Lizzo

Apparently, Miley Cyrus Thanked Lizzo For Her TED Talk On The Black History Of Twerking

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Lizzo might be the modern expert on twerking, never afraid to get her “heinie” (as she calls it) out there and get it shaking. And that’s especially important because of the Black history of twerking that has been all but erased from the modern understanding of it, where young white teens are imitating the dance on TikTok with no real understanding of the context they’re appropriating.

That’s part of why Lizzo felt so compelled to make a whole TED Talk about the history of the dance, rather gently bringing up how Miley Cyrus’ lighting rod performance, which included some twerking, at the 2013 VMAs catapulted the dance to mainstream attention — and did so in a way that didn’t do the best job of honoring its origins. And apparently, Miley actually took the conversation in stride, mentioning to Lizzo that she watched the TED Talk herself and “really loved it.”

“I mention Miley Cyrus in my TED Talk,” Lizzo told People in a recent interview. “And I’m very delicate with how I mention her because, at the end of the day, I didn’t want to have any bias in the way I talked about how she brought twerking to mainstream. The messenger is kind of how this thing spread like it did — seeing her at the VMAs. And I saw her recently and she was like, ‘I watched your TED Talk and I really loved it. Thank you for that.’”

Stay classy Miley, that’s the appropriate response. If you haven’t watched it yet, check out Lizzo’s love letter to twerking up top.

Lizzo Declares She’s A ‘Body Icon’ While Discussing Modern Beauty Standards

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Lizzo Outsidelands 2021
Getty Image / Steve Jennings/WireImage

When Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019, her body became the subject of conversation. Often posing nude in her Instagram photos, Lizzo is comfortable in her body, and even proclaimed “I am body goals” on her 2021 Cardi B-assisted single “Rumors.”

In a recent interview with People, Lizzo called herself a “body icon” and expressed hopes to change beauty standards as we know them, saying:

“I think I have a really hot body! I’m a body icon, and I’m embracing that more and more every day. It may not be one person’s ideal body type just like, say, Kim Kardashian might not be someone’s ideal, but she’s a body icon and has created a modern-day beauty standard. And what I’m doing is stepping into my confidence and my power to create my own beauty standard. And one day that will just be the standard.”

In the same interview, Lizzo expressed the desire to be free from stereotypes, including “The funny, fat friend… Or the friend who is gonna beat your ass ’cause she’s big. Or it’s the big girl who’s insecure ’cause she’s big. I don’t think I’m the only kind of fat girl there is. I want us to be freed from that box we’ve been put in.”

This month, Lizzo is set to premiere her reality competition show Watch Out For The Big Grrrls on Amazon Prime Video, in which she searches for other “big grrrls” to join her troupe of background dancers.

Check out the full interview here.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Lizzo Explains How Watching “The Nutty Professor” Made Her Feel “Sad” Growing Up

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Lizzo

Lizzo has been a proponent of body acceptance throughout her career. While she has faced criticism over her weight and has faced backlash for some of her antics, most famously, her choice of clothing at a Lakers game in 2019, she has continued to try to change the narrative and image of plus-sized women.

In a recent interview with Variety, Lizzo spoke on representation in Hollywood as well as her reaction to seeing Eddie Murphy wear fat suits in many of his movies.

Lizzo was asked what examples of stereotypes she saw of plus-sized people in film and television growing up that she thought were “harmful” and portrayed plus-sized people in a negative light. Lizzo then references Eddie Murphy’s portrayal of Sherman Klump in The Nutty Professor.

“It’s funny because I’m the biggest Eddie Murphy fan of all time,” Lizzo said. “But he definitely had a collection of fat-suit movies that people would be laughing at, but I would feel sad.”

“Not because I felt like, ‘Oh, my gosh — that’s me.’ But I had this empathy for Professor Klump [in The Nutty Professor],” she added. “Like, the scene where he opens his drawer and there are all these candies and M&Ms in his desk? I could literally cry right now thinking about it. People around me were laughing, but I hide food, too. I feel him. I feel sympathy and empathy for him.”

The post Lizzo Explains How Watching “The Nutty Professor” Made Her Feel “Sad” Growing Up appeared first on The Source.

Lizzo Wanted To ‘Make Ursula A Thot, Shaking Ass’ When She Auditioned For ‘The Little Mermaid’

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Lizzo 2021
Getty Image

In recent years, Disney has gotten into making live-action remakes of some of their classic animated movies. One such film is the upcoming The Little Mermaid, which has a cast that includes Daveed Diggs and Halle Bailey. The film could have had even more musical firepower than that: While Melissa McCarthy ultimately landed the role of Ursula, Lizzo auditioned for the part but did not get it. Lizzo discussed that in a new Variety interview, sharing her vision for the character.

She said, “Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in The Little Mermaid and I didn’t get it. But you know, I’m fine as hell. That has nothing to do with Ursula, but I was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking ass.”

Lizzo also noted that she actually spoke with McCarthy about the movie, saying:

“You know what’s crazy? At the Adele show, I ran into Melissa McCarthy, because she [got cast as] Ursula. She was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa.’ And I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa. And I also auditioned for Ursula.’ And she was like, ‘Well, why the hell did I get the part,’ which is a classic Melissa McCarthy thing to say. And then I was like, ‘Girl, because my audition was terrible.’ And I say that as Tyler Perry walks by. And I was like — ruined my chances there. And then she goes, ‘This is my daughter Vivian.’ And I’m like, ‘Get out of here, because my name is Melissa Viviane.’ We were looking at each other like, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

She then clarified her audition actually wasn’t bad at all, saying, “My audition wasn’t terrible. Sometimes I like to make jokes. My audition was good. You can ask Disney. I don’t want to talk too much about it. The singing was great. I’ll just say that.”

Check out the full interview here.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Single Ladies: New Music From Shenseea, Baby Tate, Tinashe Plus Simone Biles, Lori Harvey & More

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Single Ladies

Jamaican artist Shenseea won’t let up the brakes as she drops another song, Tinashe drops a daring song with a video to match and Lizzo has a new show coming out.  And the Single Ladies column is going wider with all the female fire including new business moves from Megan Thee Stallion and relationship goals […]

Lizzo Hunts For A New Tour Dance Squad In Her Amazon Prime Show ‘Watch Out For The Big Grrrls’

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Lizzo is on the lookout for new dancers to join her tour and what better way to find them than a reality TV competition? That’s the premise of Watch Out For The Big Grrrls, coming to Amazon Prime Video on March 25. In the show, Lizzo recruits 10 women for a dance boot camp at the Big Grrrls House, as they compete for a spot on Lizzo’s tour team.

Throughout her career, Lizzo has been very vocal and earnest about her experiences maneuvering in the entertainment industry as a plus-sized woman, and she makes it clear in the trailer above that she wants to use her power as a superstar to extend more opportunities to women like herself. “Girls that look like me don’t get representation,” she says. “It’s time to pull up my sleeves and find them myself.”

Despite her struggles, Lizzo has been extremely body-positive through the years, and very successful whether you believe it’s because or despite her appearance. She’s unafraid to strip down to promote her music and even enthusiastically reached out to Cardi B for a potential Playboy pictorial. Meanwhile, her music has appeared in countless avenues, from television and film to the Grammys to Barack Obama’s list of favorite songs. It seems almost certain that her show will have the same impact.

Watch the trailer for Lizzo’s Amazon series, Watch Out For The Big Grrrls above.