"She was famous when Madonna was a kid" — Lizzo explains why she believes Janet Jackson is the Queen of Pop
During a recent interview, Lizzo explained her reasons behind dubbing Janet Jackson the "Queen of Pop" in the past, comparing her with her peers like Britney Spears and Madonna. For context, Lizzo hailed Jackson as the "Queen of Pop" in an X post in August 2021, garnering backlash from netizens who claimed the title belonged to Madonna.
Lizzo appeared on the April 1 episode of the Sibling Rivalry podcast with former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change, where she reiterated her stance on why she crowned Janet Jackson as the "Queen of Pop" in the past.
She compared Jackson to Britney Spears, claiming the former invented "pop divas" and accusing the Toxic singer of doing a "Janet impression." She also claimed that Jackson had been in the industry since Madonna was a child, saying:
“I have to really clear up some s**t up. Because people came for me on the Internet because I said Janet Jackson is the Queen of Pop. I said Janet Jackson is the Queen of Pop. Here is why I said Janet is the Queen of Pop."
She continued:
"Britney Spears is doing a Janet impression, and she said it. Janet is her diva. There were no such things as Pop divas before Janet. Janet was first. She was famous when Madonna was a kid watching her on television,” Lizzo said.
"She was just first" — Lizzo about Janet Jackson
During her recent appearance on the Sibling Rivalry podcast, Lizzo proclaimed Janet Jackson was the "Queen of Pop," adding that she was the first to do so as she "invented this s**t." She also praised Madonna for her contribution to pop music, admitting that the Material Girl singer "birthed a generation."
“And I’m just putting it out there. It’s not because someone is better than the other. She was just first. And, she is Janet. She invented this s**t. Now, Madonna is the Pop icon, and I love Madonna. And we can’t refute her influence and what she’s done for pop music and for all of the divas. She birthed a generation.”
This was not the first time Lizzo praised Janet Jackson. In August 2021, the Truth Hurts singer took to social media to rank several artists in their genre of music. She crowned Michael Jackson as the "King of Pop" and Janet Jackson as the "Queen of Pop," with Beyoncé as the "Queen of Music."
Additionally, Lizzo recently took to X to call out people for harshly belittling Black women after facing criticism for her comeback song Still Bad. The singer compared the criticism she received to the backlash faced by her fellow artists like Janet Jackson, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston, writing in an X post on March 18:
"The way this world treats black women is sickening… blacklisted Janet and now 20yrs later yall calling her music “cute black girl bops” & giving her flowers… Dogged Whitney for her love life & called her a drug addict for laughs but now yall wanna honor her Yall laughed at Tina’s abuse and never let her forget… The least protected person in America…"
In another post, Lizzo claimed that people were "triggered" by "seeing and hearing a black woman make real music with radical joy," adding that she was following in Janet Jackson's footsteps.
In other news, Lizzo released her new single, Still Bad, on March 13. The singer is also gearing up for the release of her upcoming album, Love in Real Life, however, she has not announced a release date as of this article.
