MUSIC

Lizzo Shows What Her Body Can Do on New Video for "Tempo (feat. Missy Elliot)"

In the video, you'll find plenty of twerking, glittering lingerie, and neon lights—and the opposite of shame.

Lizzo - Tempo (feat. Missy Elliott) [Official Video]

Lizzo has graced everyone's Friday morning with her new video for "Tempo (feat. Missy Elliot)."

In typical Lizzo fashion, our patron saint of self-confidence continues to do revolutionary work by destroying fatphobic stereotypes and proclaiming her undying love for her figure and the music that best shows it off when she dances.

"Some songs ain't for skinny hoes," she says, rocking a red cowboy hat and bedazzled lingerie. On a lesser star, it might look performative, like trying too hard to be some kind of body positive icon, but Lizzo's performances always transcend shallow constructs like body positivity or purely appearance-focused joy. Instead, Lizzo focuses her attention on what her body can do—and clearly, her body was made to move.

Missy Elliot's feature takes the song to a new level, placing Elliot's bars over dramatic synths. When they come together with other dancers and start literally defying gravity, somehow it doesn't seem faked. In a way, they've all been floating the whole time.

Lizzo - Tempo (feat. Missy Elliott) [Official Music Video]www.youtube.com

This video's release comes a day after Lizzo told Cosmopolitan that depression nearly prevented her from releasing music,. "The day I released 'Truth Hurts' was probably one of the darkest days I've had ever in my career," she said. "I remember thinking, 'If I quit music now, nobody would notice. This is my best song ever, and nobody cares. I was like, 'F— it, I'm done.'

That dark time was only the beginning of a stratospheric rise to success. "Now the song that made me want to quit is the song that everyone's falling in love with me for, which is such a testament to journeys: Your darkest day turns into your brightest triumph," she said.

Later in the interview, she said that she'd be happy to star on The Bachelorette, under one condition. "The men would have to be naked and they would have to wear little thong briefs and they would have to feed me grapes," she said. Also, "It would be mandatory to get my p---y eaten at least once on the whole season, and it would have to be filmed."

Today, between her radically honest interviews and radiant, twerk-heavy videos, Lizzo is one of pop's brightest and most tradition-bucking stars. Next up, she'll be starring in the stripper-revenge dramaHustlers, alongside Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez, in theaters 9/13.

HUSTLERS TRAILER PREMIERE!www.youtube.com

FILM

"Hustlers" Could Be the Best Movie of the Summer

STX Entertainment is about to rob us of our money and, honestly, I'm okay with that.

JLO STEP ON MY NECK

James Devaney/Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, and Cardi B are coming for our necks, y'all.

After weeks of teasing us, the first full length trailer for Hustlers is here. Watch below:

Hustlers | Official Trailer [HD] | In Theaters September 2019www.youtube.com

The film, inspired by writer Jessica Presser's article, "The Hustlers at Scores," for New York Magazine, is about a group of strip club workers who decide to rob their deep-pocketed, greedy Wall Street clients after the 2008 market-crash. The too-good-to-be-true story follows Constance Wu's character, Destiny, as she looks for a life that allows her to take care of her grandma and "maybe go shopping every once in awhile." After Crazy Rich Asians, Hustlers appears to be the kind of "artistically challenging" role the actress has been looking for. Although, in the trailer at least, Jennifer Lopez outshines the rest of the star-studded cast as the seasoned matriarch of the stripper clan. The Academy should be prepared to finally give the triple threat the Oscar she deserves (Lopez was robbed for Selena. Yeah, I said it).

With Hustlers, writer-director Lorene Scafari—of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist and Seeking a Friend for The End of The World fame—decided to take on real women's stories instead of doing another reboot, and she had very specific stars in mind to make it happen. The screenwriter chased after stripper-turned-rap-sensation, Cardi B, and breakout star, Lizzo, for over a year to get them involved in the project. Before her screenplay was completed, the director envisioned Cardi B in the role of Diamond, elaborating for IndieWire, "I think musicians and singers, performers, they're just naturally very great at timing and rhythm and they just kind of are natural-born actors," She continued, "Lizzo, she comes with so much personality, Cardi comes with so much personality. I wanted to write them characters that showed off their personalities, but I also wanted to make sure that they still felt like they were part of the world and part of the ensemble and that nobody's sticking out and everybody is still existing in the same movie."

In the midst of a summer bummer at the box office, Hustlers gives us hope that the season will end on a high note. Scafaria seems to balance the film's big budget, star-studded appearances with the style and technique of a woman with a vision—and it's a delight to witness. Hopefully, the movie will live up to the trailer.