Song of the Day 10/1: Lizzo, “About Damn Time”

I have to admit that before this latest right-wing freak out I had very little idea of who Lizzo was. I heard her name enough to know she was famous, but what little I’d heard of her music didn’t make a deep impression. I like dance music just fine, but at my age I don’t get much opportunity to put it to use.

So the initial headline on this latest Outrage Against America struck me like clickbait from an AI spam generator: “Lizzo Plays James Madison’s Crystal Flute.” I didn’t realize Lizzo studied classical flute as a music major in college before dropping out to become a rapper and songwriter. Hell, I didn’t even know that James Madison had a crystal flute, or that the Library of Congress owned it, or that it was part of its collection of flutes, reportedly the largest in in the world, which includes 17 glass flutes made by the same Parisian artisan as the suddenly-famous Madison instrument.

I guarantee you the freaked-out RWNJs don’t know these things, either, just as they don’t know that the flute has only been the Library of Congress collection since 1941, when it was donated (along with lots of others) by a private collector. In fact, I don’t think it’s really about the flute. Don’t ask me why; just a hunch.

The Library of Congress was excited by Lizzo’s visit and the attending publicity, and I got more curious about her music. While it still sounds like good-time dance music to me, she delivers it with a healthy dose of humor that makes it easy to understand her popularity. Just another hunch, but I suspect that some of the outrage has to do with her being a thick Black chick who’s not afraid to show off her sexuality.

This song, the lead single from this year’s album “Special,” became her second No. 1 hit.