Lizzo Moved to Minneapolis After Receiving a ‘Sign’ at SXSW 1 Year
Becoming a pop star takes a leap of faith where hopes for success supersede the fear of failure. For Lizzo, her origin story takes place at South By Southwest in 2011.
The event inspired her to continue to chase her ambitions by moving to the city of Minneapolis. Once she was there, she became a part of the community and became a collaborator with the city’s resident genius.
Lizzo left home to chase an unlikely career
The musician was born Melissa Viviane Jefferson in Detroit. Her family moved to Houston when she was 10. Lizzo’s interest in music began to bloom once she moved to the south. She grew up on gospel music. But Lizzo created the rap group Cornrow Clique in middle school after her friends introduced her to hip-hop.
During this time, she came up with her future celebrity moniker. It’s a remix of her nickname Lissa, which was inspired by Jay-Z’s “Izzo (H.O.V.A.).” She also continued to dive deeper into classical music. The young woman learned the flute and participated in marching bands until she attended the University of Houston.
Lizzo’s college years quickly devolved into a nightmare for her. Her father fell ill during her junior year, and she had to drop out as her family’s finances were strained. Still determined to make it as a musician, Lizzo couch-surfed and lived in her car for a year. She even had a short-lived stint as a food critic while trying to make it big.
This is the point where most people would either give up or fade into obscurity. Despite everything pop culture says about who succeeds in the entertainment industry, Lizzo persisted and became a star.
After becoming part of the Minneapolis music scene, Lizzo went mainstream by creating body-positive anthems that entertained the masses. She gave people with self-image issues tools to help themselves reframe what they see in the mirror.
As of now, she has two hit albums, Cuz I Love You and Special. Some of her most popular singles include “Juice,” “Truth Hurts,” “Tempo,” “Good as Hell,” and “About Damn Time.”
A SXSW lineup convinced her that Minneapolis was the place to be
Lizzo appeared on the Youtube show Hot Ones to discuss her life and career while eating increasingly spicy wings. Early on in the video, host Sean Evans asks Lizzo what makes Minneapolis special for artists. The 34-year-old tells a story about what went into her decision to move there:
“I went to South by Southwest and that particular year, every band I went to see for every show I went to I was like, “Where y’all from?” They’re like, “Minneapolis, Minneapolis,” she recalled. “I was like how is every Minneapolis band here saturating South by Southwest? This is a sign to go and I went, and there are so many incredible rock and music clubs there, so many incredible bands, rappers, performers, [and] singers. You could sell out every venue there with local acts alone in one night.”
While living in Minneapolis, Lizzo performed with two groups, Lizzo & the Larva Ink and The Chalice, before going solo full-time.
Lizzo is the biggest act to come out of that community recently. But the city has a long lineage of great performers with ties to the area. Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, and The Replacements all began there or spent some of their formative years in Minneapolis.
Lizzo developed a real connection to Minneapolis by working with a true legend
But you can’t talk about music from Minneapolis and not talk about Prince. Even after dying in 2016, the artist is a beloved global icon. And his presence in his hometown was always strong.
Prince was known to mentor young talents living in the city. Lizzo was one of the beautiful ones who earned the call-up to Paisley Park. The artist featured her on the song “Boytrouble” off his Plectrumelectrum album with his backing band 3rdeyegirl.
A Rolling Stone profile on Lizzo revealed Prince even offered to produce an album for her. Unfortunately, that didn’t come to pass. But the signs that drew Lizzo to Minneapolis clearly had her best interest at heart.
