Lizzo used to be fun. For a long time, the now 38-year-old singer-songwriter emitted a vibrant energy but that has lately seeped out of her music. This may be down to any of a litany of reasons that span her musical and personal life, but the result is the same regardless: Bitch is a deeply uninspired album.
Her lyrics, which used to be full of interesting turns of phrase, if occasionally corny or overwrought, are now flat repetitions of previous work. Proclamations of self-love on “That Grrrl” are just recycled phrases from her number one single “About Damn Time” and “Bitch” is just “Juice” with a bad Meredith Brooks interpolation. Even her attempts at humour are much weaker. “Whose Hair is This” is about discovering her partner’s infidelity only for the conclusion to be “oh shit I did have red hair last week” so the whole stress was for nothing. It’s not a punchline that is well set up or even interestingly delivered, simply tacked on to undercut the weight of the emotion.
Maybe if the instrumentation was stronger, it would provide a crutch to some of the weaker lyrics. Unfortunately, several songs sound like ad music that happens have Lizzo singing over it. Sometimes I was half-expecting a verse to smoothly transition into telling me that “our black Friday deals are ending soon”. Her flute playing on “Too nice” and the soaring background vocals “Don’t Make Me Love U” are reminders of the power she has to craft interesting melodies but most of the album alternates between slightly different variations of the same tune.
It’s a shame the album falls so flat because Lizzo is an artist with confidence and skill who has repeatedly shown her ability to craft brilliant throwback pop music. However, despite her prior successes and few moments on "Bitch" where these tendencies re-emerge, the set as a whole is simply a hollow repetition of much better songs. Maybe if Lizzo played the flute more it would’ve made a better album, who knows?
Listen to "Bitch":
