Dear Women Everywhere: Listen to Lizzo

Dear Women Everywhere, 

Throughout my short life, I have struggled with loving myself so fully and wholly that no one could take it away from me. I have had beautiful and undeniable moments where my self-love was so high that everyone around me felt it radiate off of me. In those moments, I was a kind, compassionate and confident woman who stood so tall and proud. 

Yet, I gave people the power to take that away from me. I allowed people to deny me of my right to be who I am and my right to simply love to the maximum ability. I gave a boy the ability to tear down who I was. I gave him the chance to tell me that I cannot be confident in what I wear or who I am, and it was the saddest thing I have ever done in my life. 

I gave him this ability until I really began to listen to Lizzo. 

Cheesy right? Listening to an up and coming artist is what sparked my reminder to love myself? Who am I if I can’t even remind myself to love me. 

Before you jump to any conclusions, this is the most honest piece of advice I can give any woman anywhere: listen to Lizzo. 

Lizzo is a woman who, like myself and many others, has struggled on the path of self-love. Her lyrics are a testament to her struggle, and they are so powerful that one can’t help but to glow with the confidence that radiates out of them. 

Take her song “Good as Hell” for example. Throughout the song, she talks about leaving a man who does not love her and cannot see her for what she’s worth. Lizzo sings, “If he don’t love you anymore, just walk your fine a** out the door.” 

Ladies: Have you ever decided to stay with your significant other because it was comfortable or because you thought he could love you better? I get it. Trust me, I do, because I was that woman. I stayed with a man because he promised he would change and could do better. 

Hearing Lizzo tell me that I should leave him because he didn’t love me — that sparked the confidence in me to fight for myself. 

Moreover, in “Heaven Help Me,” Lizzo sings, “Got me, it’s the only thing I’ll ever need.” There is so much truth behind that statement. If you love yourself as much as you are capable of doing so, you won’t ever need anything else in your life. You won’t need someone else to love you. You won’t need someone else to make you feel any way. 

Of course, any discussion of Lizzo would be incomplete without the song that drove her to stardom, “Truth Hurts.” In this empowering breakup song, the artist proudly proclaims “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that b*tch.” 

Let me ask you a serious question: Can you listen to and sing along with that line without actually feeling like you are 100% that b*tch? It’s impossible. 

Lizzo’s lyrics have given me the opportunity to look at myself in a different light. Why would I ever allow anyone, let alone a man who does not know my worth, tell me that I should be any different than who I am? 

Why should I ever doubt myself and stop loving myself for any reason? I am the only person I will ever need. I have me and I am enough. Every woman everywhere should feel that same exact way. You are enough and you should love yourself so wholly and fully for that reason and that reason alone. 

So to all women everywhere: If you need a moment to boost your love for yourself, if your self-love ever starts to dwindle or if you feel like you need to be reminded that you are 100% that b*tch down to your very DNA, then turn on Lizzo and blast it. 

She would love to remind you of who you are. Lizzo would love for you to love yourself. So would I. 

• female empowerment
• lizzo
• self-love