For anyone who listens to the radio or watches music television, Lizzo is probably a household name.
For those who don’t know, Lizzo is a pop artist who was born in Detroit, Michigan before continuing to perform her music in Houston, Texas.
She has released three studio albums to date and has had several her songs break as huge hits, songs including “Juice,” “Truth Hurts” and “Cuz I Love You.” Although Lizzo seems to have popped up overnight, the truth is that she has been singing, rapping and performing for quite a long time.
And what many people don’t know is that Lizzo is also a classically trained flautist!
As it turns out, Lizzo has even been posting videos of her flute performances on YouTube for almost 10 years now.
One of those videos was recently uncovered by some online sleuths on a now-defunct channel that the singer used to run. As the clip begins, she explains that she has been snowed in and so she thought it would be fun to perform something to while away the time.
With that, she starts playing “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z, a song that had become a huge hit in its own right the year before Lizzo’s video was posted.
As the song begins, Lizzo raises her flute up to her lips and begins to play.
Although anyone who has seen her music videos or her performances on award shows already knows this, Lizzo’s flute skills are truly unmatched.
From the very first notes, Lizzo does an incredible job of matching the core melody behind the song while effortlessly improvising over it.
Her tone is completely pure and precise and her breath control throughout the whole thing is also something to witness. Although the melodic lines she plays through the verses are impressive, she truly starts to shine when the chorus sung by Alicia Keys hits.
As soon as it does, her playing soars and gets even more complex!
Anyone who is a fan of rap music is sure to find some hidden gems in the middle of the song as well.
Halfway through the second set of verses, Lizzo even plays a few pitch-shifted bars of “Gin and Juice” before diving back into the main melody of the song!
In all, the video lasts for an incredible four and a half minutes. Throughout the entire thing, her playing remains inventive and absolutely precise.
Although this video has only just recently been uncovered, it already has nearly a million views on YouTube.
Although it’s always impressive to see a big star performing in their prime, sometimes its also great to see where they come from.
In Lizzo’s case, not only is she an idol for all kinds of women all over the country, she’s also a classically trained musician who has been working towards her dreams for years and years!
While it’s easy to get distracted by another person’s success, sometimes it helps to be reminded of just how much work goes into making it at the scale that she has. Beyond that, how often do you hear a flute performance that’s as fun as this one is?
Special thanks to Lizzo fans for their online sleuthing and to Lizzo herself for this performance! Check out the full thing in the link below:
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