Coconut oil is revitalizing and nourishing. Rubbing it on your skin or hair, you instantly feel more confident, somehow happier. And that’s exactly the feeling I had after seeing Lizzo’s tour of the same name last Saturday night. Commanding the stage at El Club, Lizzo popped, sang and played with the crowd along with two velvet-clad dancers and DJ Sophia Eris. Lizzo’s latest release, also named Coconut Oil, is full of feel-good tracks and bops alike.
As her music would suggest, Lizzo is all about loving yourself — confidence is key. I left El Club on Saturday night feeling the best I’d ever felt leaving a show. Lizzo touched on so many areas of self love: personal, romantic, political and emotional. Standing on the stage, flanked by strong women, Lizzo called for solidarity and compassion, both for yourself and for others. The young artist made a point to articulate the challenges she has faced as a woman of color in the music industry. Instead of letting these trials bog her down, Lizzo uses them to fuel her art, creating music that celebrates her skin, her body and her insecurities.
Tracks like “Scuse Me” and “Good As Hell” are infectiously liberating. These songs, both of which are off of Lizzo’s latest release, are exercises in self-care wrapped in sassy pop perfection: “Look up in the mirror, oh my god it’s me / So much Prada on me I’m a prodigy.” They become even more powerful when performed live — the lights, reverberating bass and dancing bodies add to their power. It’s one thing to listen to these anthemic declarations alone through headphones, but it is another experience entirely to hear them blared at you in a room full of people (literally) singing their praises.
Aside from fast-tempoed tracks peppered with rap, Lizzo delivered slower, more intimate songs like “My Skin” and “Humanize.” “My Skin” is Lizzo at her most honest — grappling with her appearance, goals and her place as a woman of color in America’s racial climate. The song is personal without being exclusionary; even those whose experience is not like Lizzo’s can celebrate with her and for her. And I think that’s what makes her music so impossible to dislike — it is compassionate, fun and smart in the purest form. The crowd exiting El Club was buzzing and inspired, all because of Lizzo.