Lizzo, the queen of positive body image, has a new accomplishment under her belt. The “Good As Hell” singer presented a TED talk in which she explained the history of twerking and its ties to Black culture.
Lizzo is known for her ability to play the flute, dance, dance while playing the flute and unabashedly twerking in leotards that highlight her butt. But, according to her TED talk, she was not always as confident about that part of her body.
“I used to hate my a**, believe it or not,” she began. “I have my father’s shape and my mother’s thighs, so it’s big and long. I used to think that only a**es like J.Lo’s or Beyoncé’s could be famous. I never thought that could happen to me.”
To what does she attribute the change in her self-image? Twerking.
Lizzo said she first learned to twerk at a teen club in her hometown of Houston, TX. The dance was new to her at the time, but in her adulthood, she took the time to research its origins and found that twerking is inextricably linked to Black culture by way of African roots.
“Modern-day twerking derived from Black people and Black culture. It has a direct parallel to West African dances like Mapouka,” Lizzo explained.
“Black people carried the origins of this dance through our DNA, through our blood, through our bones. We made twerking the global cultural phenomenon it became today,” she continued.
For Lizzo, the twerk is not just a dance. It is a part of Black culture and a revolutionary act for larger women who have been left out of sexuality and sensuality as defined by society.
“I twerk to own my power, to reclaim my Blackness, my culture. I twerk for fat, Black women because being fat and Black is a beautiful thing,” she said.
In the end, Lizzo drove home one of the most powerful points by reminding the audience that Black women are and will always be the blueprint.
