Lizzo is stressing the message of her new song, “Rumors,” telling her fans and haters alike to pay attention to what’s going on in the world.
“Rumors,” also featuring Cardi B, is a song that tells haters to be more concerned about what’s happening in the world and not obsess over what women choose to do with their bodies and free time.
In a video posted Tuesday to Instagram, Lizzo featured various catastrophes happening around the globe as she plays the song’s chorus, “Spending all your time/ Tryna break a woman down/ Realer s*** is going on/ Baby, take a look around.”
Among the disasters featured in the brief clip are the skyrocketing cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the earthquake that devastated Haiti, the wildfires in Turkey and Greece, and the troubling new reports concerning climate change.
“The internet has brought the world together, for better and for worse. Right now there are people in peril,” Lizzo expresses in the caption. “If I can help bring awareness to these issues it’s the least I can do.”
She also linked to several organizations that her followers can donate to and support.
Lizzo later took to Instagram live to call out the backlash she’s received for “Rumors,” telling fans. “We really need to check ourselves for how we treat people… I want this to be a conversation on how we treat people. A conversation on how so much toxicity is rooted in our culture and in the way that we speak to each other and how we can progress and grow from that.”
She added that she will continue to be “transparent” about how she feels if “it is necessary to start a conversation for some progress.”
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