Lizzo has starred in a controversy in networks talking about pop divas. In a clip that is circulating through Tiktok and Instagram, Lizzo states that Britney Spears has been an “imitator” by Janet Jackson and that he has always “recognized him.”
The clip belongs to Lizzo’s recent interview at Sibling Rivalry, the Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change podcast. In context, Lizzo’s statements belong to a conversation about different generations of divas and their corresponding monarchical designations.
Lizzo, who considers Janet Jackson the “Queen of Pop”, again claim the author of ‘Together Again’ after Bob The Drag Queen assures that the queen is Madonna: “We love Madonna, but I have to clarify some things. I said that Janet Jackson is the queen of pop and people threw me on me. I said that because Britney Spears has made an imitation of Janet Jackson (during her career) and has always recognized it: Janet is her diva. There were no pop divas before Janet: she was already famous when Madonna was a child and watched Janet on television. Madonna is the great pop icon, but if she is the queen, where is Janet Jackson? ” Bob The Drag Queen replies that Janet is the “original pop diva”, but then Cher is going up, to which they simply name the “mother.”
Lizzo is right that Janet Jackson has been the main influence of Britney Spears, especially in his role as a dancer. Janet’s claim by Lizzo can respond to the fact that Britney has always been, little successful, compared to Madonna just because both are white and blond women, despite the fact that their styles have been very different. This comparison can be considered racist because he erases the influence of Janet, a black woman, of the conversation about Spears, despite her – certainly – has always summoned Janet among his influences, along with Michael Jackson and Madonna. Although not exactly calling himself “imitator” herself, but professing her admiration.
However, Lizzo loses his ways when he reduces Spears to a simple “imitator” by Jackson, when Spears has been the popular pop prototype of the 21st century and his vocal and musical style have been and continue to be greatly influential. Unfortunately, Spears’s Fandom is responding to Lizzo’s words with chubby attacks that are out of place.
Perhaps it would be successful to name Janet “Queen of the R&B”, because Janet stopped making commercial pop years ago. It is worth that, in the American context, the R&B is also pop, but if absolutely everything is pop, then assigning labels to artists ceases to make sense. Maybe he never had it …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4yezzp0m_k
