Not long ago, Lizzo distilled her songwriting process into just three short sentences. On an episode of David Letterman’s Netflix series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, the singer and rapper coached the former late-night host through recording a song at her Los Angeles home studio. In what felt like an obvious set-up, Letterman grumbled a few self-deprecating bars at the mic— “I’m ugly, I sweat, I’m old”—before Lizzo interjected. “To make it a Lizzo song, you gotta be positive,” she said. “You can’t say, ‘I’m ugly.’ If you do say, ‘I’m ugly,’ you gotta say, ‘I’m ugly, but I like it.’”
That simple formula may be part of why Lizzo was able to write, in her estimate, “175 to 200” songs for Special, the follow-up to her Grammy-winning major label debut Cuz I Love You. The other half of the equation is undoubtedly her tireless work ethic: Since releasing Cuz I Love You in 2019, she’s launched a size-inclusive shapewear line, invested in the at-home fitness startup Hydrow, and signed a TV production deal with Amazon, which premiered her first project, the reality dance competition Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, earlier this year. All the while, she’s been active on every social platform imaginable, correcting people on her own TikTok dance challenges and posting weekly glam shoots to Instagram. Her mission to promote empowerment and positivity, to ensure that her fans never feel alone, has manifested itself in making sure they never go a day without forgetting she exists.
The 12 tracks that made it onto Special certainly support that idea. Like Lizzo’s breakout hit “Truth Hurts” before it, lead single “About Damn Time” has achieved a cultural ubiquity that few artists could hope to reach. Perhaps the Max Martin-produced “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready),” with its groove indebted to Hall & Oates and ecstatic call-and-response chorus, is heading towards the same milestone. That touch of familiarity is key to the album: On the Mark Ronson collaboration “Break Up Twice,” Lizzo interpolates Lauryn Hill over a soulful horn section in order to get real with a back-and-forth lover. Combining voice-cracking vulnerability with some meme du jour pull-quotes (“Who gon’ put up with your Gemini shit like I do?”) is the Lizzo specialty, and hearing her in her element is a great reminder of why so many have turned to her music for catharsis, joy, and understanding.