Deep Dive: Lizzo’s “Fitness”

I may be a little late to the Lizzo party, but now that I am here, I am happily tearing up the dance floor. Lizzo’s songs make me feel so good and powerful, not just because of what she is singing but because it is being sung by a fat, unapologetic woman of color. She is aggressively fat positive in all her lyrics, the antithesis of “I woke up like this” culture. She centers the work it takes to look the way she wants to and be her, talking about getting her hair shampooed and pressed, moisturizing daily, using coconut oil, etc. She performs femininity because she chooses to, not because she gives one shit what anyone else thinks about her.

I think this is particularly evident in the lyrics for her single “Fitness”:

Independent, athletic
I been sweating, doing calisthenics
Booty vicious, mind yo business
I been working, working on my fitness

I been working, working on my fitness

Ooh, work my body like
Ooh, I know you want it like
Ooh, but I don't do this for you

Think about how I'm gonna feel when I step up on the catwalk
Think about how I'm gonna feel when I got that ass that don't stop
That ass that don't stop, that ass don't stop
And think about how I'm gonna feel when I take it all off
But I don't do this for you

She centers herself and how she is going to feel with her joyful movement. She’s imagining herself on the catwalk or naked and how good that is going to make her feel. And just in case you missed it, she makes sure to let you know that she’s not doing it for you. Nowhere does she say anything about how men are going to like her more or she’s going to find love and fulfillment in anyone else but herself. And she never once mentions that she is going to lose a single pound. If that wasn’t enough, Lizzo also says to “mind yo business.” She does not want you in her face congratulating her or trying to get with her while she is sweating and working on her fitness.

I could give example after example like this from her songs, and I just might one day. But for right now, I’m going to turn up the volume on my headphones and do a little chair-dancing to Lizzo. And I don’t care what anyone thinks.