Lizzo, “Special”

“Hi, motherfucker, did you miss me?” The good time hits as soon as Lizzo comes in with the first lyric on her new album, Special.

“The Sign” kicks off a record that will instantly bring you back to the summer of 2019, when Lizzo first took over the charts with “Truth Hurts,” “Good as Hell” and every other song from her breakthrough album, Cuz I Love You.

She’s already had success this year with feel-good, funky and poppy lead single “About Damn Time,” currently floating around in the top 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It’s been able to maintain momentum like her 2019 hits—at least better than 2021 standalone single “Rumors” with Cardi B. But still, it takes the full scope of Special to really remind us why she’s such a great artist to have in our lives—especially with everything that is 2022. 

Her aim with Special, as in her life and career, is to encourage people to express all kinds of love. For friends and family yes, but especially self-love. And indeed, love is smothered all over the album. She wrote some 170 songs for the project over the span of three years, then pared it down to the 12 best and most necessary. Lizzo made a collection of songs that’s fun and overwhelming encouraging, and honestly, it’s really hard to find a fault with it. If you do, you either despise feel-good music or ignore what pop culture should be.

Sisterhood empowerment is in effect full force on “Gurrrls,” which has a short, two-minute, bouncing Cuz-I-Love-You- style beat with a repetitive “woah” throughout the chorus. Later, Lizzo eloquently makes a micro-sample of Lauryn Hill’s “Doo Top (That Thing)” on “Break Up Twice.” Taking just the line “Boy you know better/ Watch out” for her chorus, she delivers it in a balladeering R&B style than the melodic rap quality of the original. It catches your attention for just a moment before she moves on to reminding herself not to take lame guys back.

Meanwhile, “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” recalls the funky, poppy, disco-influenced beat of “About Damn Time.” It’s lively during the chorus, with call and response lines by a choir: “You gon’ figure it out.” “That’s what I’m talking about.” The choir works to both back her up and boost her ego. It has to be inspired, at least in part, by Lizzo’s boyfriend, Myke Wright, a relationship with which she recently went public after months of hints.

We know it’s Lizzo, so even when she does kitschier things, we can easily forget and vibe to what many other singers might just look embarrassing doing. Take “Birthday Girl,” which begins with horns. In the song, she sings about how there’s always a bad bitch whose birthday is worth celebrating. “Is it your birthday girl?/ ‘Cause you looking like a present,” she yells during the hook. During the bridge, a series of voicemail-like recordings come in with women listing off their birthdays and astrological signs. It’s somewhat tacky, yes, but Lizzo somehow makes it outright celebratory.

As good as of a time as Lizzo has, she remembers to layer calmer, vocals-focused tracks. “If You Love Me” has a casual pop feel, created by an array of horns, drums and guitars. Her voice moves effortlessly between light and then deep lines. Then on “Naked,” she sings strongly over a light acoustic arrangement that sounds like “Lingerie.” She plays around once more on “Coldplay,” which samples that band’s iconic track “Yellow.” Her voice peaks and helps express her love for the memories of a partner. “My love is you (and everything you do),” she sings. 

There’s plenty of material here for Lizzo to replicate the success she saw with Cuz I Love You. If bad American news cycles continue to persist and as the summer warms the country, we may be hearing Special for a while. It could be a hell of a lot worse.

Follow Domenic Strazzabosco at Twitter.com/domenicstrazz and Instagram.com/domenicstrazz.