Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

I hadn't actually heard of Lizzo until she appeared as a guest judge on Season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race: her infectious personality was immediately apparent, but I was more pissed off that a song as fantastic as Good As Hell had, until then, completely escaped me. Since that exposure, she's treated us to a handful of other fantastic singles. One didn't make the cut here, the other did.

A third album is on the cards then, and Cuz I Love You couldn't be any more open and upfront. Just look at the artwork. But there've been countless examples of stars saving the best material for a lead single and then floundering when asked to follow it up with something, and the fear for me heading in as a relative Lizzo newbie was that she was just a singles artist with nothing to hold attention once it's been grabbed with a punch.

Fans of her brassy personality might still be surprised to learn that the title track here is literally brassy: a monochromatic, dramatic throwback to soul balladry, big bands, and heartache. Lizzo's voice takes centre stage, sure, but the hugely over-the-top backing is a shot of pure adrenaline. 'Like a Girl' follows and opts to rhyme "run for president" with "add a little oestrogen" so it's automatically genius. It's one of the album's catchiest, and plays perfectly as an empowered feminist anthem that you can also get down to, but it may got lost in the slot just before the single 'Juice'. I don't know if I have enough superlatives to do 'Juice' justice; it's an absolutely perfect slice of pop that could and should cure cancer. If you aren't swaying your hips to each "yaya-ee" in the chorus then you are devoid of a soul and should really seek help.

Yeah, the old me used to love a Gemini
Like a threesome, fuckin' with him every night
A lotta two-faced people show me both sides
So I figured out I gotta be my own type
They used to say to get a man, you had to know how to look
They used to say to keep a man, you had to know how to cook
But I'm solo in Soho, sippin' Soju in Malibu
It's a me, myself kinda attitude

No less joyful, 'Soulmate' finds Lizzo in love with herself and needing no man to keep her content. The whole effect is very Little Mix-single but one of the few good ones. On 'Jerome', Lizzo continues her "fuck men!" attitude continues but via the means of an intimate dismissal that uses the genius line "2AM photos with smileys and hearts/ain't the way to my juicy parts". That aside, the song drags and perhaps could've served better as an interlude, because by the third chorus even the name Jerome is beginning to get annoying. In Lizzo's own words, 'Cry Baby' has "that Minneapolis sound" and the immediate comparison is to Purple Rain era Prince with its screaming synth guitars, abundant groove and sudden breakdowns (which is convenient, since the song literally documents her pulling over and explaining her feelings, through tears, to a partner). She can also display a sultry, acoustic side too: 'Lingerie' has all the laidback ease of a Norah Jones record and ten times the sex.

For all of the ballads and outstanding pop, it's easy to forget that Lizzo is also a hip hop artist. 'Tempo' corrects that with a star turn from Missy Elliott, begging for a fast beat to dance to because "slow songs are for skinny hoes". Gucci Mane then pops up on 'Exactly How I Feel', where she serves as the soulful counterpart to his run that talks big about self-confidence and wearing her emotions on her sleeve. And then with 'Heaven Help Me', she really lets loose and treads the line between free flow and big vocals seamlessly. That it should be set to a blissful, soul melody just goes further in establishing it as a classic, and the outro is particularly sweet, too.

A small handful of establishments have been less than favourable in their reception of Cuz I Love You, calling it 'exhausting' and wistfully sighing that 'less is more'. I was initially sympathetic, needing to turn the volume down a little bit on first listen and having to take pauses between tracks to regain composure, but I would still stress that the album is fantastic. That we've come to expect a pop album to have three or four chilled filler tracks is a quiet shame, and would be akin to indulging in an Eminem album "for the melodies". There is also too often an emphasis on the supposed need for big girls to "tone it down a bit" and "not be so loud" and I suppose that takes me back to my Drag Race reference in this review's opening: the routine humiliation and looks of disgust that women like Lizzo, or Drag Race queens like Silky Nutmeg Ganache, are subject to, often build this unapologetic wall up that results in them having to compensate with self-confidence and charisma. Some become oblivious to criticism and refuse to hear anyone else's voice than their own (Silky), but some fine-tune their talent and create an earth-shattering, soulful record full of potential hits. Lizzo is the latter, and the hits are aplenty.

Rating: 8.5/10
Highlights: Juice, Cuz I Love You, Heaven Help Me, Exactly How I Feel, Tempo
Avoid: Jerome

Artwork Watch: She is glowing and I love her.
For fans of: ...life? Fun? All that is right with the world?

Coming next: Sharon van Etten