![\"\"](\"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Special.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cThe Sign\u201d
\n\u201cThis was originally track two. The first track I had was a sad song about love and loss, because I wanted to catch people by surprise. Like a traditional Lizzo album starts with a big fanfare, it’s very in-your-face. As this album evolved and I made peace with not putting a lot of those darker notes on here, it became clear to me that the right way to start this was by being my honest self. That meant: \u2018Hi, motherfucker!\u2019 That in-your-face fanfare. I think it works great as a tone-setter, too, because honestly, where else would this song go? It can’t go at the end. It can’t be in the middle. It’s definitely not track three. It\u2019s a kick-off. It\u2019s saying, \u2018We’re about to have fun. This is about to be a musical journey.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbout Damn Time\u201d
\n\u201cI have been making feel-good music for a long fucking time now\u2014as early as \u2018Good as Hell\u2019 for people who’ve known about me. So when I made a song like \u2018Juice\u2019 that had this funky disco feel to it, I didn’t really realize what I was doing. I was just letting the song happen. It was the complete opposite with \u2018About Damn Time.\u2019 For this record, I was like, \u2018We are making a disco record.\u2019 I wanted a song that would be emblematic and reflective of the times. And I associate disco with resilience; it helped so many people stomp out of a dark era in this country. So I hoped that a contemporary disco song would have a similar effect. Now, I don’t know what we’re walking into. Things have gotten crazy. But I do know that we’re always moving. I wanted this song to be a marching song [that would help] us move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGrrrls\u201d
\n\u201cbenny blanco and I had never worked together before this album. We\u2019d eaten together, but we’d never worked together. Then one day I heard he wanted to get in the studio and I was like, \u2018Oh shit, okay, let’s make it happen.\u2019 He came with one track and it was this. So I sat with it for a while. Eventually I was like, \u2018Listen, this is either going to be the greatest song ever or the biggest waste of our time.\u2019 Because Beastie Boys were one of the greatest copyrights of all time. No one, and I mean no one, has done this. Until now. Dude, Beastie Boys cleared \u2018Girls\u2019 for yours truly. It\u2019s an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)\u201d
\n\u201cThis is the first record I made with Max Martin, and it\u2019s a dream record. As someone who’s been writing songs since I was 9, who studied music since I was 12, and who dreamed of being a performer, Max Martin is the dream collaborator. Recording it was like watching a legend in action. He\u2019s an extremely collaborative, open, creative soul. The song is a callback to when pop records had key changes\u2014that golden era of late-\u201980s and early-\u201990s pop when singers had massive records that were vocally impressive but also danceable, and the production quality was very intentional. I think it’s a work of art. It\u2019s a masterpiece.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI Love You Bitch\u201d \u201cSpecial\u201d \u201cBreak Up Twice\u201d \u201cEverybody’s Gay\u201d \u201cNaked\u201d \u201cBirthday Girl\u201d \u201cIf You Love Me\u201d \u201cColdplay\u201d At this point, Lizzo needs no introduction. The endlessly witty, playfully braggadocious, and proudly plus-size powerhouse has been pocketing Grammys and flying private for a minute now, and in many ways, her celebratory fourth album Special is a snapshot from her view at the top. \u201cI felt a lot of pressure to follow up Cuz […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,921,30],"tags":[86,204,606,861,748],"class_list":["post-4486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-streamapse-highlights","category-streamapse-reports","tag-album","tag-interview","tag-lizzo","tag-profit","tag-spatial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5414,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4486\/revisions\/5414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201c\u2018I Love You Bitch\u2019 came from a tweet, and it’s not the same as \u2018Truth Hurts,\u2019 so don’t come at me for royalties, Twitter. Shortly after \u2018Rumors\u2019 with Cardi B dropped, Cardi tweeted that she wanted to hear a love song from me next. And I was like, \u2018Okay, if Lizzo did a love song, what would it be? I love you, bitch?\u2019 It was one of those rare times where I had the title before the song. I got in the studio with Omer Fedi and Blake Slatkin and told them about my idea. Omer started playing the guitar, and I started freestyling to it. I’m from Houston, and there’s this Houston rapper named Z-Ro who has a song called \u2018I Hate U Bitch.\u2019 Suddenly I was like, hold up, what if I sang the \u2018I Hate U Bitch\u2019 melody but said \u2018I Love You Bitch\u2019 instead? It just came out, and it might be the greatest thing we\u2019ve ever done. As I was writing the lyrics, I realized that I wanted to write a universal love song\u2014one you could sing to the person you’re fucking and your best friend, to your family or to someone you just met at a bar.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Lizzo_BANNER.jpg\")
<\/a>
