After years of winning America over with her dazzling pop sensibilities and musical flair, Grammy Award-winning artist Lizzo is switching lanes — at least for the summer. On Friday (June 27), Lizzo channels her 14-year-old self and returns to her first musical love: rap. Once a member of the Houston hip-hop group Cornrow Clique, Lizzo is back in rare form, delivering swaggering bars and vivacious energy that would’ve made her middle school classmates scream.
“I think what 14-year-old Lizzo would be most proud of is that I can say more cuss words,” she chuckles during a Zoom interview with Billboard ahead of her new mixtape My Face Still Hurts From Smiling. “Back then, all I could say was n—a and hoe. I couldn’t say b–ch, I couldn’t say f–k, I couldn’t say sh-t. It was so satisfying for me.”
Across the 13-track set, Lizzo flexes both freedom and untethered wit. She teased her rap return last month by hopping on Pluto’s “Whim Whammie,” putting her lyrical dexterity on full display. While some were shocked by her unfiltered bars, it served as a reminder: Lizzo can — and will — do whatever she wants. Whether tag-teaming with bestie SZA on “IRL” or clowning hapless bachelors with Doja Cat on “Still Can’t Fuh,” she steamrolls her opps, while flashing her signature Colgate smile every step of the way.
Below, Billboard speaks to Lizzo about how Lil Wayne and Missy Elliott served as inspirations for her new mixtape, if she would do an all-rap Tiny Desk, quieting the outside noise and her sisterhood with SZA.
How you feeling about your new mixtape dropping?
I feel really excited. I did it really quickly. This is different for me. I’m usually in the studio for like two years and my music is turned in months in advance. Then, I’m like doing a slow promo rollout. This time, I did everything in a week and I just approved the master like 20 mins ago.
You’re moving like Wayne.
I was calling myself “Lizzo Wayne.” [Laughs.]
What many people may not know is that you first started out in a rap group, Cornrow Clique. What creative elements from that era still show up in your music today, especially from an MC standpoint?
I think how fun and how off-the-cuff a lot of it was. I used to enjoy sitting and writing down my verse and everybody coming together like, “Who got the craziest verse?” and feeding off of that energy. What I think is one of the most [exciting] elements is my best friend Lexo, who was in Cornrow Clique. Her voice is on this project. I flew her in from Houston like day three when I was working on everything. I already had like 11 songs. I flew her in and I was like, “Ay. I need you to give me ad-libs. I need your voice on this track.” So you can hear her being like, “We outside, ho! We outside.” So it’s a full-circle moment.
How is your creative process different when you’re in rap mode versus your pop/R&B bag? Does it unlock a different side of your pen or persona?
I think it does, but I also feel like it’s the same me. For instance, “About Damn Time” [starts rapping], that was like a freestyle that I did in the booth. And I think that’s how I start with everything. It’s like a freestyle and it’s typically kind of rappity, and then I add melodies. Then, I go in and adjust the lyrics like, “Can I say this? Can you say this in pop music?” With this project, I’m like, “Man. The first thing that comes out my mouth, I’m gonna say it. I’m not gonna edit myself.” But with pop, there’s a lot of editing.
You’ve mentioned not being a hip-hop historian growing up, but clearly the culture still moved you. Was there anyone you studied or drew inspiration from while making this project?
I remember I kept saying Lil Wayne was the person I wanna be [like]. I wanna be like Mixtape Wayne when I do this, but I always have a little bit of Missy Elliott in me — at all times. She’s just a part of me. So I definitely tapped into Missy.
I feel like you’ve had a little bit of Missy engrained in you, at least from a music video standpoint.
Aw thank you. She’s my GOAT. She’s in my big three. She’s a living legend and one of the best rappers of all time, one of the best producers of all time, one of the best songwriters of all time and live performers.
We’re in a golden era for female rappers. Why do you think women have the momentum right now and what excites you most about being part of that wave?
This is like my dream come true. Like you said, you read interviews from me from 2014 and what was the No. 1 question they’d ask us? “How does it feel to be a female rapper in a male dominated industry?” No one gets asked that question anymore — and that was my dream. I was like, “One day. No one will have to hear this question, because it will be female-dominated, or women will dominate.”
It feels really, really good. I’m constantly inspired and in awe of all of the women doing their thing. Like I shout them out all on the mixtape, too. On “Gotcho Bitch,” that was me paying homage to all of the women are who killing it right now and bringing that unity and that love. I’m bigging all the women up because we’re truly doing our big ones. It’s incredible to me. When “Yitty on Yo Tittys” freestyle came out, the internet people were like, “Wait. I didn’t know Lizzo can rap?” And it was like, “Y’all didn’t know Lizzo can rap?”
It kind of pushed me back into those [rap] conversations [since] I have been in the pop conversation for a long time. So it feels good. It feels good to know that I can tap my toe in, say hello real quick and pop back out.
What’s your favorite verse on the mixtape and what headspace were you in when you wrote it?
