Three years ago, Lizzo was on top of the world, selling out arenas across Australia as part of her Special world tour. Now, her newly released fifth studio album, BITCH, is heading for a disastrous debut. The star herself has offered reasoning for why her career has dramatically waned in popularity.
BITCH was released last Friday, and early signs internationally are not good. In the UK, where her last album Special was a silver-selling number six hit in 2022, the early midweek chart shows BITCH looks set to miss the top 100 entirely. In its first 24 hours of release, BITCH received just 633,914 streams worldwide on Spotify across all 12 tracks. By contrast, Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department currently holds the record for most first-day Spotify streams, with 313 million.
One social media user mused, 'Lizzo not having a fanbase is so weird to me when this woman was literally selling out arenas not even 2 years ago. Like, where did those people go?' Lizzo responded, arguing that she was a 'radio darling' hurt by the shift to streaming, as well as weathering an 'attack' on her career. She wrote, 'I actually can answer this: the industry changed so much in the last 3 yrs. Streaming replaced radio & I was a radio darling. That’s how my fans discovered my music. Not to mention the very obvious & public attack on my career changed things. But I’m out here doing my absolute best and u can’t knock a bitch for that.'
Lizzo did not elaborate on the attack, but she may have been referring to a 2023 lawsuit by three former backup dancers alleging sexual, racial, and religious harassment, creating a hostile work environment, and fat-shaming. The accusers dropped all fat-shaming allegations in December 2025, but the suit is ongoing as Lizzo refuses to settle and vows to clear her name.
Not everyone was convinced by Lizzo's explanation. Critics pointed out that she broke through in the streaming era. One person tweeted, 'Streaming replaced radio over a decade ago. What are you talking about?' Another noted, 'The biggest recent shift is the focus on TikTok, which is how Lizzo got most of her hits.'
Reviews for BITCH have been poor. Rolling Stone gave it two and a half stars, calling it 'tired moves and cynical appeals to the streaming algorithm.' The Guardian gave it two stars, writing that 'Lizzo still sounds lost amid these weak genre-hopping songs' and wondering if 'perhaps the zeitgeist has simply left her behind.'
Lizzo's last major worldwide hit was the 2022 single About Damn Time, a US number one that won Record of the Year at the 2023 Grammys. Her earlier success came from viral hits like Truth Hurts (2019) and Good As Hell (2016), which gained traction on streaming platforms and TikTok.
