Lizzo Is Rested, Restored, and Ready to Rumble on ‘My Face Hurts From Smiling’

***

The last decade of Lizzo’s career has been a microcosm of the modern American fame arc.  The Houston-raised MC/singer/songwriter/flautist has gone from Prince-cosigned cult phenomenon to bona fide pop star to full-on backlash recipient and workplace-harassment-suit defendant, a process given extra intensity by the always-on news cycle and the constant hum of social-media chatter. While she’s had her successes — she’s accumulated chart-topping singles, Grammys and an Emmy, a shapewear line, and a nascent acting career — the highs and lows take a toll.

As she told Rolling Stone, there was only one way for her to get out of her head: She had to get in the studio and work on music on her own terms. Over a two-week period, she took time out from making the follow-up to 2022’s Special and busted out a hip-hop mixtape. While hip-pop cuts like the fizzy anthem “Juice” and the summer-song kiss-off “Truth Hurts” showed off Lizzo’s dexterity with hooks and rhymes, My Face Hurts From Smiling is all about swagger, from the double-middle-finger salute Lizzo flaunts on its cover to its closing declaration, “It’s a Lizzo summer, bitch.”

In May, Lizzo laid some verses atop the Atlanta rappers Pluto and YK Niece’s viral hit “Whim Whammiee,” a pumping cut with a playful braggadocio and a glittery Zaytoven-produced beat. Lizzo’s additions promoted her clothing line (“Bitch, it’s summer, we outside, put some Yitty on your titties,” she orders), shouted out Labubus and Kendrick Lamar’s “N95,” and flaunted her sexual prowess in unbridled fashion. Getting back in touch with her hip-hop roots — and receiving raves — inspired her to dig in deeper and craft a mixtape, a form that allowed her and her collaborators — including longtime producer Ricky Reed—more space to play.

The raunchy, high-energy My Face Hurts From Smoling, which clocks in at just over half an hour, starts off with a bang — or, really, a “Crashout”: “We outside, ho! We outside!” her friend and former groupmate Lexo taunts as Lizzo big-ups her ability to go “through the bullshit, turn it to a boppin’.” That idea, where the only way out of a rough patch is through music, persists throughout the tape, with Lizzo sending fire in the direction of her naysayers and reveling in how unstoppable the idea of complete creative freedom makes her feel. “Just 4 Fun” pairs schoolyard taunts and trap snares with Lizzo in high-speed mode, stealing a girl from a Call of Duty-glued mark and kicking another hapless game-player to the curb; “Bend it Ova” is a giddy bedroom romp set to a sparse beat that’s part roller-rink jam, part abstract vocal art. Doja Cat drops in for “Still Can’t Fuh,” which combines chopped-up gospel choirs with a withering assessment of a man who doesn’t quite measure up, while SZA adds heat to “IRL,” a call to touch grass—“I can’t let no comment section ever fuck with my vibe,” Lizzo declares.

Lizzo’s return to her roots and willingness to get dirty might surprise some of the listeners who came to her in the wake of her 2019 breakthrough Cuz I Love You. But her overwhelming charisma was a large part of what helped propel her ascent of the charts all those years ago, and on the frothy, bawdy My Face Hurts From Smiling she sounds newly energized — and ready to rumble with all comers.