Lizzo just opened up about the disappointing performance of her new album, Bitch.
Bitch was released on June 5, marking Lizzo's first album since 2022 and the first since the fallout after three of her former backup dancers sued her, her production company, and her dance captain in 2023, alleging sexual harassment, religious and racial discrimination, and creating a hostile work environment. Lizzo has denied the allegations, which you can read more about here.
After becoming one of the biggest artists in the world when her 2017 song "Truth Hurts" exploded in 2019, her career appeared to lose momentum quickly. Her mixtape, MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILING, arrived in 2025 to little fanfare, and neither of her two lead singles from her latest album, "Don't Make Me Love U" and "BITCH" made an impression, with both failing to crack the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Unfortunately, the album itself would prove to be similarly disappointing, failing to reach the Billboard 200, with Rolling Stone reporting on Tuesday that it had sold only 2,600 copies in its first week.
The video sparked tons of reactions from people who thought she was trying to look unbothered. One person commented, "Not you trying to convince us you are unbothered." Another added, "Now u trying WAYYY to hard."
Someone else asked, "Is this a dance to keep from crying," while another wrote, "naah this ain't it 😭."
As it turns out, the cheerful video didn't reflect how Lizzo was actually feeling.
During an appearance on the Proto Pop podcast, Lizzo was asked for the "non-PR" answer about how she was doing, and she got incredibly honest.
"I think right now, dropping the album, I took it to heart really heavily," she said. "This is the non-PR [answer], I hurt my own feelings. I was really stressed and really sad for a few days because I just was like, wait a minute. This is some of my best stuff."
She continued, "I had to come to terms with the fact that, not only is the music industry different in the last three years — and we need to talk about that. We need to talk about the radio aspect that I got my ass chewed out for, but it's happening, and it's true."
On the podcast, however, Lizzo acknowledged that her relationship with listeners had changed.
"But also, my relationship and my connection musically with the world is different," she said. "And I think I kind of had to mourn that."
Lizzo also revealed that she tried to make up for what she felt was limited support from her label by promoting the album herself. Her press run included countless interviews and even hanging up promotional posters herself.
"I had all of these high hopes for what we would do the first week, and it didn't match," she said. "I was so excited because I met my pre-saves goal, and I met all of that, and then I dropped, and then I was like, oh okay, this isn't what I thought it would be."
She added, "I didn't think it would be crazy, but I also didn't think it would be this. And I think that there was like 24 hours of my life where I based my success and my worth on a number, and that was soul-crushing. And I had to remind myself."
Lizzo said she also found reassurance in her friend SZA.
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