“If you a bad bitch, today is your day,” Lizzo states at the end of her new song Birthday Girl. Too right. The return of the twerking, flute-playing beacon of body positivity with her fourth album feels like a party in your honour from the moment you press play.
Many people will think this is the woman born Melissa Jefferson’s second collection. After a couple of albums that marked her out as an unorthodox rapper but didn’t attract the mainstream, she took belatedly to singing and, helped along by the enthusiasm of TikTok users, had her first smash with Cuz I Love You in 2019. Her single Truth Hurts set out the central theme of her music (essentially: “I’m amazing – try to keep up”) and took two years to go viral, but when it did, she rode the wave towards eight Grammy nominations and a rise in profile that makes Special one of the biggest releases of the year.
