After her fifth studio full length, B**ch, failed to chart, Lizzo admitted it was “soul-crushing.”
A significant drop compared to her 2022 album, Special, that sold some 39,000 copies within its first week, editors at Rolling Stone, confirmed that the superstar rapper/writer’s latest LP moved just 2,649 copies following its June 5 drop.
During Sunday’s (6.28) candid interview with Proto Pop podcast host Zachary Hourihane, the musician (born Melissa Jefferson) talked about how she ramped up efforts to self-promote the project, but sales still fell short of expectations, adding:
“It dropped, and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, this isn’t kinda what I thought it would be.” “I didn’t think it would be crazy, but I also didn’t think it would be this. There was, like, 24 hours of my life where I based my success and my worth on a number, and I think that was soul-crushing.” “I had to come to terms with the fact that not only is the music industry different in the last three years… but also, my relationship and my connection musically with the world is different, I think I had to mourn that.”
Now 38-years old, Lizzo discussed how a phone call from SZA, forced her to change her perspective.
“Thank God for Solána. SZA called me and was like, ‘Hey, you’re on my mind!'” “I was like (crying), ‘Am I a failure?’ ‘She was like, ‘Oh my God, no!’ She was so sweet, and I meditated and prayed on it. I was, like, ‘This is why I don’t judge myself and my success, or impact, on numbers because it’s soul-crushing if you do.’ I had to reframe and be like, ‘But aren’t you proud of yourself?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I actually am proud of myself.’ Aren’t you excited to sing these songs? Aren’t you glad they’re out?’ Yeah.”
In addition to her music career, Lizzo has several other projects in the works, including a children’s book titled Lil Lizzo Meets Sasha B. Flootin’ and an acting role as musician Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the upcoming biopic, Rosetta, from Amazon MGM Studios.
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Author: Al Dente
Photo: digboston