Lizzo attained mainstream success with the release of her third studio album, Cuz I Love You (2019), which peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200.

The deluxe version of the album included Lizzo's 2017 single "Truth Hurts", which became a viral sleeper hit two years after its initial release.

Her fourth studio album, Special (2022), was preceded by its lead single "About Damn Time", which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Lizzo the first black female singer since Whitney Houston in 1994 to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

She is also the host of the Amazon Prime Video reality television series Lizzo's Watch Out for the Big Grrrls, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Competition Program.

[6] She was classically trained as a flutist for eight years, from the age of ten until she graduated from Alief Elsik High School in 2006, where she had started rapping.

[17][18] In 2013, Lizzo was one of five artists to form the hip-hop group Grrrl Prty, which released two EPs before playing its final show at Rock the Garden and disbanding in 2016.

[22][23][24] Killian Fox of The Guardian gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying: "At times joyfully nonsensical, Lizzo's stream-of-consciousness rhymes can also be lethally pointed.

[37]In September 2014, Lizzo was featured alongside her Chalice bandmates Sophia Eris and Claire de Lune on the song "BoyTrouble" on Prince's and 3rdeyegirl's album Plectrumelectrum.

[46] "Good as Hell" was released as the lead single from the Coconut Oil on March 8, 2016, as part of the soundtrack for the 2016 film Barbershop: The Next Cut.

Syra Aburto, writing for Nylon, wrote that "like the product it's named after, [Lizzo's] latest project, Coconut Oil, is essential for healthy living.

[51] In May she headlined The Infatuation's annual food festival, EEEEEATSCON[52] and also appeared as a guest judge on the tenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

[54] Highlighting body inclusivity and celebrating individuality, Lizzo appeared in ModCloth's "Say It Louder" campaign, which launched on June 11, 2018.

[64] After inspiring an internet meme on the TikTok video sharing app[65] and being featured in the 2019 Netflix film Someone Great,[66] Lizzo's 2017 single "Truth Hurts" began to gain popularity and was added to the deluxe version of Cuz I Love You.

The single became a viral sleeper hit,[67] and, in turn, increased interest for Cuz I Love You, which remained in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 for several months.

[73] In an interview, she revealed that the initial lack of success for "Truth Hurts"—what she had thought to be her best song yet at the time—caused her to seriously consider quitting the music industry altogether.

[citation needed] Lizzo made her Saturday Night Live debut as a musical guest on the December 21, 2019, episode, which Eddie Murphy hosted.

[107] Lizzoverse, an accompanying immersive cosmic light show experience set to Special, took place in New York City's Cipriani 25 Broadway and was livestreamed on Twitch.

[108] Following the release of Special, "About Damn Time" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, maintaining the position for two weeks.

[109] In February 2023, "About Damn Time" won the coveted "Record of the Year" at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, making Lizzo's first win in the major categories.

Lizzo served as a contributing writer and producer on SZA's critically acclaimed second album SOS, co-writing the song "F2F."

[110][111] On December 17, 2022, Lizzo returned to Saturday Night Live for her third appearance as a musical guest, with Austin Butler hosting.

[121] She partially credits social media, and the Internet in general, for changing the narrative around size and giving visibility to overweight women.

[122] In December 2019, Lizzo sparked controversy at a Los Angeles Lakers game when she danced and twerked to her song "Juice" on camera while wearing a dress that revealed her thong.

[131][132] In August 2023, three former backup dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo, her production company, and her dance captain Shirlene Quigley, accusing them of sexual, religious, and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, false imprisonment, creating a hostile work environment, and weight-shaming.

[138] On September 21, another similar lawsuit was filed against Lizzo and her management team, alleging further inappropriate behavior backstage, including sexual and racial harassment, disability discrimination, assault, drug use, and illegal retaliatory termination.

The plaintiff, clothing designer Asha Daniels, had previously worked with Lizzo on her tour for her fourth studio album Special.

[139] In December 2024, Los Angeles district judge Fernando Aenlle-Rocha ruled that Daniels could not sue Lizzo and her tour manager Carlina Gugliotta as individuals, dismissing all causes of action against both.

However, some sexual harassment and racial and religious discrimination allegations made against Lizzo and Shirlene Quigley, the captain of the singer's dance team, were upheld by the judge.

[141] She donated $500,000 to Planned Parenthood after the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022).

[149] In an article for The Guardian in 2019, writer Leonie Cooper credited Lizzo for "the woodwind renaissance" as "the flute's brightest champion" in the mainstream.