What really happened to Lizzo’s career?

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Since releasing her fifth album in early June, the pop star Lizzo has been on something of a tear.

After reaching eye-watering success with hits like “Truth Hurts” and “About Damn Time,” the four-time Grammy winner’s latest effort has dropped with a thud, reportedly streaming under a million times on Spotify within the first 24 hours of its release, selling fewer than 3,000 copies in its first week according to Rolling Stone and failing to crack the Billboard 200 in the first two weeks.

Once ubiquitous in the culture — as much for her full-on embrace of self-love and body positivity as for her infectious anthems — Lizzo is now relegated to “what happened to her?” status.

On social media, the 38-year-old pop star has offered her own theories as to why her album, the provocatively titled “Bitch,” is failing to break through, while also appearing to push back on haters. “The algorithm-based way that social media functions now is destroying the music industry,” she said in a TikTok posted on May 12, addressing why some may not have even been aware she was dropping a new album just weeks later. “If your algorithm is super serving you things out of order of when they’re happening, then the general public has no idea when music is actually coming out.”

But a lot of other people have thoughts, too.

“It was never our intention to take down a woman of color,” said Noelle Rodriguez, one of three dancers who filed suit against Lizzo in 2023, a moment that severely challenged the singer’s public image. “It was never an intention to take down a plus size woman of color specifically.”

Rodriguez and her co-claimants — Arianna Davis and Crystal Williams — levied accusations of sexual harassment, body shaming and a hostile workplace against Lizzo, as well as her production company Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc. (BGBT) and a person described as “dance cast captain.”

The three women have not spoken about their suit against Lizzo beyond interviews when it was initially filed in August 2023 and came together recently to talk exclusively with CNN.

They are watching this moment with mixed emotions. On one hand, they feel disappointed and traumatized following what they allege happened after they were hired for a job they felt was important, particularly as women with bigger bodies. On the other, they say they are determined to see the case through.

Their intention, they insist, was not to hurt their former boss, but rather to hold her accountable for the values she has publicly portrayed herself as holding.

“I don’t really think it’s our place to discuss or even have an opinion on how her career is going at this point, when that wasn’t even our reason for filing in the first place,” Rodriguez said. “It was never a smear campaign. It was never to take somebody down. I think if anything, in retrospect, I’ve actually had some sadness in the fact that it has impacted her career.”

Lizzo’s attorney Melissa Glass said in a statement that the claims made in the suit “have no basis in reality.”

“Not a single witness has come forward to support their allegations,” the statement read. “In fact, their claims were refuted by 18 witnesses, including most of the other dancers on ‘The Special Tour.’” Glass added, “we are confident that Lizzo will prevail in the case.”

Lizzo has other defenders.

Chawnta’ Van, who first danced with Lizzo in 2019 and worked with the three women who filed the lawsuit, said she felt “blindsided” and “heartbroken” by the allegations as she thought everyone on the tour “were all in this together, but apparently not.”

After the suit was filed, Van said plans for all future performances with Lizzo ground to a halt.

“As a dancer, we’re the lowest paid. We work gig by gig, literally,” said Van, who was connected to CNN through Lizzo’s attorneys. “So when all this stuff came out and everything got canceled, it was really hard.”

A new moment

When Lizzo burst on the scene in 2019, it seemed to herald, or at least symbolize, a new moment. Here was this force of musical prowess and personal charisma, living unapologetically as herself — and being celebrated for it. As a plus-sized Black woman, she inspired millions — and also saw her body unfairly used to litigate the issues of the day. She faced enormous scrutiny — and fought back in kind, like when she didn’t take criticism about her backside-bearing outfit causing a stir at a Laker game in 2019.

“It doesn’t really matter what goes on on the internet, nothing really breaks my joy,” she said at the time. “I’m a really solid, grounded person, and I know that I’m shocking because you’ve never seen — in a long time — a body like mine doing whatever it wants to do and dressing the way that it dresses and moving the way that it moves.”

The claims in the lawsuit — which included allegations that the dancers felt pressured in going to nude shows and interacting with performers— stand at odds with Lizzo’s public image and message. “I feel like her whole brand, aside from body positivity, was positivity in general — uplifting women, especially uplifting women of color and just, you know, being kind to one another, being kind to yourself,” Williams said in an interview. “Her entire message and platform and her brand was the entire opposite whenever doors were closed, whenever we were in private meetings.”

Lizzo has denied the accusations. Shortly after the suit was filed, she posted a statement on social media calling the allegations “false” and “as unbelievable as they sound.”

“I know what it feels like to be body shamed on a daily basis and would absolutely never criticize or terminate an employee because of their weight,” Lizzo wrote.