\n\u201cAfter \u2018Rumors,\u2019 I received a lot of backlash. I think it was because people hadn’t heard from me since Cuz I Love You and this was their opportunity to attack me because I was visible, you know? But I turn my pain into music. I turn my pain into profit. I make it work for me. So I went into the studio to write a song for myself that would remind me how special I am. In the second verse, I say, \u2018Could you imagine a world where everybody’s the same? And you could cancel a girl \u2019cause she just wanted to change? How could you throw fucking stones if you ain’t been through her pain? That’s why we feel so alone, that’s why we feel so much shame.\u2019 I was trying to flip the mirror on people, that same mirror that I check myself with. It\u2019s me saying, \u2018You attack people like they’re the monster, but you’ve become the monster.\u2019 No one’s giving anyone the space to be themselves, to show their specialness, and to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis is my second dream collab: Mark Ronson. And let me tell you, this is quintessential Mark. His style and swag is inescapable. Working with him made me feel like a kid again, because you just jam. And I used to be in a rock band, so that\u2019s my bread and butter. When I first heard the guitar part, I was like, \u2018This is classic shit right here.\u2019 And when I heard those Lauryn Hill \u2018Doo Wop\u2019 chords, I was like, \u2018Do we run from this or lean into it?\u2019 You\u2019ve got to lean into it. She cleared it in a day and I was beside myself. The story behind it is like, I\u2019d had a barbecue and one of my friends threatened the guy I invited. She was like, \u2018If you fuck with her, I’m gonna slash your tires.\u2019 I was like, \u2018Hell yeah.\u2019 I took it into the studio and Mark thought it was brilliant. The idea is: I don’t break up twice. We’re only going to do this once, and we’re going to do it right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI wanted to write a fantasy song, like one of those Hollywood songs where you’re taken away to a picture that I’m painting, a dream sequence kind of thing. It’s very cinematic. I wanted to write about this wild costume party where everybody gets together and has a good time. And no, when I sing \u2018Take your mask off,\u2019 I didn’t mean your N95. I meant like the mask of the person that you have to uphold when you’re out in the world, the mask that protects your true self. Take that off, because we accept you for who you are in this space. This high-key is the centerpiece of the album, musically, for me. It’s a cornucopia of sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cGoddammit, where do I even start? Pop Wansel made this beautiful track, and I was like, \u2018If I don’t use this track, I’m going to think about this for the rest of my life. If I don’t use this beat, I’m going to think about this beat for the rest of my life.\u2019 Initially, I wanted to write a song about how comfortable I’ve become with myself, but then I evolved as a person. And as I\u2019ve evolved, \u2018Naked\u2019 has undergone a lot of rewriting. It has evolved with me. So now it\u2019s like, \u2018How accepting are you of me?\u2019 It\u2019s very intimate. I saw Solange perform a couple years ago now at the Lovebox Festival in London, and I was in awe of her set because she had so much nuance. Meanwhile, I’m all bravado. I’m in-your-face, loud-loud-loud, full-throttle. I was like, \u2018Man, on my next album, I want nuance.\u2019 Because there’s nothing like the control that she has, the power she has in the quiet. So on \u2018Naked,\u2019 I’m in a half-falsetto for most of the song. I\u2019m ad-libbing here and there. I\u2019m having a little chat. It\u2019s under your breath. Also, I had a sinus infection when I sang this, and frankly I give the best vocals with a sinus infection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cI did this with [production duo] Monsters & Strangerz, and it all came from a freestyle. I was like, \u2018Is it your birthday, girl? \u2019Cause you lookin’ like a present.\u2019 I literally think I freestyled that. And they were like, \u2018Whoa.\u2019 Mind you, the song wasn’t about birthdays. I thought it was going to be like the first line of the first verse but then I\u2019d go on to talk about how fine my friends are and whatever. And they were like, \u2018No, no, this is the song.\u2019 I felt tied to the song\u2019s initial concept, which was to celebrate my friends and how much I love and appreciate them, but then I realized that birthdays symbolize that. Birthdays are a big deal for me. Every friend that I have, I try to make their birthday the biggest blowout every year. Helicopters, Omarion. Lizards. Three-tiered cakes. Like I say in the song, \u2018When you’ve been through the most\/You got to do the most.\u2019 That’s an Instagram caption for life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis was the first song I wrote for the album, and it was something I needed to get off my chest. It\u2019s about all of the times I go onstage and talk to the crowd and am like, \u2018You guys show me so much love, so much support, and I want to thank you for supporting a woman who looks like me\u2014a big Black woman from Houston, Texas. If you could show this same energy to people who look like me but who aren\u2019t Lizzo, who aren\u2019t dancing onstage and entertaining you… If you could show it to a woman on the street, show her some love and respect…\u2019 Because historically, that hasn’t been the case. It\u2019s asking: How do we take the time to be kind to ourselves and kind to the person next to us, no matter what they look like or where they come from? How can we take this respect that we give to entertainers and apply it to people in the real world? This is a record that fans who’ve been following me for a long time will get it as soon as they hear it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThis song was literally created from a 45-minute freestyle to a piano loop. Ricky Reed had me sit in the booth and just talk, so I started romanticizing about this trip I\u2019d just taken to Tulum, about the experiences I\u2019d had and how I was singing Coldplay and crying. A few weeks later, he was like, \u2018Hey, you remember that freestyle you said in the booth? I wrote a song using your words.\u2019 He played me a track that sampled Coldplay\u2019s \u2018Yellow\u2019 and I was like, \u2018Whoa, this is crazy.\u2019 Ricky was like, \u2018We should call this \u201cMy Love Is You.\u201d\u2019 And I was like, \u2018Nah, we should call it \u201cColdplay.\u201d\u2019 Because I’m going to tell you: Black people call people the name of their band. We call Adam Levine \u2018Maroon 5.\u2019 \u2018Oh, there goes Maroon 5.\u2019 I thought there was something funny and real about calling a song that samples Coldplay \u2018Coldplay.\u2019 Their songwriting is so simple and poetic. So I was like, \u2018Let’s honor them. Let’s not run from it.\u2019 On this album, I didn’t run from anything. If there\u2019s a thesis to this album, it\u2019s that. Embracing myself.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"