Lizzo has hit back at claims that she has spoken disparagingly of Taylor Swift, calling the accusation outright false and telling her critics to “grow up”.
The controversy began on May 22 when an X user posted a comparison of streaming numbers Taylor Swift’s latest album The life of a showgirl alongside Drake’s latest triple release, set against Lizzo’s 2025 mixtape MY FACE HURTS FROM SMILE.
The post contained a clip from Lizzo’s STFU music video. Lizzo retweeted it and asked her followers what it meant.
When one user responded by claiming that the numbers showed that “everything you didn’t talk about Tay finally caught up with you,” Lizzo was having none of it.
“Are you okay?” she replied.
“First of all I’ve never talked about Taylor Swift – also while we’re on the subject I’ve never talked about any artist. Just because I mention an artist by name doesn’t mean I’m talking about me growing up pls.”
The irony is that the evidence points in the other direction when it comes to Lizzo’s feelings about Swift.
A few days before the exchange, in the May 15 episode of Genius confirmedLizzo was promoting her new single B*TCH and drew a direct and affectionate comparison to Taylor in the process.
The track introduces Meredith Brooks’ 1997 hit of the same name, and Lizzo wanted to make sure the original artist got her flowers, a decision she very deliberately framed as channeling Swift’s approach to ownership and credit.
“You know what it’s like, ‘Taylor’s Version?'” she said. “It’s like ‘B*tch (Lizzo’s version).'”
Admiration goes back even further.
In an appearance in 2022 The Breakfast ClubLizzo jokingly called herself “Black Taylor Swift,” pointing to their shared habit of drawing on personal relationships and heartbreak as creative fuel.
“I’m Black Taylor Swift,” she said. “I really am, I don’t care.”
She went on to describe how she approaches writing about exes in a way that felt recognizably Swiftian, noting the experience without completely destroying the person’s reputation.
None of that suggests a woman with an ax to grind. And now she has said as much herself, in no uncertain terms.
