Lizzo has reacted to her new album ‘Bitch’ failing to chart.
- READ MORE: Lizzo – ‘Special’ review: joyful superstar uplifts with self-assured, self-empowering bops
The Grammy-winning singer released her fifth studio effort two weeks ago, on June 5, but made headlines when it failed to crack the top 100 charts in both the UK and the US.
It marks a decline in popularity from Lizzo’s previous album, ‘Special’, which peaked at Number Two on the US albums chart in 2022, and reached Number Six in the UK.
Lizzo’s 2019 major-label debut ‘Cuz I Love You’ – her third album overall – also peaked at Number Four in the US, and Number 30 in the UK. Her hit track ‘Truth Hurts’ also reached Number One on the Billboard Hot 100.
Now, she’s responded to the commercial failure of the album after being asked to give a “non PR” reaction during a new interview on the Swiftologist podcast. “I was really stressed and really sad for a few days because this is some of my best stuff,” she said.
“I had to come to terms with the fact that not only is the music industry different – we need to talk about the radio aspect – but also my relationship and my connection musically with the world is different. And I think I had to mourn that.”
Lizzo went on to say that SZA called her to comfort her after the album’s release. “Thank God for Solána, she called me and was like. ‘You’re on my mind.’ I was like, ‘Am I a failure?’ and she was like ‘Oh my god, no!’ – she’s so sweet,” she recalled.
@theeswiftologist Lizzo gives me the non-PR answer. First episode of Proto Pop drops tomorrow 👀 ✨ @lizzo #lizzo #swiftologist
Lizzo tells the Swiftologist that SZA called her after new album ‘B*TCH’ failed to chart on Billboard 200:
“Thank God for Solána, she called me and was like ‘you’re on my mind.’ I was like ‘am I a failure???’ and she was like ‘oh my god no!’ — she’s so sweet.” pic.twitter.com/oCjfmWWbEZ
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) June 27, 2026
Shortly after releasing ‘Bitch’, Lizzo also responded to claims that she no longer has a fanbase. This follows the huge success of her previous LP and subsequent arena tour (including two sold-out shows at London’s O2), as well as a massive Pyramid Stage slot at Glastonbury 2023.
“The industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs,” she wrote. “Streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things.
Lizzo had previously hit out at the “racist” and “fatphobic” algorithms for “destroying the music industry” and hampering her album promotion.
“Back in the day, which was maybe even just five years ago, we used to get things chronologically,” she wrote.
“Music marketing relies heavily on social media, but now, ever since the algorithm has been showing us things out of order, there’s actually no way to successfully promote an album where everyone knows your album is coming.”
It’s also been suggested by some that her failure to crack the charts stems from a series of controversies surrounding her in recent years.
A lawsuit was filed against Lizzo in 2023 by Arianna Davis, Crystal Williams and Noelle Rodriguez, who made allegations of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment during their time working with the singer between 2021 and 2023.
Lizzo has denied all of the allegations. She recently vowed to keep fighting the lawsuit brought by her three former backup dancers, claiming that “the truth is less salacious than the headlines”.
In October 2023, Lizzo described the suit as a “fabricated sob story” and filed her own motion asking the court to dismiss it, alleging that the dancers had shown a “pattern of gross misconduct”.
Last month, Lizzo acknowledged her new social media promo strategy surrounding ‘Bitch’, saying she’d been “interacting with a bunch of stan accounts lately”. She retweeted a post about how she was “actually succeeding in getting people to talk about her again”.
But the star ended up telling fans to “grow up” after they accused her of throwing shade at Taylor Swift. Lizzo insisted that she’d “never talked shit about any artist”, and denied bad-mouthing Olivia Rodrigo.
In other news, Lizzo appears to have addressed criticism from Nicki Minaj on the alternate edition of ‘Bitch’.