Lizzo won big at this year’s Grammy Awards. After taking home Record the Year for “About Damn Time,” Lizzo has solidified her standing in the pop community. She is flying in the stratosphere with no indication of coming down any time soon.
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In her relatively short tenure in the music world, she has amassed a catalog of mammoth hits like “About Damn Time,” “Good as Hell” and “Juice.” It’s these songs, along with a few other sleeper hits, that are up for discussion today. Find our picks for the top 10 Lizzo songs, below.
10. “Fitness”
“Fitness” tackles the preconceived notion that Lizzo isn’t a fit person. With the track, she hoped “to inspire women all over to put themselves first. And next time someone has a critique about you or your body, say, “I don’t do this for you.” Put this one on at the gym and you’ll be flying past your goals in no time.
9. “Jerome”
With songs like “Jerome,” Lizzo wanted to showcase the sexual side of “big women.” “Big women are pursued for relationships, big women deal with fuckboys, big women are beautiful and loving creatures, and it’s just not talked about, because it’s not the story that mainstream media chooses to tell,” she told Exclaim! “I’m not creating a fantasy — if it’s shocking, it’s because that story isn’t told and that’s often because big women aren’t even involved to tell their [own] stories.”
8. “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)”
“2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” appears on Lizzo’s most recent record, Special. She asks herself if she’s ready to bring love into her life. She sings Am I ready? (Girl, there ain’t a doubt) / Am I ready? (What you talkin’ ’bout?) / Am I ready? (You gon’ figure it out) / To be loved, to be loved (to be loved).
7. “Good as Hell”
Perhaps her most uplifting anthem, “Good as Hell” was an early Lizzo bop. Though it was released in 2016, “Good as Hell” first started to gain traction in 2019. If there is one thing Lizzo knows how to do right it’s a breakup anthem, and “Good as Hell” is an early example of that affinity.
6. “Rumors” (feat. Cardi B)
Along with fame comes the discerning eye of the public. For better or for worse, being a point of discussion on the internet is the mark of truly making it as an artist in 2023. Lizzo addresses that phenomenon in “Rumors.” Alongside Cardi B, she lets the negative comments roll off her back and keeps moving forward.
5. “Boys”
Lizzo doesn’t discriminate when it comes to crushes. I like big boys, itty bitty boys / Mississippi boys, inner city boys / I like the pretty boys with the bow tie / Get your nails did, let it blow dry, she sings in her 2019 release “Boys.” In a world full of pop singers singing about finding “the one,” Lizzo creates an anthem for playing the field.
4. “Juice”
Throughout her career, Lizzo has put an onus on body positivity. She elucidates that focus perfectly in “Juice.” More than half of all songs are about love but, very few of them focus on loving oneself. Lizzo stands to fill that gap. If you’re in need of an instant pick-me-up, “Juice” is the song for you.
3. “Tempo” (feat. Missy Elliot)
Lizzo and Missy Elliot are a match made in heaven. Both are unapologetically themselves. Both don’t shy away from a tongue-in-cheek line ever once and a while. So when they hopped in the studio together for “Tempo” in 2019, the song became an immediate hit with both fandoms. Not to mention, the accompanying music is something only this pair could pull off.
2. “About Damn Time”
Lizzo just earned her fourth Grammy with “About Damn Time” for Record of the Year. It’s hard to argue that any song in her category was more deserving of such a title. Many a night out in 2022 was soundtracked by “About Damn Time,” so much so that it earned her the No. 1 spot on Billboard‘s Hot 100. In typical Lizzo fashion, she encourages the listener to come into their own and feel good in their own skin: It’s bad bitch o’clock, yeah, it’s thick-thirty…
1. “Truth Hurts”
“Truth Hurts” took Lizzo from relative unknown to 100 percent that bitch overnight. The unique groove took the world by storm and jumpstarted Lizzo’s reputation as a self-confidence guru. It’s hard to feel down in the dumps about a breakup while screaming along to the line Why men great ’til they gotta be great? / Don’t text me, tell it straight to my face. Though she has arguably put out better songs since “Truth Hurts” is an indispensable stop in the Lizzo story.
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
