So very ’Special’: Lizzo shares “hidden” love for Radiohead growing up

Thom Yorke famously wished to be “special” on Radiohead‘s breakout hit “Creep.” Perhaps that’s what inspired Lizzo to name her new album Special.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the “Truth Hurts” artist shares that she was a big Radiohead fan growing up. However, that wasn’t something she was eager to share with her friends at the time.

“It was a Black school, mostly Black and brown, Caribbean, I had Nigerian friends,” Lizzo explains. “They were all listening to what was on the radio: Usher, Destiny’s Child, Ludacris, and I was into Radiohead’s OK Computer.”

Lizzo adds that she kept her Radiohead fandom hidden so that she wouldn’t be “made fun of by my peers.”

“I wanted to be accepted so bad; not fitting in really hurt,” she says.

In addition to her love for Radiohead, Lizzo says she sang in a “very Mars Volta–influenced” prog rock band when she was 19 or 20.

While Radiohead may not have actually inspired Lizzo’s Special, the album does include a tribute to another English band with its closing song, which is called “Coldplay.”