“It's also the best music she's ever made.”
“Three of the weirder years have passed since Lizzo’s breakthrough album Cuz I Love You. Still, the former Melissa Jefferson seems blithely unaffected: Special sounds like it could’ve been released the week after. As ever, the US singer-songwriter’s good-egg energy suffuses the set, and her accessible, disco-tinged pop is taken to another level by her wonderful way with words. Lizzo takes a rapper’”
“joyful superstar uplifts with self-assured, self-empowering bops”
“Special doesn’t necessarily break new ground for Lizzo or deviate too far from the pop persona presented in Cuz I Love You, but sometimes it’s ok not to mess with a great thing. Amid the undeniably catchy pop are moments of vulnerability that populated her previous efforts as well.”
“As the relentlessly positive artist ascends to pop culture ubiquity, her hook-filled and saccharine music feels increasingly boxed in by the Lizzo brand.”
“When Special isn't coming across like a motivational poster it's pretty good.”
