comeback for the haters.
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Instagram: @lizzobeeating
“I think anything that’s new, people are going to criticize and feel like it’s not for them,” she said. “But once you get used to something, it might be for you. So for people who don’t like pop music or don’t like Black artists that make pop music, they may eventually like me.”
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“You just gotta get used to me because I’m making good shit. You missing out.”
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She's really is 100% that b*tch. Her words, not mine.
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Bravo, Lizzo.
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