Lizzo's comeback is in the works. She recently dropped a few singles hinting at a larger studio album and also has been cast as the lead in the Sister Rosetta Tharpe biopic. She's still fighting against allegations of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. But it seems she's not gonna let the shadow of that lawsuit hold her back anymore.
Today, Lizzo released the surprise mixtape My Face Hurts From Smiling, which features SZA and Doja Cat. The project came about while having fun in the studio recording “Yitty On Yo Tittys (Freestyle),” which she teased Memorial Day weekend. The track is named after Lizzo's shapewear brand and samples Pluto and YK Niece’s hit "Whim Whamiee." After years of public scrutiny, that central track was the spark for the new no-fucks-given Lizzo: "Bitch it's Lizzo, call me Lizzy/ I've been fat and I've been skinny/ Bitches still ain't fucking with me."
In a new interview with Rolling Stone’s Mankaprr Conteh, Lizzo explained that “Yitty On Yo Tittys (Freestyle)" came about while working on a radio version for an unreleased single called "Bitch" that's due out this fall. "I got the beat for 'Whim Whamiee' and went in the studio and was like, 'While I’m doing my clean version for ‘Bitch,’ I’m going to just lay down a verse real quick on this song that I just think is so fire.' I put that shit on the internet, and the response was so overwhelmingly positive," she said.
On the new album that's she's been working on for the last couple years, she said, “The album that I’m putting out is two years of really constructed... my pop, rock, rap genre of music. It’s a little moodier, it’s a little darker. It talks about the dark times. I was like, 'This is the complete opposite of what me in my backyard shaking ass in a Yitty thong is. But I had so much fun doing that, and I did that shit so fast.; I was like, 'Book me in the studio for a week.'"
She also talks about flying in her best friend Lexo to record ad-libs, where the nickname/persona Lizzy came from, and how working on this mixtape over a period of only two weeks feels like it cured her depression. Throughout the conversation, Lizzo discusses the "dark times" she's been going through. This new mixtape allowed her to be more off the cuff, instead of trying to determine the "right" thing to say that won't offend anybody.
Compared the recent singles she's been putting out, My Face Hurts From Smiling is sounding fun and liberated. On the closing track "DITTO," she repeats: "It's a Lizzo sum-mer."
Check it out below.
My Face Hurts From Smiling out now via Atlantic Records.
