17 Interesting Facts About Lizzo

Last updated on February 18th, 2022 at 09:28 pm

Dominating the charts and making fans everywhere feel “good as hell,” Lizzo seems to have blown up overnight. With her promotions of self-love and body positivity, she has become a role model for people all over the world. However, it took some time for Lizzo to become “100% that bitch.”

The American singer, hip-hop artist, rapper, and songwriter, Lizzo, has made quite a few waves on her journey to music industry stardom over the years. Known for songs such as “Juice”, “Rumors”, and “Truth Hurts.”

Here are 17 interesting facts about the upbringing of Minnesota’s new golden girl.

Lizzo is Her Nickname

Lizzo’s real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson. Although her first nickname was Lissa, when she was in middle school, she changed it to Lizzo after hearing the song “Izzo” by Jay-Z. This was the name she went with when she formed a rap group called Cornrow Clique with a couple of her friends.

She was Born in Detroit, Michigan

Lizzo was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there for the first 10 years of her life before moving to Houston, Texas. 

She’s an Incredible Flute Player

As if this needs to be said, Lizzo is an incredible flutist.

Lizzo started playing the flute when she joined the band in elementary school. She has always been obsessed with becoming the very best. Starting with classical masterpieces like “The Carnival of Venice,” Lizzo had once thought flute would become her career.

After high school, she attended the University of Houston on a music scholarship. She is a classically trained musician who specialized in the flute while at the university.

Unsurprisingly, Lizzo was a Total Band Geek

Related to her love of the flute, Lizzo was a total band geek during school. Starting in elementary school when, in her words, “it was cool to be in a band,” Lizzo continued throughout her entire education. 

“I was that bitch in high school,” Lizzo said in an interview. “I was showing up to all the state marching band competitions looking all jazzy. Band gave me an outlet for my passion for music and gave me my collaborative nature…I believe in people coming together to make that one sound.” 

Her First Singing Gig came from…Craigslist? 

Lizzo got her start in singing while going on walks and blasting B-Day by Beyonce. When she realized she wanted to pursue a career singing, she found a band…on Craigslist. 

“Being in the band gave me experience,” Lizzo stated in an interview. “It was a rock band. I earned the confidence to be a frontwoman.” 

Making some “Batches and Cookies” 

Lizzo released her first solo song, “Batches and Cookies,” with longtime friend and frequent collaborator Sophia Eris. Her songwriting process comes through natural collaboration. 

Lizzo cites Minnesota as the Place she got her Start

“I would be at First Avenue so much that my Uber app knew the location was my work,” remarked Lizzo. 

Thanks to Minneapolis Minnesota’s thriving music community, Lizzo was able to form girl groups such as Lizzo & The Larva Ink, where she developed a strong following. One of her most notable groups was GRRRL PRTY, who had their farewell performance at Rock the Garden 2016. 

X-Ambassadors Helped her Realize Cuz I Love You

X-Ambassadors, best known for their alternative rock hits “Unsteady” and “Renegades,” helped produce Lizzo’s album Cuz I Love You. Through her collaboration with the band, not only was the album as a whole fully realized, but they helped get the title track out in the open. 

“It was the craziest song I’ve ever written,” Lizzo said. “After I wrote it, I called my Mom crying. I told her that it just might be the best song I wrote.” 

Lizzo Once Sang a Blondie’s Cover

When the reality show, Made in Chelsea, came to New York on one of their tours in 2014, Lizzo appeared on the show belting out the cover song “Rapture” by Blondie.

Speaking of Collaborations, Lizzo Loves them

Justin Timberlake once revealed in an interview that he has been in the studio with Lizzo working on some new songs. Timberlake has hopes that they will be as successful as her solo work. 

At the Glastonbury Festival in 2019, Lizzo released a remix of her “Good As Hell” song featuring Ariana Grande. Lizzo stated after this collaboration that she would like to work with Ariana again on some new music. 

Self-love is her Philosophy

At almost every show, Lizzo has the audience say, “I love you, you’re beautiful, you can do anything” to one another. 

“One night, I was having a tough time so I had the crowd say it back to me,” Lizzo said. “It was just the best feeling in the world.” 

Looking back on her career, Lizzo believes that once she learned self-love and body positivity, everything else followed. Defining it as her philosophy, Lizzo strives to be a symbol for others to look up to.

Lizzo is also an Advocate for Various Groups

In addition to promoting her philosophy of self-love, she has also been very outspoken about body positivity and the rights of the LGBTQ+, Trans, and Black Lives Matter communities.  During various performances, she has taken the time to speak out in honor and support of these various communities.

Her Work with Prince was Key to her Maturation

Lizzo was once summoned to Paisley Park by the purple one himself. She had the opportunity to work on the album PLECTRUMELECTRUM in 2014. 

In addition, Lizzo and her bandmate from Chalice and long-time friend Sophia Eris were invited by Prince to collaborate on his song “Boytrouble.”

Lizzo cites her time working with Prince as what made her into the artist she is today. Through writing empowering music, she found her voice. 

“Paisley Park is all about love and self-love,” Lizzo noted. It truly was a defining time in her life. Check out her track with Prince here.

Lizzo has Quite a Bit of Success, and Not Just in Music

Prior to releasing any albums in her solo career, she was a part of a three-piece band called The Chalice and released an album as a part of that group.

Lizzo’s first studio album, Lizzobangers in 2013. In 2015, after her time spent working with Prince, she released her second studio album, Big Grrrl Small World 2015. In 2019, she released her third studio album Cuz I Love You.

After her third studio album was released, the single “Juice” hit the top of the charts. In addition, her song “Tempo” which featured Missy Elliot, was also a hit.

In addition to her studio albums, Lizzo has had success with several of her singles and EP’s such as Coconut Oil. This album was released after signing with Atlantic records in 2016.

She has also been a voice performer in the animated film, UglyDolls in 2019, and made an appearance in the crime comedy hit, Hustlers also in 2019.

She has Won Several Awards for her Music, and Other Interesting Things

During the 2020 Grammy Awards, Lizzo took home three awards: Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Cuz I Love You”, Best Pop Solo Performance for “Truth Hurts” and Best Traditional R&B Performance for “Jerome.”

Additionally, she was nominated at the 2020 BET Awards in four categories, where she won one of them.

Interestingly enough, Lizzo also was named an MTV Video Music Awards Winner for Best Artist x Creator Collab category for her TikTok video where she tried a new food trend, putting mustard on a watermelon and eating it.

In 2020, She Performed at the BRIT Awards

Lizzo performed a compilation medley of her songs, “Truth Hurts”, “Good As Hell”, and “Juice.” These were three of her biggest hits and were a huge success at the awards show.

She is 100% That Bitch

But I guess everyone already knows that fact. Her song “Truth Hurts” has already made a massive impact. Her lyrics from the song were trending on several TikTok videos after its release. Peaking at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, there is no avoiding it. In fact, the track is currently tied for the longest Hot 100 reign for a rap song by a female.   

With the recent controversy surrounding the song, Lizzo has come out to address the allegations that she stole the melody for the popular song. Read on about this story here.