Let’s just say that it’s been an interesting couple of years for Lizzo. After rising to A-game prominence at the turn of the decade following years of paying her dues, it appeared that the pressures of keeping the pressure on finally got to her and in March last year the much-loved star very publicly upped and quit music altogether.
But now she’s back with a new tune that’s… quite the departure from the Juice, Truth Hurts and Good As Hell, the hits that put her on the map back in 2019.
She’s Ready (2 B Loved) again
Through 2024, with no new music forthcoming while caught in a legal battle with members of her touring crew who’d aimed mistreatment and harassment claims at the star, rather than keep on keeping on, she instead went ballistic on Instagram quitting music altogether (in a since-deleted post) before quickly returning to clarify her stance.
"I'm getting tired of putting up with being dragged by everyone in my life and on the internet," Lizzo wrote, adding that she was sick of "being the butt of the joke every single time… I didn’t sign up for this s_t. I QUIT!”
Then, following media confusion and upset: "When I say 'I quit,' I mean I quit giving any negative energy attention. What I'm not going to quit is the joy of my life, which is making music and connecting to people.”
And indeed after a week-long meltdown and subsequent low profile she is now officially back… With Love In Real Life, a track that’s got both fans and musicologists equally intrigued…
OK. So what gives?
Firstly and most obviously there’s the rock-y Gen-Z new-wavey jangle of the thing, with the track’s apparently Strokes-inspired Last Nite boom-thwap being a far cry from her super dynamite soul sounds of old.
And then there’s the verse melody and chords… Wait… Isn’t that Frank Sinatra’s My Way buried in there?
“And now, the end is near…”
(Still that never did Billy Joel’s Just The Way You Are any harm – a song that manages equally ‘homage’ Sinatra’s finest while being audibly out to ape 10cc’s I’m Not In Love…)
And why do we keep thinking about Keane’s Somewhere Only We Know?
Anyway, soon enough we’re in the bridge and… Wait… Isn’t that Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones?
You know. The AO.com advert. Sigh…
But before too long (OK, it’s actually a little too long) we’re in the chorus and, wait… Prince? Let’s Go Crazy?
Sorry. Did we put Now That’s What I Call Music 16 on by mistake?
Well, it’s a good job that the video’s all original then… Though isn’t that the same Eastern European village that they shot Duran Duran’s hairspray-vs-the-fascists epic New Moon On Monday?…
And how come we’re getting flashbacks to McFly’s catastrophically mis-targeted rave rebirth (and inexplicably horror-themed) Party Girl?
And… Ah… What was that big video in the 80’s? You know the one… Something about a Thriller or something?… By… what’s his name again?… Um… Michael er… Jackson?
Welcome back Lizzo.
Can’t wait for that Cheeky Girls/Iron Maiden/China Crisis mash-up.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
“As soon as I played the demo I was just like ‘Yes! There he is!’ It was at the level of his old Erasure stuff, of Yazoo and his period of Depeche Mode": Producer Danny L Harle and Olly Alexander on their "extraordinary" collab with a synth-pop legend
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime thrill to play these amazing iconic songs with the man who composed them”: The Black Crowes remember their live collab with Jimmy Page
