CD: Lizzo - Cuz I Love You

Cuz I Love You starts with a big, bold, black-and-white soul moment, an album title hauled from the heavens via the lungs of an extraordinary pop star. It’s a stunning rush of feeling from Lizzo, the Minneapolis-based singer and rapper, alone in the spotlight before a brass band kicks in.

Sure, the “you” of that opening track could be a third party – someone whom she promises, in a delicious deadpan, to “put on a plane” and “fly out to wherever I am” – but the “you” of the album’s title is Lizzo herself. She is “crazy, sexy, cool … with or without makeup”; she’s “like Chardonnay, get better over time”; she’s her “own soulmate”. Package it up with an image of the singer fully nude and you have yourself the self-love album of the summer, one that is rooted in its creator’s identity but with hooks so catchy they will bring joy to anybody who needs a pep talk.

You could argue – as some have – that late capitalism has stripped self care, body positivity and empowerment of their radical roots, like Lizzo’s “woke up feelin’ like I just might run for president” rap is focus group-spun to sell T-shirts and bath bombs. But the self-love on display in Cuz I Love You is a hard-won thing: the vulnerability of “Heaven Help Me”, on which she spits out her secret confessions between thrilling choruses, showing where she has put the work in; or the way she unapologetically hollers, "this big girl gotta cry".

Besides, who among us doesn’t see herself punching the air and screaming out the “Like a Girl” payoff at some festival this summer? Who wouldn’t develop an inadvertent spring in her step with the bouncy “Juice” in her headphones? Identity politics aside, there’s a phrase or hook on every single track that hits the spot. Missy Elliott-featuring “Tempo” is tremendous fun, drawing out Lizzo’s cheekier side, and while her other big-name collaborator Gucci Mane doesn’t quite work the same magic who could blame him?

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Below: listen to Lizzo's "Juice"