Lizzo Opens Up About Wanting To Inspire A Generation: ‘Music Can Actually Help People’
20.07.2022 - 21:35
/ etcanada.com
Lizzo is sharing her journey of self-acceptance and pop stardom.
The star spoke with Elle UK for their September cover story about what it was like struggling as a musician when there were rarely mainstream artists with her body type.
“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 recalled. “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 fact, growing up, she didn’t have any musicians like her to model herself after.
“Nearly every star I saw onstage was thinner and light-skinned. And they didn’t look like me. Sure, there were women like Missy Elliott and Queen Latifah. But they were the exception to the rule,” said Lizzo. “And so I always felt like, even if the song is great, people wouldn’t want to hear it coming from me. So I thought, If I have other people onstage, too, that will take the focus off me a little bit.”
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In the formative years of her career, she was part of the girl groups the Chalice and Grrrl Prty, as it was the music of Destiny’s Child and Beyoncé that inspired her to join the industry.
“Growing up in Houston, the impact that Destiny’s Child had on me making a decision to become an artist was incredible, mostly because I felt like we were so close to it. Everyone had their, ‘I saw Beyoncé when…’ or, ‘I saw Destiny’s Child at this party…’ stories. And that made it seem more accessible,” the musician shared. “Like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this too, if I worked hard enough and had the