I got some many good verses, bro. I feel like my favorite that gets me every time is “Gotcho Bitch.” — that’s the song where I drop the names of all of the girls who are killing it. I know there’s way more too. I don’t want anyone to feel left out. I love all of us, but that was crazy to because I had these three beats. One was a Tay-Keith Beat and a Jasper Harris beat. I slid them altogether and I had three beat-switches. To be able to switch my flow up and go off on all of them was really, really fun to me. Oh my gosh.
The other gag about this project is I wrote everything in four days. So like, my past albums, it takes weeks and sometimes months to finish the songs. So the lyrics are burned into my brain. This, the sh-t so was so off-the-cuff. Now, I’m like, “F–k. How do I perform these songs?” [Laughs.] I gotta remember everything, but I made a little mini-documentary of how it was all made too. I can’t wait to share all that.
I think it’s crazy you knocked out a doc and mixtape in less than a week.
I set the cameras up. I record everything. I have Love in Real Life recorded, too. When I’m in the studio, I have the cameras going 24/7.
I’m curious. How do you plan to pivot back into album-mode for Love in Real Life coming out of this rap-centric / mixtape era?
I think what I learned from this mixtape I’m going to put into Love in Real Life. Really, what I learned from this is trust your vision, trust your instinct. Your first instinct is always right and double down on whatever it is you like. Nerd out on it. I nerded on rap. I nerded out in my Houston s–t and my Houston bag.
For Love in Real Life, I’m gonna keep it real with you: I’m gonna have to go back in and re-record some stuff. Because there’s some songs that I love, but — for instance. when I dropped “Still Bad,” “Still Bad” is an amazing, well-constructed pop song. The demo of it, the Animal Style demo, I liked the way that feels. So I have a lot of demo versions of songs that I might switch and swap or even put both on. Who knows? I’m feeling crazy these days.
Your bond with SZA feels like a real sisterhood. What don’t we see on camera that makes that connection so strong both as women and as artists?
I think the beauty of what you don’t see on camera is that you don’t see it on camera. [Laughs.] I think there’s a lot of genuine support. She’s one of the only people that I can text at 3:00 in the morning when I’m crashing out. She’ll just get this one dark-ass text and she’s like, “Oh my gosh. Are you ok?” But I really appreciate her, because she understands — and I think it’s really hard for you to have someone in your life who actually f–ks with you and who’s known you for a long time who also understand the world that you’re in. I think that’s what I cherish the most about her. She gets me.
When you look back at “W.E.R.K.,” which was all about self-empowerment and positivity, how do you reflect on your own growth in a world filled with negativity and outside noise?
I think I might be a master at ignoring the outside noise now. I feel like I know too much to give a f–k about any external opinion. The only opinion that I truly care about [is from] my fans. Outside of my personal life, my friends, my family and loved ones, any external opinion on a professional level is just for my fans. That’s why I have my IRL pages, so I can talk straight to them — ’cause I do care about my fans and the people that really do care about me. They throw all of these words out there like “peer social” and all of this s–t, but I believe that I have a real relationship with my fans because I believe that they have a real relationship with me. They support me, they show up to my shows, they’re down for me, they ride for me and I ride for them.
So I think having my IRL pages and being able to talk directly to them and see how they really feel — and not like trolls and people trying to be mean for clout on the internet — is really healing. There are people who love me and they’re right here. It’s not an echo chamber — it’s love. You know what I mean? Actually, I think the negativity is an echo chamber. I think people like to just be negative and mean because you get rewarded for that behavior now and it’s just an echo chamber of hate. So I’ve created a little safe space that’s just filled with love. It’s a private page and you only can get in if you get approved. They’re my babies and I’m their baby.
You’ve always been a confident woman. After your weight loss, how has your confidence evolved and how is that evolution showing up in your new music?
I’m so confident and I think the thing that I’m most confident in now is me, my vision, and my creativity. I kind of lost trust in myself for awhile because when you get in the industry, there’s a lot of people that come in and think they’re the experts. It’s like, “No, they should know what they’re talking about, ’cause they’ve been doing this longer than you and they’re in this position.” But actually, no one knows what they’re talking about. No one knows what they’re doing. It’s art.
F–k who you f–k with over anyone else. F–k with yourself the most, ’cause when nobody was f–king with you, who was f–king with you? You. So don’t turn on yourself now. I think my confidence and what you’re seeing isn’t just a body transformation. That’s part of it, but my body is gonna transform again. I might get bigger. I might get smaller. I’m gonna get older. I think when you’re seeing that glow, it’s that confidence that’s truly being proud of who I am and not hiding who I am in all the aspects of it. If I want to do a rock and roll show, I’m gonna do a rock and roll show. If I wanna throw ass in two yitty thongs and do a rap show, I’m gonna go a rap show. I contain multitudes.
Would you consider doing a Tiny Desk, strictly bringing the rap side?
That’s a great idea. You know what? You’re on the team now. Listen, I’m gonna talk my s–t for a second — because I do feel like I have one of the most underrated Tiny Desks in the game. Because there are ones that are properly rated, highly rated and they deserve [the love]. Then, there are some underrated ones, and I do think mine is in the underrated [side]. I ate that s–t up. That s–t was hard and you know what? Nobody really didn’t know about me back then. So I’m ready for round two.