Uncool Music for the Underrepresented
Shane Cohen-Mungan (12-1)
Photographed by Theo Wyss-Flamm (12-4)
At times, I become detached from the internet and popular culture, reverting inward to my own world of familiarity and progressive news sources. I’ll shun social media, TV, and online social forums; I’ll quit seeking new music. I stopped listening to the radio a while ago. When I checked in with our technological world after one of these times in May 2019, there was a new face who seemed to be on top of the world, and had been for a few weeks. It was Lizzo, a black, self-proclaimed “fat b***h.”
Lizzo’s latest album, Cuz I Love You, was released on April 19th, 2019, perfect timing considering her 2017 song and now-biggest hit, “Truth Hurts,” had just blown up after being in the Netflix film, Someone Great. She became the sixth ever female rapper to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The catchiness, empowerment, and positivity of her music brought her to the front and center of popular culture.
Upon the release of Cuz I Love You, Lizzo songs started popping up in a seemingly endless amount of commercials (which I noticed while watching TV again) for Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Cape Line, Peloton, and more; she could be seen performing on any music-related awards show (sometimes with a huge inflatable a** to back her up) of course with her flute in hand. She was pretty much unavoidable. Lizzo is the first heavy-set woman of color who I have ever seen become this popular, and she is providing valuable media representation for other dark-skinned, heavy-set women. Another group for which Lizzo provides representation is the utterly uncool.
Lizzo is not very cool and she knows it. She flaunts her nerdiness and it serves as one of the main devices of her music. That is my favorite part about Lizzo’s music: she acts herself. However, I think that aspect gets in the way of me enjoying anything else about it. Her corniness and empowering attitude are the defining characteristic of her songs. When a Lizzo song is on, I feel like I’m listening to a self-help author or coach giving a pep talk on top of a groove-less, untextured pop beat. The ultra-commercial aspect of her identity is also off-putting. This is not to say that I do not enjoy any of her stuff. I actually love her song “Tempo (feat Missy Elliott),” but it might be mostly because of Missy’s contributions. The subtle flute outro in “Tempo” has a comedic effect.
“Tempo” brings me to my next point, which is to say that I believe Missy ‘Misdemeanor’ Elliott is much more deserving of the type of fame Lizzo has achieved. Elliott provides that same cultural representation that Lizzo does, but has more of her own identity than just being a poster child of the body positivity movement in music. It might be because Elliott is just extremely cool and Lizzo is not. Another black, heavy-set woman artist who I find to be more interesting and deserving-of-fame than Lizzo is Brittany Howard. She became popular as the lead singer of Alabama Shakes and earlier this year released a solo album called Jaime, which I highly recommend. Howard has a powerful, touching voice and makes soul music influenced by hard rock, funk, and hip hop.
I have noticed that I haven’t seen much written about Lizzo with this view. Coverage of Lizzo seems to be nothing but praise of the highest order and criticism that is founded in prejudice, conscious or unconscious. One exception is Jillian Michaels, who received a lot of heat for her comments, saying “Why are we celebrating [Lizzo’s] body? … It’s not gonna be awesome if she gets diabetes.” I don’t think this argument is unsubstantiated, but Michaels seems to miss the basis of Lizzo’s fame. It’s not Lizzo’s body that is being celebrated. It’s her acceptance of herself for who she is, and the attempt to feel comfortable in her own skin that makes Lizzo so impactful. Despite her message and impact, there are others more deserving of the recognition who could have the same impact as Lizzo. Missy Elliott, Brittany Howard, among others. I can easily imagine Oprah Winfrey portraying the same message with the same quality music as Lizzo’s and having the same impact.