Lizzo Is the First Black Woman To Win the Grammy for Record of the Year in Nearly 30 Years
Since Whitney Houston in 1994.
Lizzo is making history. The singer won Record of the Year at the 2023 Grammys, making her the first Black woman to do so in almost three decades. Prior to her, Whitney Houston had won in that same category in 1994 for her rendition of “I Will Always Love You.”
Lizzo received the prestigious award for “About Damn Time” and thanked two of her role models — Prince and Beyoncé — in her acceptance speech.
“When we lost Prince, I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don’t care if my positivity bothers you, what’s wrong with you?’ And this was at a time when positive music and feel-good music wasn’t mainstream at that point, and I felt very misunderstood. 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 make the world a better place.”
She continued, “And now I look around and there’s all these songs that are about loving our bodies and feeling comfortable in our skin and looking good, and I’m just so proud to be a part of it because in a world where there’s a lot of darkness, I’d like to believe that not only can people do good, but we just are good. We are good inherently. And anybody at home who feels misunderstood or on the outside looking in like I did, just stay true to yourself because I promise you, you will find people. You will attract people in your life who believe in you and support you. I wanna thank y’all for believing in me and supporting me.”
Check out her full speech above.
