When I was born, my father named me Melissa, and I am still Melissa but I got the nickname Lizzo around the time I was in the Cornrow Clique. I'm from Houston, so naturally, everyone dropped the second syllable of your name and just put an "O" there.
LizzoJust about anybody is a big girl in a small world but you gotta believe it on the inside, that you can be bigger than the rest of it.
LizzoI'm going to make music that reflects me and my life now. So I think people who like my music and who listen to me should appreciate change as well, because I've definitely evolved, and that's a great thing, to celebrate that is what music is all about.
LizzoWhen I first saw Destiny's Child, I was in the fifth grade, and it made me want to sing and make music and there would be these freestyles on the radio for what seemed like hours, it was just so cool to me. So all of these influences and these styles started to blend together. Eventually, that evolved into me finding the indie scene in Houston. When I was 19, I joined a rock band, and that's when I began to say, "Okay, this is something that I could take seriously."
LizzoThere's really educated women out there who are feminists and they have read up on their stuff. They can talk to me right now, and school me on some things I've never known, and that's amazing, you are a scholar, you are wise, you are educated. But the unfortunate thing is also the reality, and the fact is, millions of people might not even know who these educated feminists are - hundreds will, thousands maybe.
Lizzo