“About Damn Time" by Lizzo, Sunday, June 25, 2023 (updated repost)
Melissa Viviane Jefferson, better known by her stage name, Lizzo, released her disco-infused fourth LP this year titled Special. The album was a smash hit, debuting at number two on Billboard's top 200, and the album's lead single, "About Damn Time," topping the single's charts for two weeks. Lizzo began her career performing and recording Hip-Hop independently in the Minneapolis scene. In 2016, she released a major-label debut EP, titled Coconut Oil and a 2019 LP Cuz I Love You. But it was her 2016 hit, "Truth Hurts" that took the singer to the top of the charts for the first time.
I BEEN SO DOWN AND UNDER PRESSURE. With the Apple Music version of Special, Lizzo recorded a message for her fans, a voice track titled "A Very Special Message from Lizzo." In this 99-second track, Lizzo explains why she hasn't released an album since 2019. The singer certainly wasn't cutting corners, as she wrote hundreds of songs over the span of three years. She explains that she wanted the record to be perfect in the way that she envisioned it. Furthermore, she explains the meaning of the title. To Lizzo, Special means first learning to love yourself, shutting out all of the negativity from the world. She claims that once you "treat yourself the way that you deserve to be treated, and then treat somebody else with the same love and respect[,] that expands . . . and that can save a life." Love for oneself, in Lizzo's case, is partly in accepting her body type. Body positivity has been a theme throughout the singer's career, from posing nude on the cover of Cuz I Love You to referring to herself as thick (sometimes thicc). Like many other female rappers, Lizzo reclaims the word bitch, repurposing it to describe a sexy lady who is completely in control of herself. Furthermore, Lizzo smashes homophobia by identifying as "mostly straight," but admitting "Everybody's Gay." To this her LGBTQ+ fans identify themselves as "Lizzbians." "About Damn Time," though, is a musical anxiolytic, an anthem of self-love when you need it the most.
TURN UP THE MUSIC, TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS. Last year on an episode on Into It podcast, Switched On Pop's Charlie Harding and Reanna Cruz joined Sam Sanders to talk about their picks for 2022's "Song of the Summer." Lizzo's smash hit "About Damn Time" was considered among the likes of Beyoncé's "Break My Soul," Harry Style's "As It Was," and Kate Bush's "Running Up that Hill" (A Deal with God)." While Kate Bush's "Running Up that Hill" and Bad Bunny's entire album Un Verano Sin Ti won as a tie, the hosts talked about how "About Damn Time" pays homage to Queen and David Bowie's 1981 hit "Under Pressure" and to other songs of the past to make it sound "manufactured" yet "delicious" in the same way that fast food is delicious. Like Doja Cat, Lizzo's 2022 sound declares that the '70s are back, baby. MTV also considered "About Damn Time" as the song of the summer, but lost to Jack Harlow's "First Class." "About Damn Time" is the surprisingly the first song that topped the Hot 100 with the word damn in its title, and the mild profanity is almost a throwback to the '70s when a title like "About Damn Time" would be a bit more scandalous.
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