Wrapped in the Balenciaga yellow caution tape that Kim Kardashian wore during Paris Fashion Week in March, Lizzo’s latest cover shoot is dominating social media feeds.
And, like Kardashian, who was seen in videos robotically walking around in the luxury getup, the Elle UK September cover star had similar issues, posting a behind-the-scenes video where she attempted to do the viral TikTok dance to her hit song “About Damn Time” with the smallest of micro-movements.
“IM A RIDICULOUS HUMAN… JUST STREAM ‘ABOUT DAMN TIME’ AND DONT ASK ANY QUESTIONS,” Lizzo wrote in the post on Instagram. Her new album “Special” – her fourth studio album – released on July 15.
In the cover story, photographed by Ahmad Barber and Donte Maurice of AB+DM, Lizzo opened up about how long it’s taken her as a darker-skinned and plus-sized entertainer to feel comfortable with herself. She pointed out that artists like Missy Elliot and Queen Latifah were “the exception to the rule” when she was younger.
“I know people want to look like me now. But I’m talking about what it was like in my formative years. I wasn’t really set up to believe that I was desirable,” she said in the interview, which will be available in print from July 28. “For me, being a pop star – part of it is people either want to be you or be with you. And I didn’t feel like I had any of those qualities.”
“In doing the fake it till you make it method, I began attracting a lot of people who thought I was beautiful…You start attracting people who see you the way you see yourself,” she added.
Despite the strides toward size-inclusivity in fashion the past few years, Lizzo said that fashion labels will often have to make outfits “from scratch” for her for her shoots. While she says she’s appreciative, she asks, “What about the millions of people who are my size or bigger who can’t get access to chic and glamorous clothing?”
“I don’t want to be the token big girl for the fashion world,” she continued. “I want to open the door. I want this for everybody.”
She told Elle UK that she recorded “Special” during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, and she wanted to make an album “that people can use as a soundtrack to survive.”
“All of these incredible songs are giving people the language to express themselves and to have a release after everything they’ve experienced,” she said.
But the album also marks a turning point for her where she feels more comfortable with her own accomplishments.
“I spent years being ashamed. It took a lot of work for me to feel worthy of being in this place. To feel worthy of being a force to be reckoned with,” she said.
She added: “It’s a very peaceful place for me to be in now because I feel like all my projects before this were not in pursuit of fame, but in pursuit of telling my story, and finding my voice and then, eventually, helping people.”
