By Rita Olivares
AUSTIN, Texas — Though we are just four months into 2020 and with every passing day, we’re beginning to forget what we used to even talk about before COVID-19. This time last year, 2019 had brought us the most famous egg on Instagram, the long-awaited end of the Avengers saga, the birth of Royal Baby Archie amongst other exciting news and endings.
But one thing stands out from the rest and serves as a beacon of light during the hard times of quarantine is self-care and self-empowerment queen — Lizzo! Named Times 2019 ‘Entertainer of the Year’, Lizzo has captivated us with her music but most of all, with her luminous message of self-love and her incredibly compelling attitude of positivity and knowing our own worth.
In honor of her birthday this April 27, here are 5 reasons why we love Lizzo that will help in the tough moments of social-distancing:
1. If she’s shining, everybody gonna shine
Lizzo’s road to self-love was a difficult one and it grew with her determination to bring her music to everyone. After the passing of her father in 2009, Lizzo entered a massive depression. Who would she do it all for now? Lizzo turned her mentality around and realized she had to do this for herself and that began with loving and believing in herself and her talent. If she was able to become successful, she wanted to share and demonstrate to everyone that they too can have the same, equal chance.
2. She knows how to love herself and will always hold it down
For girls growing up being called “the chubby girl” or being told a compliment followed by unsolicited advice —the typical “you have a nice face but you just need to workout a bit”. Seeing a “chubby girl” on stage with her bright, sensual outfits and having a good time moves you to let go of those small comments. Being in love with yourself is not only accepting how you look but realizing that you are actually a pretty cool person to hangout with and that you bring so much to the table —your beautiful body is just the cherry on top!
To any plus-sized girl, we are always told what new diets to follow, new exercises that will slim us down and different concoctions of fruits, grains and veggies that will burn down calories and Lizzo shows us that that is ENOUGH! Plus-sized girls, especially black and women of color, have always been forced into the beauty standards of slim white womanhood and she’s come to put an end to it.
“I think about 10 years ago, I made the decision that I just wanted to be happy with my body,” Lizzo reflects in an interview with NPR. “I just wanted to be happy with who I am and that I would wake up every day in the same body, and it wasn’t going to change.”
3. Don’t Inconvenience Your Growth As a Bada** Woman with a (Immature) Man
At any age, whether we begin dating in middle school, high school or college, we will be faced with dating men who are f**kboys, losers, or nobodies. “Poor little baby, who told you that you stood a chance with this royalty? You’re so sweet, bless your heart” sings Lizzo in her soulful, slow jam “Jerome” from her 2019 hit album “Cuz I Love You.” Why weigh ourselves down with the burden of someone who will deplete your energy and hinders your growth?
“There are so many songs about fairy-tale love and unrequited love, but there aren’t a lot of songs about f**kboy love,” Lizzo tells songfacts.com, “about when you’re in a situationship. That story needed to be told.” Oftentimes, women are seen as the one who will fix a man’s immaturity and trauma but women are not healing centers or therapists and that is what these men look for. If the person we are with is no longer bringing us any joy and frankly, has become more baggage than a worthwhile partner, ladies it’s time to kick this person out of our lives!
4. Lizzo breaks down the door with inclusivity
Representation matters and Lizzo certainly represents many plus-sized, black and women of color, who are always being forced into the beauty standards of slim, white womanhood, that there is so much to learn and love about ourselves.
“I can’t wake up one day and not be black,” Lizzo told Teen Vogue “I can’t wake up one day and not be a woman. I can’t wake up one day and not be fat. I always had those three things against me in this world, and because I fight for myself, I have to fight for everyone else.”
Lizzo’s fighting spirit brings forth the inclusivity of having women like her, passionate of their work and loving every part of her body and self, being an image of what an empowered woman who empowers others is and looks like.
5. Her brand isn’t the conventional one
Lizzo’s music conveys that raw human emotion when we are at the crossroads after a breakup of deciding how we are going to respond to this emotional time–deciding between letting a moment bring us down or rise up like a phoenix and move on.
She tells Teen Vogue, “[People] will be like, ‘Lizzo’s my favorite new artist…why am I late for the Lizzo train?’” she says, growing serious. “You’re late, honey, but it’s not your fault. You’re late because I’m just at the back of the shelf. But I’m glad you’re here because you worked to find this.” Lizzo’s music is for the people and her brand isn’t the conventional type —where we are down in the dumps and yearning for a loss but rather, where we move on and become better than who we were.
The heart-felt beats and the pure rhythm that matches the mood of the singer are enough to shower someone with exactly what they are feeling. When I first listened to Lizzo, I found her songs held the exact feeling I was looking for during times of great joy, moments of self-reflections and growth —the moments where I fell in love with myself.
As a girl who grew up always being conscious of how my body looked, Lizzo has become the woman who embodies, to me, that you are able to let go of those haunting thoughts and we couldn’t love her more for it. Lizzo’s long path to success has led her to become an icon to us all and in difficult times —turning to her music for happiness and to channel our self-esteem, wicked humor to radiate love.
No matter your physical form, we all have had a point where even the music on the radio doesn’t exactly exude the feeling we feel about loving everything about ourselves and Lizzo does exactly that! Lizzo tells us she loves us and we should love ourselves above everything else.
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