Cuz I Love You, the third album by American rapper and singer Lizzo, has a strong message about loving yourself and fully embracing who you are. The album is fun and energetic; Lizzo’s carefree attitude will have you singing and dancing along with every beat. The tracks incorporate many different elements of funk, pop, and R&B, which come together to create a spectacular album.
With each song, Lizzo is able to show off her vibrant personality and humour. Empowerment and self-confidence run through the album, as seen in “Like A Girl.” This song is about living your life the way you want and not how anyone else wants you to: “Got nothing to prove / But I’ma show you how I do.” It is a celebration of women being more than just their physical appearances. Lizzo is changing the phrase “like a girl” to mean something more. You own what you do and being “like a girl” shouldn’t be said with a negative connotation anymore.
The song “Soulmate” doesn’t just have a great beat, but it is also about never lowering your standards. Again, Lizzo is stating that you are your own person, and you do what you want. The witty lyrics of “Look up in the mirror, like damn she the one / I’m my own soulmate / I’m gonna marry me one day” are an enthusiastic party starter. There are so many different levels of volume and colour in these songs that it creates a risky but bold album. The song “Tempo,” featuring Missy Elliott, even explicitly states: “Slow songs, they for skinny hoes / Can’t move all of this here to one of those / I’m a thick bitch, I need tempo.”
In the song “Exactly How I Feel” featuring Gucci Mane, Lizzo is probably her most defiant. She has a message to all her haters out there: “Love me or hate me / Ooh I ain’t changing and I don’t give a fuck.” It will have you dancing away. Featuring Gucci Mane makes it more than just a fun pop song, adding in R&B elements which makes it even more enjoyable.
In Cuz I Love You, Lizzo is fully embracing who she is and telling everyone else to do the same but stating it in a way that sells the message of self-love and hope to the audience. In the past, Lizzo has struggled with body issues, but since then she has become an advocate for body positivity and self-love, especially for plus-sized women.
Lizzo said herself that, “I don’t think that loving yourself is a choice. I think that it’s a decision that has to be made for survival; it was in my case. Loving myself was the result of answering two things: Do you want to live?… Or are you gonna just have a life of emptiness, self-hatred, and self-loathing? And I chose to live, so I had to accept myself.”
There are no downsides to Cuz I Love You. Well, some might say it’s too snarky, but who doesn’t like a bit of attitude? Lizzo has had a slow start to stardom. She has been building her music career over the course of three albums, multiple extended plays, and collaborations. Almost a decade in, Lizzo is finally reaching her full potential.
