A Lizzo Documentary is Coming to HBO Max
Lizzo has been making music for over a decade, but it wasn’t until recent years that the Houston-bred singer rose to mainstream stardom. Now, her music and her image is inescapable, and she stands as a testament to the power of perseverance. It’s only natural, then, for the “Juice” singer to have her life story examined in a new documentary.
Lizzo has had a meteoric rise to fame
Lizzo first started out playing in bands before launching her solo career in 2013 with her debut album Lizzobangers. She continued her career as an indie musician for the next few years, releasing her sophomore album Big Grrrl Small World in 2015.
Lizzo released her debut solo EP Coconut Oil in 2016, which contained her future hit song “Good As Hell.” She released her song “Truth Hurts” in 2017, but it wasn’t until two years later that it became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Both “Truth Hurts” and her album Cuz I Love You took home Grammy Awards.
Lizzo’s life will be part of a new documentary
Lizzo’s mainstream breakout seemed to have come out of nowhere, but it was only after years of hard work that the public didn’t get to see. In May 2022, Lizzo announced that her life and career up until this point will be chronicled in a new documentary for HBO Max.
The unnamed doc is directed by Doug Pray, executive producer of HBO’s Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine documentary The Defiant Ones, and is due for release in fall 2022.
A press release about the documentary says the film will explore “the journey of a trailblazing superstar who has become the movement the world desperately needed just by being herself. The HBO Max documentary shares the inspirational story behind her humble beginnings to her meteoric rise with an intimate look into the moments that shaped her hard-earned rise to fame, success, love and international stardom.”
Lizzo shared her excitement about getting to tell her story in her own words. “Growing up I never dreamed I’d get to experience all of the things I’ve accomplished in my life, and I’m just getting started. I’m so excited I get to share and relive my journey with my fans and HBO Max,” she said in a statement. “From Cuz I Love You to my dramatic world tour, losing and gaining love, and creating my new album Special, y’all get to see the amount of time, patience, blood, sweat and tears that went into this process. It takes 10 years to become an ‘overnight success,’ and hopefully I can inspire other young creatives to keep going.”
Lizzo struggled for a long time before getting to where she is today
Lizzo spoke about the long and winding road to success in a 2019 interview with NPR. She revealed that she experienced homelessness when she was in her early twenties, staying with friends and even having to sleep in her car.
“I think that I had a luxury and a privilege to be able to sleep on the floor of my drummer’s house, to be able to sleep in a car my sister gave me, to be able to sleep at the studio where my rock band performed, to be able to sneak into 24-Hour Fitness and use the showers there,” she reflected.
