Lizzo wants to create her own beauty standards. Image Source: Prevention.com
Lizzo is a trailblazer, and we all just know it!
The Grammy-winning singer Lizzo appeared on the cover story of People magazine’s "Women Changing the World" issue and got candid about the beauty standards in society and how she would like to create her own along with how black people, black women, and fat people are treated in America!
The singer has been vocal about her challenges and struggles with her body and identified and overcame body dysmorphia, but with the amount of success and fame she’s drawn towards herself because of her exceptional work and personality, public scrutiny came along, but Lizzo was quick to take a stand for herself and said that she likes being fat, she’s beautiful and healthy and the conversations should go beyond that now.
The singer shared with the publication, "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 power to create my beauty standard. And one day, that will just be the standard."
Lizzo has been very honest and vocal about the struggles she has to face as a fat person who is always under the public eye and the comments that she receives on a daily basis but with the powerful force of nature she is, she has managed to defy all of those comments and trolls by not giving attention to them and simply embracing herself to the fullest. She is unapologetically herself and we love Lizzo for that. Don't we?
The singer, who won three Grammy awards, was amazed that her body became the topic of conversation rather than her art, which she wanted to be known for. Lizzo mentioned that she has been through a "funny fat friend" phase in high school, but she wants to be more than that, and that’s why she wants to create her beauty benchmark so that people like her won’t just be labeled or put in the box of "funny fat friend." Lizzo admitted that she does not want to be labeled as a "body positive activist" or be the poster girl for that, but she just genuinely wants society to accept everybody's body type the way it is.
Lizzo, who walked into the spotlight three years ago, is an unstoppable force of a powerful woman who knows when and where to speak. She has been vocal about the challenges she has to face as a black woman in America and has made it very clear to everyone that she deserves the spotlight and she ain’t leaving anytime soon. She added, that she is here, she deserves the spotlight because she has worked hard for it and no one is going to take that away from her.
Lizzo went on to describe how her parents were open about the challenges and struggles she faced as she spoke about the treatment of black people in America. Her father wanted to tell them about the murders that occurred among Black people at the time, but Black parents have a responsibility to protect their children from that world as well. Lizzo added that her parents’ advice and teachings were helpful because she learned from a very young age how black people, especially women, are treated in America, and soon she learned about fat people as well.
The singer is soon going to appear on an upcoming Amazon Prime Video reality show titled, "Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls," for which she is very excited and shared with Variety that if she needs a television reality show to get the much-needed attention, she needs to find girls and get them prepared to appear on stage with her and be it. Lizzo shared that she has always wanted to help girls, especially black girls, find their passion and dreams by mentoring and guiding them, so when she got an opportunity like this, she hopped on it.
Sometimes the recognition makes people doubtful about their choices, and Lizzo had to face the same phase in her life. She admitted to the publication, "I was like, 'OK, what can I do with this? How can I make the best of this? I wasn't supposed to survive. I wasn't supposed to make it this far. I wasn't supposed to be a millionaire. I wasn't supposed to be a sex symbol. I wasn't supposed to be on the cover of People, but I am. So how can I make this worthwhile? How can I make this not just a flash in the pan? "
When the singer appeared on the cover of Variety in February, she mentioned that despite the amount of fame and success she had gotten, nothing in her life had changed. People just assume that when an individual gets fame, they change, but that’s not true for her because Lizzo added that even with the fame and success, her anxiety and depression stayed. Fame and success did not take away the things she loved because she was and is true to herself and it's just the way people perceive her has changed from how she started to where she is at. She lastly added, "It's a very weird, kind of formless thing. "
By now, it is very clear that with the ideas and thoughts about how she wants to move ahead in her life, Lizzo has proved that she is truly a trailblazer and people love her for the honesty and boldness she has.
Fun Fact: Lizzo’s real name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson, and she decided to adapt Lissa as her stage name, but the ZZ in her name now is inspired by Jay-Z.
