Lizzo Wanted to Start ‘Special’ With a ‘Super Dark, Moody’ Intro

When Lizzo first dropped “About Damn Time,” the first single off her fourth album Special back in April 2022, fans were more than ready. They’d spent years at that point in anticipation of more from Lizzo, whose signature body-positive, life-affirming, self-empowering music no doubt got many through the complicated last few years. As it turns out, grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic is also what gave Lizzo the opportunity to work for three years delivering Special, an album that has Lizzo’s vision front and center. And she made a lot of changes along the way.

Initially, Lizzo wanted something “super dark [and] moody” to open ‘Special’

Lizzo recently appeared on the YouTube series Hot Ones, where she was asked some questions about the genesis of Special. When the host, Sean Evans, asked if she always knew she wanted to open the album with the joyfully NSFW initial bars of the album’s first track, “The Sign,” Lizzo laughed and replied:

“No, I actually wanted to start the album with like a moodier…like, I had this song I wrote, and I was singing. It was a ballad on violin, and there was no drums, like, super dark. And then I was going to be like, y’know, this is the intro, and then,” Lizzo paused briefly before bursting into the opening to “The Sign” — “Hi m***********!”

Lizzo began ‘Special’ with ‘The Sign’ to match her redefined vision

Rather than give in to the dark and moody orchestral grand opening, Lizzo chose to jump right in with “The Sign,” a playfully real song about weathering the last few years (including quarantines, dating woes, and new-found at-home hobbies) with a “yeah, I’m still that b****” attitude, as she reminds us on the track. It sets the mood for the album that follows, a veritable tour de force of Lizzo’s grand vision for a world where everyone dances, loves themselves and believes in the power of supporting one another.

All of those themes can be found in “The Sign,” making it one of the standout tracks on the album. As Lizzo points out, this change actually made it more like the “fanfare” and “in-your-face” emotion of a “classic Lizzo intro.”

‘Special’ is aptly titled since it is full of unique bops

As for choosing her lead single, Lizzo didn’t automatically come upon the viral TikTok hit. “‘About Damn Time’ was the last song I wrote for the album,” she revealed. “I was turning in my masters in March⁠—I wrote ‘About Damn Time’ in February!” Lizzo said that initially, she wasn’t super into the track because it wasn’t quite “there yet,” but that when she finished it and all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, she realized “I need this song to come out right now,” adding that the world needed the sentiments she was trying to drop on us with that song exactly when we got them.

Lizzo had a few years to work on this album and it shows both in the quality and emotionality of the tracks that made the cut. Banking on the success of “About Damn Time,” the album’s July drop was a resounding success, earning the album a No. 1 debut on Billboard.

Other standout tracks include the universally relatable “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready),” the fire dance track “Everybody’s Gay,” the Mark Ronson-produced “Break Up Twice. There’s also “Coldplay,” about which Nylon writes that despite it being a “risky move…Lizzo and producer Ricky Reed make [their sample of Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’] work in more ways than one.” No doubt that ‘Special’ is the gift that keeps on giving.