Lizzo earned the coveted Record of the Year honor at the 2023 Grammy Awards on Sunday, and it was “About Damn Time!”
The singer joyously took the stage and accepted the award by saying, “Let me tell you something. Me and Adele are having a good time just enjoying ourselves, rooting for our friends. This is an amazing night, this is so unexpected.”
Lizzo then dedicated her award to the late artist Prince. “When we lost Prince, I decided to delicate my life to making positive music. I was like, ‘I don’t care if my positivity bothers you — what’s wrong with you?'” she said with a laugh.
“Positive and feel good music wasn’t mainstream at that point and I felt very misunderstood,” she continued. “I felt on the outside looking in, but I stayed true to myself because I wanted to make the world a better place. So I had to be that change to be a better place. And now, I look around and there’s all these songs about loving our body and being comfortable in our skin and feeling f—ing good and I’m just so proud to be a part of it!”
Lizzo concluded with advice to others who might feel “on the outside looking in,” as she did: “Just stay true to yourself because I promise you, you will find people, attract people in your life who believe in you and support you.”
After thanking her family, Lizzo then stopped to give Beyoncé a very special shout out.
“In the 5th grade I skipped school to see you perform,” she said, as the Renaissance superstar beamed back at her. “My sister, she got me out of school. (It was literature, I’m good!)”
“You changed my life,” she continued.
“You sang that gospel medley and the way you made me feel… I was like, i want to make people feel this way with my music, so thank you so much.”
The speech resonated with the audience so much, they gave her a standing ovation, and host Trevor Noah declared, “They should give out a Grammy for best speech!”
Released in April 2022, “About Damn Time” marked the first single off Lizzo’s Special album and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Upon the song’s release, the 34-year-old singer-songwriter spoke to Apple Music’s Zane Lowe about its inspiration.