- Hi, Lizzo, how are you?
- Hi, I'm [beep] fantastic.
[Jeremy laughs]
I'm [beep] amazing. How are you?
- Great, you look [beep] fantastic.
- Well, I'm wearing you, so [laughs] that's why.
- Beyond that, you look beautiful, radiant.
I love the hair, I love the color,
the little [mouth pops].
- I know, thank you.
Shelby Swain, the Beyonce of BabyHair.
- The best.
So, first thing let's talk about,
where were you when you got the news
about Joe Biden winning the election?
- I'm in Mexico.
I took the month of November,
I've been working on my album
and I've been having a lot of anxiety and stress,
like being in my house a lot.
So I took the month of November to kind of, you know,
go away and kind of change my scenery
and kinda relieve some stress.
So I was in my bed in Mexico and then they were like,
"Did you hear the news?"
And I was like, "I don't wanna be hopeful yet.
I don't wanna be hopeful yet."
And then when they officially announced it,
I was on my way to go on a yacht to celebrate.
Celebrate freedom, yeah.
- [Jeremy] Yeah!
- The beginning of change.
Where were you?
- I honestly was at my house and I had a premonition.
I was in the shower and I'm like,
"Get out of the shower now they're gonna announce it."
And I had no reason why,
'cause it had been so protracted, as you know,
and I just jumped out of the shower,
went to the TV, and within 30 seconds it was announced,
and I was in a towel, dripping wet, then I start crying.
So it's like wet and tears, it was all mixed,
and I was like so euphoric.
- It felt like 30 years!
It was only four years,
but it felt like, that oppression, baby.
So, yeah, there's definitely a new feeling in the air,
waking up being like, "Oh, wow."
Like, I don't know,
it just feels like a new world, doesn't it?
- [Jeremy] Possibilities, possibilities.
- Yeah.
- Thank you for going out there and campaigning
and you used your voice
and I'm so grateful, as a citizen and as a fan of yours
and someone who admires you.
I really, I just wanna thank you
for all the American public
for going out there and doing that.
[laughs]
- I was like, I will do everything.
I will twerk as Auntie Sam [laughs]
if it will put voting in the spotlight this season.
So, I mean, we did what we had to do,
and we definitely succeeded. [laughs]
God, so happy.
- Yay!
- So what we talking about?
We talking about fashion, we talking about clothing,
we talking about the looks,
we talking about the oohs, the ahhs?
- What was your first relationship with fashion?
- I've always been a really jazzy girl.
Like they used to call me that in high school,
like, "Oh she dressed jazzy."
You know what I'm saying? - I love that.
- And I never really realized what that was because
standing out too much in the high school,
you kinda get teased for it.
And I remember I wore these like red pumps
'cause my sister was in fashion school
and they were like, "What is this, a Beyonce video?"
They made fun of me for taking like fashion risks.
I was always like, you know, I just wanna be weird,
like that just that speaks to me.
But I never knew it was like, "Oh, I love fashion."
I never knew it was.
I thought I was just like expressing myself.
It felt right in my body.
So I feel like I've always been this girl,
but I didn't really know how to define it
until I met the right people.
- For me, I hated going to school
because I was like you, it sounds like.
Terrorized from the way I was dressed
and the way I looked
and also people's perception of me being gay,
and that being something that they would pick at, you know?
So I basically went to school just to have a fashion show
'cause I was like, [beep] this.
At the very least,
I'm gonna turn these halls into my runway
and I'm going to wear whatever I want to do
and you know, and just have fun with it.
And my teacher finally said,
"You know, don't you think
you should go to like fashion school and be a designer?"
And I was just like, "Oh, weird.
Like you could make this a job?
Because this is feels like life and normal."
And then I put a portfolio together
and went to New York and the rest is history.
- There was something similar
in the ingenuity that I had to have as a big girl.
Like, because fashion was not available
for like my body type, I had to get creative.
I used eBay.
I will be on eBay.
This is not an ad for eBay [laughs]
but I would be on that whole ordering
like, Gucci t-shirt extra large men's.
And I would order it
and then I would do like the Missy Elliot
and try to like cut the top open
and I would tie it in a little knot
around my little belly and stuff.
