#4 - Lizzo
Albums Included in Rating:
Lizzobangers (2013), Big Grrrl Small World (2015), Cuz I Love You (2019), and Special (2022)
How much do I like my favorite track on the album? 14 points
Pants vs Dress (Lizzobangers)
Lizzo songs go by super fast. They're just that good. Women empowerment? Check. Driving banger? Check. Rapping like butter smooth? Check.
Aint I (Big Grrrl Small World)
Just plain good rap.
Juice (Cuz I Love You)
This will always be iconic Lizzo to me. She writes music for the people. Funky. Can't help but dance and move to it. It ain't my fault.
If You Love Me (Special)
Her songwriting on this is just so so so good. Her vocals are not as even she would describe "Lauryn Hill or Beyoncé" like, but that is what makes it so special. You can feel every part of the song and it is oozing 100% authentic. And, what a message. Love all of me, or none of me at all.
How did/does this album influence my own taste in music overall? 13.6 points
Hard for someone who got their start so recently to influence me.
Does this album hold up since its release? 14.8 points
Lizzo’s Cuz I Love You feels like it just came out yesterday. I think that says it all. Special is timely. The other two are splendidly awesome rap tracks.
What percentage of the album do I listen to? 10 points
Her whole discography is a tour de force of fun, self acceptance, and exploration.
What did/do the critics think of this album? 8.15 points
Critics quite love Lizzo. As do I.
What is the sentimental value to me of the album? 16 points
It’s hard to put into words just how much Lizzo means to me. Her music is inclusive, incredibly catchy, and varying in style and complexity. She is the best concert I have ever gone to, and I am not sure anyone but her will top it.
What was the artists involvement of the production of the album - songwriting, instrumentals, vocals, uniqueness? 14.2 points
She writes, she sings, she produces, and she plays Sasha B. Fluting. What more could you want?
Overall Rating out of 100 points = average 90.75 points
(Lizzobangers = 89.7, Big Grrrl Small World = 88.3, Cuz I Love You = 93.6, and Special = 91.5)
Cuz I Love You, 3rd. Special, 7th.
My love affair with Lizzo’s discography has been by all accounts a swift and powerful event. This is probably the most controversial placement on this list, and I really don’t care what the haters have to say. Except…why the hate? I hear a lot of “I wish she would swear less”, “I wish she would dress differently”, “I wish she minded her own business.” And to those things I say- that is entirely what makes Melissa Jefferson, Lizzo. And, she really doesn't swear any more than the average pop person these days. What’s interesting about Lizzo is how easily she bends from one genre to the next, seemingly without skipping a beat. She was recently interviewed about her songwriting and who she writes for, and has a very interesting response. She gets pretty consistent critique from select people saying she panders to her white audience, and her response was the most brilliant take down ever. She said she could write the most basic, loved by everyone Pop songs if she wanted to because of how brilliant her classical musician training is, but she intentionally doesn’t do that. Perhaps no one on this list is better at more authentically being themselves than Lizzo, and with an uncommon level of humility to match. When it comes to her music, her first two albums are heavily rap based, the latter two are more of the genre bending category. If authenticity is her game, her ear worms are matched by almost no one in todays music world, except perhaps Meghan Trainor. With lines like “It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah it’s thicc thirty” and “Hey mothaf*****, did you miss me, I've been home since 2020”, or sampling from Lauryn Hill’s Doo Wop, her ear for what is going to be popular is becoming a rare commodity. It's Lizzo’s world, we are all just living in it. And, she welcomes everyone.
