Lizzo Is Facing Terrible Accusations — Is Her Career at Risk?
Lizzo’s career has been on the rise in the past couple of years. She went from being an unknown artist to a household name almost overnight, thanks to a little hit song called “Truth Hurts.”
However, while it seems like Lizzo is at the top of her game at the moment, she could soon be facing huge setbacks. A few people have come forward to make accusations against the 31-year-old rapper that may put her career at risk.
Lizzo’s song ‘Truth Hurts’ has been extremely popular this year
Lizzo released the song “Truth Hurts” in September 2017 about a relationship with problems. However, the track received very little attention when it dropped since Lizzo was not a well-known artist at the time.
In 2019, “Truth Hurts” unexpectedly saw a rise in popularity after it became a meme among young people. One of the opening lines of the song — “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that b****” — went viral on the app TikTok with users posting videos of themselves showing off how they are 100 percent of something.
“Truth Hurts” got even more attention when it was featured in the Netflix movie Someone Great.
It did not take long before the song began moving up the Billboard chart. “Truth Hurts” debuted at number 50 before finally landing on the number one spot in September 2019.
Lizzo has been accused of plagiarizing parts of ‘Truth Hurts’
The iconic line “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that b****” changed Lizzo’s career for the better, but unfortunately, it could also be the line that causes her downfall.
In October 2019, producer Justin Raisen began claiming that he was not given proper credit for helping to write “Truth Hurts.” Raisen stated on social media that he and his brother, Jeremiah, wrote a demo track called “Healthy” with Lizzo in April 2017, which contained the famous line.
Raisen said: “‘I just took a DNA test turns out I’m 100% that bitch,’ was taken from ‘Healthy’ and used in ‘Truth Hurts.’ We were never contacted about being credited for the use of the parts of ‘Healthy’ (melody, lyrics, and chords) that appear in ‘Truth Hurts.'”
According to Raisen, he did reach out to the producer of the song, as well as Lizzo’s team in 2017, but was “shut down every time,” which is why he decided to come forward publicly now.
Lizzo’s attorney responded to Raisen’s claim, saying that neither Justin nor Jeremiah Reisen had any part in writing the song. Her attorney said: “They did not collaborate with Lizzo or anyone else to create this song, and they did not help write any of the material that they now seek profit from, which is why they expressly renounced any claim to the work, in writing, months ago.”
While Lizzo and her team do not support Raisen’s cause, the singer did decide to give credit for the iconic line to someone else. In 2018, a Twitter user named Mina Lioness claimed that she wrote “I did a DNA test and found out I’m 100% that bitch.” on social media, which subsequently went viral.
Lizzo initially denied seeing Lioness’ tweet and claimed that she just saw that line as a meme on Instagram. But in October 2019, she decided to credit Lioness as one of the songwriters since the meme was derived from Lioness’ tweet.
Is Lizzo’s career at risk?
These accusations could no doubt taint Lizzo’s image of being an authentic songwriter, but there is a good chance that she will be able to continue her career.
After all, “Truth Hurts” is not the only song that Lizzo is known for. She has gained some acclamation for her songs “Boys,” “Juice,” and “Tempo.” Her latest album, Cuz I Love You, also charted at number four.
Not to mention, plagiarism accusations happen very often in the entertainment industry. Whether the Raisens’ claim holds up for not, Lizzo seems to have enough momentum in her career to move forward with ease. Plus, she ultimately did the right thing by giving credit to the source of the meme that inspired her.