And I'd be like, yeah, you know, I just,
if it wasn't made for me, I made it for me.
- Yes, ma'am.
- We have that in common and it hasn't stopped. [laughs]
- I think that you and I are a lot alike
that we're both joy bringers.
How do you like recharge your batteries
and kind of manage the stress
like you were talking about earlier?
You know, how do you do that
to be able to continue to bring the joy?
- I don't. [laughs]
It's manic, it never [beep] ends.
But I'm working on it.
I think, you know what it is for me,
my music is joyful because I write songs
about trying to find the joy.
I'm almost writing songs for the woman I wanna be
and to help me in the future.
Because whatever I'm writing about to seek that joy,
I'm going through it and I haven't sought it yet.
So I think writing is really therapeutic,
and then performing is even more therapeutic.
There are times where I'm like,
I would be crying about the guy I wrote "Truth Hurts" about.
I'd be crying about him before a show,
which is like, [beep] him.
Like way to ruin my- - Now he's crying.
- Now he's crying!
But I'd be sad and then I would get on stage,
and I would start singing "Truth Hurts,"
and I would just start laughing to myself like,
"Girl, you needed this."
And I'm having therapy on stage
and the crowd is just watching me
and I think that's why they feel so invested,
'cause they're having therapy while I'm having therapy.
I don't know who's the therapist
and who is the person talking, who's the patient.
I think music really saved me
and continues to save me.
- I miss, right now,
having shows and the live interaction of people.
And my interaction is so minuscule
compared to how yours is when you're on stage.
I can only imagine.
I long to be able to be with everyone
in a normal way and in a safe way
to be able to share that energy,
'cause it is really real, that sharing of energy.
And it's something that's important for me to do,
but also for me to receive.
- I think that just speaks to like us as entertainers
and us as joy bringers, and us as creatives.
Like, everything is important.
Nothing is trivial.
Fashion can be the vehicle
for a lot of inclusivity in the future.
And including people, including big bodies,
and including black women,
and not only black women's bodies, but their ideas.
Like, I feel like fashion is so indebted
to a lot of black women's culture,
like bamboo earrings and baby hair and graffiti,
and you know what I'm, the list goes on.
And I think it's not just about being like,
"Okay, we put a black girl in it."
But it's like, we put a black girl behind the scenes, too.
We're giving people jobs.
We're putting big women in the conversation.
You know what I'm saying?
It's not gonna be less chic because we're a part of it.
If anything, it's just gonna be more expansive
and more impactful because now, more than ever,
we need everybody's voices to get the point across.
Like, no one can be left out now.
I think that is gonna be really important
for white allyship in the future,
especially in fashion and so on and so forth,
is not feeling shame in who you are,
but just kind of opening up the door
and letting somebody stand beside you
who doesn't look like you.
That is the most important thing.
I don't ever want someone to feel bad
just because they're white,
or feel guilty just because they're white or lame.
I just want you to understand what you were given,
what you inherited in this country,
and then turning and just giving a piece of the pie
to somebody who didn't.
I think that is what inclusivity means to me.
And I think, as long as we're here, baby,
we gonna to make sure people get included.
I believe in us, right?
- I love that. - Let's do a little pump.
[laughing]
I hope that somebody watches this
and they get inspired to do something
or they get inspired to, you know, inspire other people
or to just be themselves, you know?
And to know that if you're not seeing,
then make yourself be seen.
And just be that person
that you wanna see in fashion, like us.
- One of my greatest honors
is when I know that I have inspired someone.
You know, that my life has been some kind of ignition cue
for someone else that that could be,
you know, something where they think,
"Wow, oh wow, he went through struggles
and he had difficulties,
but he still was able to make it.
And I can do that."
Whether they wanna be in fashion or music,
or they just wanna like the best bank teller
that there ever was.
I don't care what it is,
you should just bring all your passion and your energy
to whatever it is that inspires you,
that makes you happy, that can bring joy to you
and hopefully to others.
It has been so much fun catching up with you
and talking about all of this and sharing it with everyone.
So I wanna thank you, my darling Lizzo.
- Thank you, Vogue! We love you!
Thank you, Jeremy.
- Bye, Lizzo.
- [Lizzo] Bye.