“Rumors” by Lizzo & Cardi B

Lizzo is perhaps the most controversial American pop artist ever in terms of how she looks and behaves. Many people have issues with her weight and more to the point how she tends to shamelessly flaunt it. And the reason we’re bringing this up from the jump is because Lizzo actually begins the song by addressing accusations that she’s “turning big girls into hoes”, i.e. inspiring overweight women to behave in overly sexually-promiscuous manner. 

1st Verse

And as revealed at the beginning of the first verse, it turns out that yes, “all the(se) rumors are true”.

But the verse itself doesn’t particularly focus on fat shaming. Rather the vocalist uses it primarily to detail her social life. For starters Lizzo does present herself as a hoe, if you will, i.e. someone who will sleep with both “him and you”. 

Also she doesn’t seem too keen on having female friends, especially the ones who don’t know how to conduct themselves. But before the verse concludes, Lizzo does touch on the aforementioned topic, stating that after recently “reading sh-t on the internet”, i.e. negative comments concerning her weight, she did go about taking positive action in terms of dealing with her body. 

But overall this song has a don’t-give-AF attitude, which is the idea that the title ultimately boils down to. And she concludes the verse on a humorous note by expressing a desire to sleep with Drake.

Cardi B

Meanwhile Cardi jumps into the mix by referencing a different set of rumors in her own regard, i.e. allegations that she has a “fake a-s [and] fake b–bs”. And yes, those “rumors are true” also. 

But so are the stories of her getting paid as a stripper prior to becoming a rapper. However, she actually uses the meat of the verse to criticize “rumors” as we generally tend to understand the word, as alluding to gossip. 

And in that regard Cardi takes a similar disposition to the one she took in 2019 track Clout, where she basically accuses bloggers of being gossip-churning d–kriders. But that said, she is actually more focused on her successful music career than anything else.

Before closing out the passage, B also speaks to her own well-known ‘freakiness’ and even references a “big girl c–chie”, i.e. a fat woman’s reproductive organ, as Lizzo possesses. And the conclusion she’s leading us to amidst all of this is that she’s going to continue doing what she does regardless of backlash.

The Premise of “Rumors”

And it is the said backlash which serves as the premise of this piece. The way Lizzo explains it in the pre-chorus, the internet or what have you is always ‘trying to break a woman down’. But there are more important things to focus on than, say a female singer’s weight. 

And that said, even in terms of the flesh she has already displayed, well, the haters ain’t seen nothing yet. Or as put forth in the chorus alongside Cardi B, if people are going to keep poppin’ junk, then these are the types of women who will likewise “give them something to talk about”.

So even though Lizzo especially has been dealing with such BS all her life, as indicated in the bridge, she’s currently chillin’ with the likes of Cardi B, espousing “hoes on poles” and living a liberated, edifying lifestyle in general. 

And all fluff aside, this song can perhaps be summed up that with her and Cardi B being musicians, then people should be more concerned with the quality of their music as opposed to how they look on stage.

Facts about “Rumors”

As of the release of this track on 13 August 2021, both Lizzo and Cardi B can be considered A+ list hip-hop vocalists in the game. This would actually be the first single Lizzo has participated on in 2021, after winning a couple of Grammys and a bunch of other awards in 2020. 

Meanwhile Cardi B’s most recent outing was a collaboration with Normani entitled Wild Side (2021), a track that she reportedly went on to diss shortly after its release.

Both vocalists are credited as writers of this tune, as are Nate Mercereau, Theron Thomas, Torae and the track’s producer, Ricky Reed. 

This is the first time that Lizzo and Cardi B have dropped a song together. However, to note, both did co-star on the 2019 major motion picture Hustlers. The said movie centers on a group of strippers.

“Rumors”, which was written during February of 2021, was first forthrightly teased about a week before its release. And the speculation at the time of its issuance is that it will serve as the lead single from Lizzo’s forthcoming forth studio album, of which there is little information available at the moment.

More Facts

Ukrainian director Tanu Muino handled said responsibility for the music video to Rumors. The clip utilizes an Ancient Greece-inspired setting and was further influenced by the 1997 Disney cartoon Hercules, which is also set in that time period. And Cardi B, who is pregnant at the time, appeared very much so in the clip.

For the record, Cardi B is from New York City and Lizzo, Houston, though she was born in Detroit. And at the release of this track they are respectively 28 and 33 years of age.

According to Lizzo, she had been feening to drop a track with Cardi since she first signed with Atlantic, the company behind this song, in 2016. (Cardi B herself signed with the label in 2017).

Lizzo, who reportedly weighs 140 kg / 308 lbs. at 178 cm / 5 ft. 10 in. in height, has relatedly dealt with some backlash in relation to this song’s music video. Having to deal with body shaming is nothing new in the songstress’s career, and she’s even described the overall ordeal that overweight people go through as being a form of systemic oppression. 

However, this time around she appeared especially affected by the negative comments, even crying on social media in the aftermath.