Album Review: "My Face Hurts From Smiling" - Lizzo

Breanna Macomber
2 days ago
6 min read

Lizzo My Face Hurts From Smiling Cover Hurt

Photo Credit: Apple Music

Brace yourselves for this one and buckle up as we are introduced to a very different Lizzo. In so many ways, the artist has grown and transformed all while keeping her infectious self confidence. Everything she's been through is now reflected in her third studio album. Let's dive in.

TRACKLIST:

CRASHOUT

YITTY ON YO TITTIES (FREESTYLE)

JUST 4 FUN

GOTCHO BITCH

STILL CANT FUH (FEAT. DOJA CAT)

NEW MISTAKES

BEND IT OVA

LEFTRIGHT

DROPPIN ON IT

SUMMA SHIT

IRL (FEAT. SZA)

CUT EM OFF

DITTO

Melissa Viviane Jefferson, known professionally as Lizzo, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter and actress. Lizzo was born in Detroit, MI but started pursuing a career in music after college in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After releasing two studio albums, Lizzobangers (2013) and Big Grrrl Small World (2015), Coconut Oil (EP, 2016), Lizzo gained mainstream attention for singles Juice, Tempo and Truth Hurts. Truth Hurts launched into the US Billboard Top 100, two years after being released and became the longest-leading solo song by a female rapper. Lizzo's third studio album Cuz I Love You peaked at number four. Lizzo specializes in multiple genres like hip-hop, soul, R&B and funk-pop giving fans diversity flipping from album to album.

CRASHOUT

The album immediately takes off with the song CRASHOUT. What feels like an extremely intimate moment between Lizzo and herself, CRASHOUT really lives up to the name. The beginning of the song seems like a voice memo Lizzo recorded which gets interrupted by a contagious drum track bringing us right back to what we love so much about Lizzo - energy.

YITTY ON YO TITTIES (FREESTYLE)

The is the second track on the album allows Lizzo to flex her talents by bringing us a song that screams everything that she is. The lyrics in this track touch on the subjects that Lizzo has always had a voice in - self confidence, body image, all while tying in pop culture references like when she says, "Can't even out-dress my Labubu" and making it extremely catchy all at the same time.

JUST 4 FUN

This album is unique in the sense that it feels like each of the songs really just bounce right off of each other which is exactly what happens going into track three, JUST 4 FUN. This song really highlights what we love from Lizzo's upbeat, sarcastic and confident personality as this song surrounds the conversation of how Lizzo is able to steal someone's partner "just because." Lizzo's song writing abilities really shine in this song like this play on words, "You wanna play games? I'm Nintendo."

GOTCHO BITCH

What launches us into the fourth track is a chant saying, "What time is it? Bootytime" which brings us back to Lizzo's greatest trademarks. This track is something that feels like old school rap while mixing in hints of modern rap that we've been branching into. One of my favorite qualities of this song is the call and response aspect in the beginning which you can tell will be a great trait to have while singing it live.

STILL CAN'T FUH (ft. Doja Cat)

What makes this album even more unique than the last handful that Lizzo has put out are the features like Doja Cat being in this next song. This song brings almost a lullaby feeling to the lyrics and the piano accompaniments. The lyrics bring out an aspect of dating that it doesn't matter what you think you are entitled to, consent is consent. The music on this song are much more trap leaning as well which pairs really great with Doja's voice.

NEW MISTAKES

Nothing I love more than when either rock songs or rap songs take a melody that we know and love but they put their own spin on it. Lizzo took the tune of Beethoven's Fur Elise and managed to turn it into a trap song. It truly brings out the musicianship in her especially since she leans more classical in terms of training from school which is where she learned to play the flute.

BEND IT OVA

The music of this track take us right back to the 80's hip hop scene. Using technology to create fun and quirky sounds to add texture to a song feels like something I haven't heard in a long time but Lizzo does such a great job at incorporating them in this song. This song brings such a simple element too. While every other song has really been big sounding and produced, this one feels a lot smaller in that sense.

LEFTRIGHT

Lizzo was really leaning into the call and response technique in this album and another song that has this feature is this track. This song immediately takes listeners to recess as the tone of the song gives off the vibe that kids would jump rope to. Most of this album flexes Lizzo's rapping skills where in the past we've known her for her singing. This track gives us a little taste of her singing voice which we've been missing.

DROPPIN ON IT

A classic R&B/rap song - it feels like there's not much more to say to that. The beginning feels magical with all of the instruments debuting. What really tips this song over the edge, personally, in terms of transitioning from trap/rap music to R&B is the keyboard. The tune of the keyboard in this song really captures older R&B music allowing this song to stand out so much more on its own than other songs on the album. Pairing this with fun lyrics helps elevate the song overall.

SUMMA SHIT

Probably the next best song in terms of R&B sounding songs from this album is this track right here. The vocals in the beginning of the album give us those vocals that we're missing from Lizzo in this album all while nodding to her roots in R&B. Paying homage to the name of the song, it gives a really chill vibe that captures a perfect chill summer night. It has all the elements for a summer hit like a groovy melody, easy vibe and overall just captures the essence of summer.

IRL (FEAT. SZA)

This track feels like a song we need right now. It's one that preaches about how you can be one thing on social media but who are you really in real life? This feels like a common thing we see amongst younger people where they're trying to keep up with the social media persona's but in real life they're miserable. It's not a brand new conversation either - as we've been having it since the early 2000's when we started introducing social media as a more accessible thing. In this song, Lizzo flexes on who she is in real life and how she's not afraid to be that either. This song also features SZA who also has had just an amazing year in music and also whose voice just flows so easily on this track.

CUT EM OFF

One of the things that I think we tend to overlook with most musicians is how truly fun their personalities can be. Lizzo really took the world by storm a handful of years ago by not shying away from who she really was as she comes across as a perfect entertainer. In the beginning of CUT EM OFF, Lizzo is heard sarcastically commenting on how she's terrified of people who are commenting mean things about her before throwing herself into a song with a great topical message. What I love most is the intro to the song when she says, "If you're looking for a sign" since a lot of us typically know when someone should be out of our lives - we just can't pull the plug on them.

DITTO

The last track on the album really sums up the album in its entirety. What feels sort of like a diss track to whomever - Lizzo seems to be reflecting a lot on her past specifically in the music industry and the struggles that have come along for her. The part of the song I love the most is how she changes up the rhythm and how she really seems unbothered by these other people if they don't like her. Going out with a flare in the most Lizzo way possible, Lizzo's confidence at the end shine's through when she says, "It's a Lizzo summer."

Overall, the album has key elements that are bringing Lizzo back to her roots which is what I think every great artist has to do every now and then. It allows them to be brought back to what got them started in the first place. With Lizzo's new album, she was not only able to bring back elements of R&B, hip hop and trap music all in one album, she also was still able to give us the confident, no BS side of her which we've missed. She touches on such great subjects while really mostly focusing on the theme of taking toxic people out of your life and just staying in your own lane.

Written By Breanna M.