Lizzo is gearing up to drop her new album, Love in Real Life, and during her recent appearance on the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast, she spoke candidly about her mental health journey and the need to take a break from the limelight. Looking back on her “gap year” of not putting out music, Lizzo said, “I don’t feel like I’ve expressed myself as much in the last two years, like how I want to. I feel like I’ve been kind of holding my tongue and like staying to myself.”
She spoke about preserving her peace, especially during an era when one’s words can easily be taken the wrong way. “Running your mouth nowadays… sometimes it can get you into some things you wasn’t even trying to get into,” she explained. Her choice to keep a low profile for a bit was misinterpreted by some fans, but for Lizzo, it was a self-preservation measure.
The new album is her first full-length work since 2022’s Special, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and included the two-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “About Damn Time.” To date, she has issued two singles from Love in Real Life: “Still Bad” and the title track. Other than her song “Pink” on the 2023 Barbie soundtrack, these are Lizzo’s biggest releases since her August 2023 high-profile harassment lawsuit.
The three former dancers had brought the suit, which targeted Lizzo and her staff for various legal wrongs and featured in-depth accusations. Lizzo disputed the accusations in a statement, labeling them as “sensationalized reports” and “false accusations.
In the podcast, Lizzo explained the emotional impact the experience had on her. “When it was outside of my control and someone else could tell a story about me that wasn’t true and people believed it, it crushed me,” she said. She also mused on how fame distorts one’s sense of self, saying that “Whoever Lizzo is to the world is not really even me. And that disconnect is depressing.”
In spite of all this, Lizzo is adamant about keeping being herself. “The only cure to that is just continuing to be myself,” she explained. “I just have to keep being me and people will see me for who I am.”
Wrapping up the interview, she asserted firmly, “I’m never gonna stop… If anything, I’m more careful now. I can’t just let any author into my life who can make me a villain. I can’t do that anymore.” Regaining control of her story is important to Lizzo, and with Love in Real Life, she’s taking it back.
