"It's About Damn Time" for Another Lizzo #1

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 August 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the middle of a long, hot summer 2022, the people have spoken, and the people want to dance. Lizzo's "About Damn Time" just replaced Harry Styles's "As It Was" to become the top song on the Billboard Hot 100. Powered by retro instrumentation, a propulsive groove, meme-worthy lyrics, and a generous dose of slash chords (not the Guns 'n Roses guitarist, the harmonic voicing), Lizzo's hit song marks a deepening of the sound she established in past tracks like "Juice." But on other tracks from her latest album Special, Lizzo aims for new aesthetics. "Coldplay"—featuring a rare Chris Martin vocal sample—opts for emotional honestly over pithy affirmations. With the upbeat "Grrrls," Lizzo found herself in an online controversy: she had used a ableist slur in the song's lyrics. Taking the criticism as an opportunity to learn, Lizzo chose to replace the offensive line—but have other artists of pop's past always followed suit when met with fan feedback? Songs Discussed Lizzo - About Damn Time, Juice, Coldplay, Grrrls Daft Punk, Pharrel Williams - Lose Yourself to Dance Michael Jackson - Rock With You, They Don’t Care About Us Quelle Chris, Chris Keys - Sudden Death Coldplay - Yellow Beastie Boys - Girls, Sure Shot Taylor Swift - Picture to Burn Lady Gaga - Born This Way Orville Peck - Born This Way Ella Fitzgerald - How Long Has This Been Going On Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Switched On Pop. I'm, Musicologist Nate Sloan, and I'm songwriter Charlie
0:16.7	Harding. And I'm producer Rianna Cruz. Charlie, Rianna. Do you know what the number one song
0:21.8	on the Billboard Hot 100 is as of this recording? Does it happen to be Lizzo? Well, about them
0:28.2	I vote with Rianna.
0:44.2	Y'all are exactly right. It's about damn time for another Lizzo single to hit number one.
0:51.2	Charlie, Rianna, I want to break down why this song has risen to the top of the charts. I
0:57.2	want to listen to a few other songs from Lizzo's latest album, Special, and Hear How
1:04.4	Her Sound is evolving. And then I want to delve into one of the controversies that has
1:09.6	come up around this album. I ready to come on this Lizzo Odyssey with me. Let's do it.
1:15.0	I'm on the boat. That's an Odyssey reference, Charlie. I was continuing your metaphor. All right.
1:19.6	Who's telemicus in this situation? You are speaking a foreign language to me. Did it force
1:25.5	you to read Homer in high school? No. The only Homer I know is Mr. Simpson. To begin our
1:34.0	investigation, let's hit play at the very start of this smash hit about damn time.
1:39.9	I don't know about y'all, but I hear this and I feel like, okay, this is kind of a continuation
1:57.4	of the sound that Lizzo gave us on her last album, because I love you. You can compare this
2:02.7	track to one of the hits from that album, Juice. Similar kind of lyrical affirmations,
2:18.4	pithy, memeable phrases. What about the sound? Well, it's that disco funk vibe that has
2:24.7	taken over pop music ever since the beginning of disco, but there's been a resurgence
2:30.8	that I named back to, like, Daphpunks, random access memories. Like, this new Lizzo track
2:36.0	sounds a lot like the opening to lose yourself to dance, which Daphpunk did with Pharrell.
2:51.5	It's got that four to the floor drum groove or relentless bass line. And of course, that
2:57.3	funk guitar we know so well from now, Rodgers. That song, of course, was produced by Nile Rodgers
	...

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