Lizzo claimed in November’s Vanity Fair cover story that she doesn’t make music for white people. But the pop star has worked predominantly with white producers and songwriters on her last three albums, partnering on some of her greatest hits with the rock band X Ambassadors, whose members are all white.
In the Vanity Fair interview, Lizzo addressed criticism that her crossover success means her music is aimed primarily at white audiences.
“This has happened to so many Black [sic] artists: Diana Ross, Whitney, Beyoncé.… Rap artists now, those audiences are overwhelmingly white. I am not making music for white people. I am a Black woman, I am making music from my Black experience, for me to heal myself [from] the experience we call life,” she said.
But a cursory glance at Lizzo’s discography reveals she has worked regularly with white producers and songwriters.
Her breakout 2019 album Cuz I Love You was dominated by the rock band X Ambassadors, whose members — Sam Harris, Casey Harris, Adam Levin, (touring member) Russ Flynn — are all white. The band produced and wrote the album’s hit single of the same name, as well as three other songs.
(L-R) Adam Levin, Sam Harris, and Casey Harris of X Ambassadors attend the 2019 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 24, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (John Shearer/Getty Images for dcp)
Other album tracks were also produced by Ricky Reed, also white, and Oak Felder, who hails from Turkey.
Lizzo’s current album Special, which was released this year, features mostly white producers-songwriters, including Ricky Reed, Max Martin, Emily Warren, Ian Kirkpatrick, and Michael Pollack. Some of the album’s producers are black, including Pop Wansel and Quelle Chris.
Ricky Reed (L) and host Lizzo attend Spotify’s Inaugural Secret Genius Awards hosted by Lizzo at Vibiana on November 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Spotify)
Her second album Big Grrrl Small World, released in 2015, also featured a line-up of predominantly white producers — most notably BJ Burton, who wrote most of the songs on the album, and Stefon “Bionik” Taylor, who wrote four.
As Breitbart News reported, Lizzo campaigned for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020, pounding the pavement in her native Detroit as part of the campaign’s effort to drum up early voting turnout among Democrats and turn Michigan blue.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
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