On a balmy Sunday evening in West Hollywood, Lizzo did what she always does best: she showed up, told the truth, and sang her heart out. But this time, the Grammy winner wasn’t just slinging vocals and vibes. She was putting a loud, lovely spotlight on Black trans women and their battle for equality.
Speaking midway through her headlining performance at the West Hollywood Pride concert on June 1, Lizzo amounted to a rousing call to action with her words, whipping her crowd into a cheer-fisted and, yes, teary roar.
“This is for you and, most importantly, this is for the Black trans women who fought for me for us to be able to celebrate today,” she said, her eyes dancing over the sea of rainbow flags and glittered faces. “And we still in some s**t, right? But hopefully, there will come a day when we’ll be able to visit a place where instead we fight, we don’t have to fight to exist. This is for you.”
No stranger to using her voice for anything other than melodies, Lizzo let her words hang as the air dropped out before moving into a raw, stripped-down rendition of “Over the Rainbow.” She and a piano were also where the 1939 classic took on a chilling new lifeless fantasy, more delicate hope, and soaking wet with emotion.
With the fierce clarity of message and resolve that made the “Still Bad” singer a popular Snapchat figure, she led a rousing anthem for the crowd: “In the spirit of that fight, we’ve gotta continue to stand up against that very system that is attacking our rights to bodily autonomy and freedom. We ain’t free until we all free.”
That one sentence was like an anthem ringing out, reverberating in a political and cultural climate still grappling with how to treat bodies, particularly Black, queer, and trans bodies.
And for that matter, bodies Lizzo continues to focus the cameras on with unapologetic self-love. Stripping down to just her underwear onstage, she announced a personal achievement, losing 16 percent of her body fat, not with a number but with a sense of reclaiming herself.
“I’ve just seen so many TikToks of like, ‘Lizzo talks about her 500-pound weight loss!’ Why are y’all numbering me?” she complained in a recent interview. “It kind of annoys me.” Her point is clear: she’ll be who she wants to be: no labels, measuring, just truth.
Her performance at Pride was not only a performance but also a statement, a love letter, and a battle cry.
At a time when violence toward Black trans women is disproportionate and systemic, and erasure is the norm, Lizzo’s platform served as a pulpit for visibility and resistance. “Over the Rainbow” hung in the air: This was not just a concert but a celebration of life, a call for justice, and a reminder that there’s no freedom until it belongs to us all.
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