Slow songs, they for skinny hoes
Can’t move all of this here to one of those
So, I don’t even really know how to talk about this album, which is just a towering, thunderous, astonishing, full-throated, full-throttle knock-out punch of pure musical genius. It opens with the title track, which lets Lizzo invoke all of her soul-gospel powers and when the musical backing comes in, it’s a swaggering, bellowing sound, percussive and powerful and devastating. And that’s maybe my least favorite song on the record. It only gets better from there. The album is a grab-bag of genre mish-mash, but every single bit of it works, from the club bangers to the soul anthems to the sexy funk, from the gospel choir to the sultry guitar, from the swaggering kiss-off swagger to the aching heartbreak to the seductive come-on. Lizzo has a powerful diva voice with a big range, but she’s also adept at tongue-twisting patter/rap and no one can sell a funny aside quite the way she can. Jerome has some genuine ache to it, but at one point, she just drops a joke in the lyrics that she’s singing in a very soulful way and then just kind of murmurs as an aside, “I’m sorry.” I was going to say that moments when her personality shines through like this are sprinkled through the album, but really “salted” is a better word than “sprinkled” because they’re all through here. I could probably write a solid two sentences about every song here, but I won’t. Just . . . every song is great. She gets great support from Missy Elliott on one song and Gucci Mane (no, I’m not kidding; he’s excellent) on another, but this is Lizzo’s show from word one and she owns it. The album has a great ending with the deeply sensual Lingerie, as smooth a joint of sexy-time music as I’ve heard in ages, but if you get the deluxe edition, you get three extra songs, including her magnificent single Truth Hurts. If you get the Super Deluxe, you also get her also very excellent single Good as Hell, which was the first time she really popped on my radar. The Super Deluxe, rather unfortunately, ends with the Ariana Grande remix of Good as Hell and, while I’m, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, actually kind of a Grande fan, she’s out of place on this track; her vocal feels lackluster and a bit listless next to Lizzo’s energy. But that’s okay; I still say the Super Deluxe is worth it so you’ll have the original Good as Hell, Truth Hurts and this album all in one place. And believe it or not, you’re still at under 50 minutes with the Super Deluxe. So the album just flies by; but that’s a compliment, not a slam. Even at under 50 minutes, there is more than your money’s worth here; this is pure, concentrated, knock-you-right-on-your-butt musical genius, courtesy of Lizzo. 4 stars.
tl;dr – astonishingly great album proves that Lizzo isn’t a star, she’s a whole constellation, capable of more genius in more styles than a host of others; musical genius in a concentrated form. 4 stars.