Steep thesis: It is impossible to leave a Lizzo concert in a bad mood. When the singer is wheeled up onto the stage through a hole at the beginning of her show in Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena, she beams at the audience as if she’s greeting old friends she hasn’t seen in years.
All the more appropriate that she begins the concert with the song “The Sign”: “Hi, motherfucker, did you miss me? / I’ve been home since 2020 / I’ve been twerkin’ and making smoothies, it’s called healing /And I feel better since you seen me last,” she sings, winking at the crowd. She wears a tight-fitting neon yellow glitter bodysuit, her eyelids are decorated with red dots. Outfit and make-up are perfect. When she then plays her latest single “2 Be Loved”, the whole room dances.
Lizzo preaches intersectional feminism and body positivity in everything she does
For two hours, the four-time Grammy winner plays a mix of all her hits, including “Good As Hell”, “Juice”, “Cuz I Love You”, “About Damn Time” and “Truth Hurts”. As you know from Lizzo – whose name is Melissa Jefferson – she doesn’t just leave it to her lyrics to plead for more self-love: At one point in the show she asks everyone in the audience to close their eyes and the mantra “I love you, you are beautiful and you can do anything” to repeat with her. At other times, she’s going through the tiers of the arena, personally addressing the fan who reflects the most energy back into her – even prompting a young man in the front row to do a little twerk.
Lizzo preaches intersectional feminism and body positivity in everything she does. This can also be seen in her accompaniment on stage: not only her band, but also the background singers and countless dancers are exclusively young black women of all body shapes and sizes. “Where my big girls at?” Lizzo calls out to the audience at one point in the show. Everyone screams. “And where is my wonderful LGBTQI+ community?” The crowd goes wild. Later she strikes more serious tones. “I had a little time today and took a tour of your beautiful city,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot. There was some stuff I didn’t know. If a city knows how terrible division and division can be, then it’s you, Berlin.”
It’s about being genuinely yourself without justifying your existence
The most interesting moment of the evening, however, was when Lizzo out of nowhere intoned “Du hast” by Rammstein, complete with a red laser and light show and imitation Till Lindemann voice. The brief interlude not only caused cheers and laughter among her fans, but also once again confirmed one of Lizzo’s greatest talents – not always taking herself too seriously. That’s exactly what distinguishes Lizzo’s sometimes soulful, sometimes hip-hop disco-pop from other music of the current zeitgeist: It’s about being yourself without having to justify your body, your soul, your existence . The implementation is sometimes very American and sometimes even a bit cheesy – but above all it’s just fun.