In the three years since it’s been filed, the lawsuit has been inching along, with both sides trading briefs and appeals, Ron Zambrano, a lawyer for the three women, said in an interview. Last year, a judge threw out the accusations of body shaming following a motion from Lizzo’s team that argued that events like the nude show outings were protected free speech as part of the creative process. Zambrano and his clients are currently waiting for a date from the California Court of Appeal to hear oral arguments.

Speaking to the “Today” show, Lizzo said she declined to settle the suit because “I’m a woman who is not afraid of the truth coming out, so I’m continuing to fight.”

Vibe shift

Many fans were taken aback by the lawsuit and in the aftermath, the singer took breaks from social media. When she re-emerged in 2024, she was slimmer but still happy to show off her body, first in a sheer Jean Paul Gaultier black-and-white dress and later on social media.

The same year, Lizzo said in a social media video that she was no longer vegan, having discovered that adding things like egg white cups and grilled chicken helped her feel better and achieve her weight loss goals. She went on to record a version of the “Baby Back Ribs” jingle for Chili’s, appearing in an ad playing a rib-shaped flute.

The turnaround has been striking. In a 2025 essay on Substack, Lizzo wrote that she began losing weight in 2023 after she became the “subject of a vicious scandal” that left her feeling depressed. “I needed a way to process my pain through my body, so I started with Pilates,” she wrote.

“I was sick and tired of my identity being overshadowed by my fatness. People could not see my talent as a musician because they were too busy accusing me of making ‘being fat’ my whole personality,” she wrote. “I know that my story isn’t unique. I know that women in bigger bodies, especially black women in bigger bodies, have had this working against them since forever.”

During a recent appearance on the podcast “In Your Dreams With Owen Thiele,” Lizzo took exception to celebs she felt had gotten too thin, which struck some as a “weight loss for me, but not for thee” moment from a woman who has long complained about others commenting on her body.

“I don’t have criticism for the artists or these people who are losing all this weight as much as I have criticism for the system convincing them that their bodies aren’t good enough,” she said.

To the women who are suing her, the seemingly defiant woman who sometimes says and does things that seem to contradict her public persona is the person they came to know.

“It wasn’t the weight loss that’s kind of made her abandon her fans. She kind of abandoned them from the beginning,” Williams said. “You are starting to see it a little bit more, but this is who she’s been since day one, sadly. So I don’t think this is something new. This is her genuine character at the core and at the heart.”

“What’s complicated about Lizzo is Lizzo did make her body size part of her brand,” said Tigress Osborn, executive director of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). There’s also the fact that Lizzo is a Black woman, the activist said.

“What Lizzo got was the magical Black friend dynamic,” Osborn said. “That Hollywood trope about like the magical Black friend who’s going make your life bigger by inspiring you and helping you.”

Now not only does Lizzo have an allegation of fat shaming lingering from her past, but she herself is no longer as deeply relatable to the plus-sized community with her body transformation.

“If you want your fans to relate to you as a person, then you have to be a person, not a brand,” said Osborn, who is clear that people have a right to be whatever size they wish. “If you want your fans to relate to you as a brand, then brand loyalty ends when the brand changes.”

Having worked with Lizzo since 2020, keyboard player Lynette Williams insisted the weight loss happened because the singer “just wants to be healthier.”

Lynette Williams, who is herself plus size and was also referred to CNN by Lizzo’s attorney, added: “It’s not about trying to conform to what society thinks.”

She also thinks the suit played a larger factor in the low sales for Lizzo’s latest effort. Of the music itself on the album, she said, “I think it’s fire.”

Dreams dashed

Watching Lizzo’s re-emergence has been harrowing for the three plaintiffs. They say they have not chosen to listen to her music.

The three dancers had been overjoyed when they joined Lizzo’s troupe, excited to show that “big girls” had the moves to match their curves.

Davis said dancing for Lizzo — her “first professional dance job out the gate” — was her “dream job.”

“I was like, this is amazing,” Davis said. “And then to have the actions play out the way they did was really devastating.”

Like Crystal Williams, Davis had been a contestant on Lizzo’s Amazon reality show “Watch Out for the Big Grrrls” which centered around the star finding plus-sized dancers for her tour.

Rodriguez was a more established dancer and had appeared in the 2021 music video for Lizzo’s single “Rumors.”

The events of the past few years have impacted their careers. They worry about their reputations. Rodriguez, who has shifted more into acting, said she’s considering going back to school and pursuing law because of the experience. Crystal Williams said that, like their former employer, they are eager for the facts to be heard.

“We want chance and an opportunity for her to be held accountable. We want the facts to come out, we want evidence to come out,” she said. “We want to be able to address the truth just as much as she does. So we’re ready to see it through.”

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