Lizzo has faced her share of challenges, but she told The Guardian she’s learned to accept the realities that come with fame.
“You get to a level of fame and celebrity when your fame overshadows your art. And I’m there,” she said. “I never signed up to be just a famous person. I was always, like, I’m going to make art forever.”
“Unfortunately, when my fame precedes me as an artist it can be uncomfortable, because people care more about what I said than what I made,” she said.
Explaining what she means, Lizzo added, “I will put out music and the critique of it is never really about the music: it’s more about me. And I think that comes with being this level of famous. I don’t think it’s unique to me. There’s ‘I don’t like this person’. And it’s, like, why?”
“It’s not because they made a bad song; you just don’t like them. And now you don’t like their song,” she told The Guardian. “It’s an interesting phenomena, but now I’m settling into it.”
While Lizzo said she’s adjusted to fame, she admits that some experiences, including being accused of creating a hostile work environment, were never part of the plan.
“Everything was unexpected. The Grammies, unexpected. The number ones, unexpected. The fame, unexpected. The public scrutiny, unexpected,” she said. “The one thing I did expect was being a fat, black, happy girl, they were going to try to take that away from me. They were always going to try to tear me down.”
And for those who think her latest album, Bitch, was inspired by those allegations, Lizzo said, “What people don’t know is that most of the sad songs on this album are about a friendship breakup that was not public at all.”
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