Lizzo had a career-making year in 2019, releasing new music, touring the world and becoming a viral sensation thanks to her message of self-love and an incredibly tiny purse.
Born Melissa Viviane Jefferson, Lizzo has been performing for years, forming a musical group with her friends as a teenager and later studying classical music at the University of Houston. She released her first album in 2013 and worked steadily, eventually earning a commercial breakthrough a few years later.
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Scroll through to see the star’s biggest moments this year.
Cuz I Love You
Lizzo’s third studio album, Cuz I Love You, arrived in April, and marked her first major label LP. The album contained her singles “Juice” and “Tempo” and peaked inside the Top 5 of the Billboard 200. The project followed her first album, 2013’s Lizzobangers, and 2015’s Big Grrrl Small World. In 2016, she released her first major label EP, Coconut Oil.
Coachella
This year, Lizzo performed at Coachella for the first time on April 21. She has since performed at a number of festivals and multiple major award shows including the 2019 BET Awards, 2019 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2019 American Music Awards.
Her first No. 1
Lizzo originally premiered her song “Truth Hurts” back in 2017, but she re-released it this year on the deluxe edition of Cuz I Love You. It became a massive sleeper hit and earned the 31-year-old her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The achievement made Lizzo the first Black solo female R&B singer to top the chart since Rihanna in 2012.
Cuz I Love You Too Tour
Lizzo kicked off her Cuz I Love You Tour in April, following with a second leg, dubbed the Cuz I Love You Too Tour, that began in September after two dates in July. The tour traveled to North America and Europe and concluded on Nov. 19 in Copenhagen.
To the big screen
The Michigan native appeared in multiple films this year, first voicing one of the SpyGirls in the animated film UglyDolls for her big screen debut. In September, she was featured in Hustlers, playing one of the strippers who worked alongside Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu’s characters.
The purse that launched a thousand memes
In a truly excellent pop culture moment, Lizzo arrived at the American Music Awards in November wearing an orange ruffled one shoulder dress and carrying what is almost definitely the world’s smallest purse, a tiny Valentino micro bag. The bag spawned endless memes and prompted Lizzo to declare on Instagram that it was “big enough for my f—s to give.”
Grammy recognition
Lizzo was nominated for eight Grammys at the 2020 Awards including Best New Artist, 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.” The ceremony will take place on Jan. 26 in Los Angeles.
‘SNL’
On Dec. 21, Lizzo will close out the year as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live‘s final episode of the year and of the decade. She’ll likely perform her current single, “Good as Hell,” which was originally released in 2016 but was re-released this year as a radio single, followed by a remixed version with Ariana Grande in October.
Photo Credit: Getty / Matthew Baker
