Lizzo has shed light on the inspiration behind her upcoming album, and said that The Strokes were one of the bands she had on her “mood board”.
The singer made the comment during a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, and spoke about what fans can expect from her forthcoming fifth album ‘Love In Real Life’. It marks Lizzo’s return to music since her 2022 LP ‘Special’ and her fifth studio LP.
She announced news of the album when she previously released the LP’s title track as the lead single last month, and has since gone on to drop the unapologetic song ‘Still Bad’.
Now, talking about how the title track reflects the sound of the album as a whole, Lizzo has explained that the indie disco sleaze element came from one band in particular.
“The Strokes were just such a huge inspiration. The Strokes were on the mood board for ‘Love in Real Life’,” she told Lowe. “I had been writing since like October 2023, wrote a lot of shit. Then I think I had a turning point in early 2024 with ‘Love in Real Life’.
“I wrote that song and was like, ‘Whoa, this is it. Erase, scratch everything we did’… Starting with ‘Love in Real Life’ is the track one. That’s where the rest of this kind of happened,” she added.
“I always hear stories about artists finding their sound and finding the sonic [in their] album or the project […] This time I really feel like I was sonically focused on a sound. The way that we found it was just, I was like, ‘Wow, I’m one of them now’. I can tell this story. I was so excited to tell you this story seven months ago when we were finding this sound.”
Later in the interview, Lizzo also explained how she came up with the album title, and explained that it came when she realised how much more integral real-life friendships are compared to those through social media.
“I think that real life is the only place that love exists,” she began. “I think that I have mistaken the gratification that you get from social media as love. Because there was a time [where] I wasn’t reaching out to the people who were closest to me or I was in isolation, in desolation, in certain times of my life. The internet was the only place I felt seen and appreciated.”
“I think when it stops becoming that safe space and it becomes a very toxic, destructive place, your sense of self-worth gets destroyed as well,” she added. “I had to discover in the past two years, one and a half years, that as good as it feels to be praised online and to be loved by people through a screen, the real love happens when you are in the real world connecting with people.”
These comments come after Lizzo broke her silence in December on the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against her in 2023, claiming that she “did nothing wrong”. She had been sued by three former dancers who claimed to have been subject to sexual harassment and a hostile workplace environment while on tour. The singer denied the claims and said the situation had left her contemplating quitting the music industry.
At the time of writing, no official release date for ‘Love In Real Life’ has been confirmed. A press release, however, has shared that “This chapter is all about love, life, and Lizzo.”
Lizzo’s last album, ‘Special’, was given a four-star review from NME, which read: “Perhaps inevitably, given Lizzo’s overwhelmingly positive message, ‘Special’ is sometimes a bit cheesy. Still, it’s cheesy in a way you won’t want to resist. “Is it your birthday, girl? / ‘Cause you lookin’ likе a present,” she sings on ‘Birthday Girl’, a song that practically marches you to the bar and orders you a shot of Tequila Rose.
“On this evidence, Lizzo knows exactly who she is as an artist and what she wants to achieve: she’s the bad bitch with an incredible talent for making people feel good.”
Later this month, the artist is set to perform at New York City’s Irving Plaza on Saturday (March 15) and at Minneapolis’ MN First Avenue on Tuesday (March 18). You can visit here to purchase tickets.
