Lizzo’s return to the music scene was more complicated than she originally thought.
In an interview with New York, Lizzo shared that several sexual harassment lawsuits and allegations of bullying caused her momentum to slow down.
“I put out those two singles, and it feels like I had a crash course in what putting music out as a pop artist in 2025 looks like, and it’s … interesting,” Lizzo explained. “The industry and the landscape change every year. What worked last year is not going to work this year.”
Upon releasing her album Special in 2022, she knew the “gatekeepers from radio to marketing to media.” But in 2025, she said she was “flying by the seat of my pants” following the release of her mixtape My Face Hurts from Smiling in June.
“Which is crazy because I had three years to plan this s— out, and all of my plans kind of crumbled,” said Lizzo.
“I think I needed to drop those songs so I could subvert that expectation of me because, in turn, it created this new discovery that I really wanted. I wanted people to rediscover who I am and fall in love with her all over again,” she added.
Back in August 2023, Crystal Williams, Arianna Davis, and Noelle Rodriguez, Lizzo’s backup dancers, filed against the “About This Time” singer for “alleged sexual harassment, racial harassment, and for creating a hostile work environment.”
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Lizzo denied all the allegations.
“I am not here to be looked at as a victim, but I also know that I am not the villain that people and the media have portrayed me to be these last few days,” she said. “I am very open with my sexuality and expressing myself, but I cannot accept or allow people to use that openness to make me out to be something I am not.”