Lizzo - Topic

Tossing her hair, flashing a confident smile, and “Feelin’ good as hell,” Lizzo wields the kind of voice that’s right at home in soul, pop, hip-hop, R&B, rock, and gospel. The vivacious and versatile vocalist’s impassioned delivery and dynamic range bonds the six tracks on her critically acclaimed major label debut EP, Coconut Oil [Nice Life Recording Company/Atlantic Records], achieving what she refers to as a “genre-less style.”

“My voice becomes the genre,” she explains. “It’s the common denominator between any track—whether we’ve got a West African backbeat, throwback soul, rap groove, or dancehall production. The vocals are the thread that ties the whole story together. It frees me up in a way.”

That voice also turned the gleefully unpredictable Coconut Oil into a quiet phenomenon in late 2016. Lauded by Noisey, Entertainment Weekly, Paste, Rolling Stone, Spin, Idolator, and more, the EP boasted the hit “Good As Hell,” which featured on the Original Soundtrack to Barbershop: The Next Cut and churned out over 7.3 million Spotify streams and 1.3 million YouTube views in less than six months. This collection represents the culmination of a wild musical roller coaster ride thus far for Lizzo.

Born in Detroit, she grew up in Houston, TX. Between becoming an accomplished flautist, she spent her formative years rapping throughout high school before joining a progressive rock band at 19-years-old. Influenced by vocalists as diverse as Queen’s Freddie Mercury, The Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Beyoncé, and Aretha Franklin, she smashed boundaries from the get-go—“Crooning in girl groups and screaming in bands.”

Relocating to Minneapolis, MN, Lizzo went from co-founding local underground favorite The Chalice to releasing her 2013 independent solo full-length Lizzobangers followed by Big Grrrl Small World in 2015, which she recorded at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. Along the way, she enamored audiences at Hangout Music Festival, Boston Calling, SoundSet Music Festival, Bonnaroo, in Paris, and beyond, while everybody from Bastille to Prince sought her out for guest appearances.

Working with the Purple One & 3rdeyegirl on Plectrumelectrum’s “Boytrouble” proved life-changing…

“Prince made the transformation in me from a musician to an artist,” she goes on. “When he kept everything I recorded, it gave me so much confidence going into studio sessions with songwriters who have written some of my favorite music.”

Introduced to