How Body Positivity helped Lizzo become Time's Entertainer of the Year 2019
31-year-old American singer Lizzo was named the 'Entertainer of The Year 2019' by Time Magazine. The singer who became hugely popular for her activism on body positivity is a plus-size woman herself. Lizzo actively uses her agency on social media to spread her message of self-love and self-kindness. She is known to not shy away from looking attractive and sensual, which is her way of swimming against the tide in a society that worships women who subscribe to smaller body ideals.
Lizzo was born in Detroit, Michigan, she moved to Houston, Texas where she began performing. She began her career as a recording artist in Minneapolis. She released two studio albums—Lizzobangers (2013), and Big Grrrl Small World (2015). The unabashed singer truly rose to fame in 2019 when she attained mainstream success with the release of her third studio album, 'Cuz I Love You' The album featuring hit singles "Juice" and "Tempo" peaked inside the top five of the Billboard 200. The deluxe version of Cuz I Love You included her 2017 single 'Truth Hurts', which became a viral and topped the Billboard Hot 100 two years after its initial release. During the same time, her 2016 single "Good as Hell" also climbed the charts, reaching the top ten of the UK Singles Chart and the Billboard Hot 100.
Lizzo has been nominated for Best New Artist and received eight nominations at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for the deluxe version of Cuz I Love You and Song of the Year and Record of the Year for "Truth Hurts".
Speaking about her advocacy on body positivity on the occasion of being named Entertainer of The Year, Lizzo said " I've been doing positive music for a long time. Then the culture changed. There were a lot of things that weren't popular but existed, like body positivity, which at first was a form of protest for fat bodies and black women and has now become a trendy, commercialized thing. Now I've seen it reach the mainstream. Suddenly I'm mainstream!"