Variety’s latest cover star, also happens to be a superstar — that’s right, it’s Lizzo — and she’s spilling all about her new album and plans of pivoting to reality television.
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Growing up in the 90’s, Lizzo admitted she never saw anyone who looked like her on the small screen. Saying, “The choice of Black girls they used in media was the same kind of Black girl,” alluding to the general thin-framed figures.
Then as she entered her teenage years, Lizzo noted remembering how the tabloids body-shamed stars like Jessica Simpson for any bit of weight fluctuation. Marveling, “Y’all want me to believe this is an overweight, obese woman and that she should be ashamed of how she feels — how the f*** was I supposed to feel?”
Though admitting there has been a definite shift in the body inclusivity in storytelling since then, there’s still much room to grow. “It’s not happening quickly by no means,” Lizzo declared. “It’s happening very slow and select, and there’s a long way to go. But I have seen it budge, and that’s better than nothing.”
But guess what y’all, Lizzo has a solution, or at least a start to one. Hoping to give the movement another much needed shove, the vocalist and virtuoso flute player’s next move will play out on TV.
From the very start of her performing career, Lizzo has always proudly hired plus-size backup dancers to twerk along with her on stage. Affectionately referred to as “the Big Grrrls” by the singer, she says it’s comforting to see an extension of herself in the spotlight.
That said, despite Lizzo and her crew’s growing popularity (no seriously, they have their own Instagram account — @thebiggrrrls), the job search for dancers has proven to be challenging, since plus-size women often have a far more difficult time landing an agent. Which brings us to Lizzo’s latest move, as the star and executive producer of the new Amazon reality series, Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, which premieres on Prime Video on March 25.
First step in the process was to post an open-call audition on social media, after which Lizzo sorted through tens of thousands of applicants before settling on 10 finalists.
As detailed by Variety — “The result plays out like a cross between America’s Next Top Model and RuPaul’s Drag Race, with 10 contenders living in a house together as they complete challenges to see whether they can shimmy with Lizzo at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. There’s one glaring difference between Watch Out for the Big Grrrls and those other competition shows, however: Lizzo doesn’t harshly criticize the contestants, and she doesn’t always eliminate someone at the end of each episode. She wants Watch Out for the Big Grrrls to be a place of positivity — a rarity in reality TV.”
Lizzo’s latest project is all part of a grand plan to expand her brand and empire that she hopes to build beyond her chart-topping music career. And with that, new music is still very much on the horizon. Talking to the publication about her new album, Lizzo revealed “Broadly, I’ve been working on this album since the summer of 2018.” And due to this, “It has evolved to a place where I’m proud. It’s one of the most musically badass, daring and sophisticated bodies of work I’ve done to date.”
Lizzo continued, “I am not done. I’m still pushing out the hits, baby. And I hope that it is some of the most useful pieces of music to ever exist. All I want to do is help people through my music.”
Check out Lizzo’s entire “badass, daring and sophisticated” interview with Variety here.
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