Yahoo Movies Lizzo thanks Beyoncé, says she skipped school to see her during Record of the Year Grammys speech
Lizzo may have just won Record of the Year at the 2023 Grammy Awards, but she's dedicating the award to those who have inspired her along the way.
The singer, who received the golden gramophone for her feel-good anthem "About Damn Time," called the win "unexpected" and became emotional while thanking two legendary artists — Prince and Beyoncé — during her moving speech on Sunday evening.
"Beyoncé, in the fifth grade I skipped school to see you perform. My sister, she got me out of school — It was literature, I'm good," she joked. "You changed my life. You sang that gospel medley and the way you made me feel — I was like, 'I want to make people feel this way with my music.' So thank you so much. You clearly are the artist of our lives. I love you!"
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Lizzo thanked Beyoncé for 'changing my life' during Record of the Year acceptance speech.
Earlier in her speech, Lizzo noted that Prince, who died in 2016, has long served as a guiding light throughout her accomplished musical career.
"When we lost Prince, I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music. I was like, 'I don't care if my positivity bothers you, what's wrong with you?'" she said. "And this was at a time when positive music and feel-good music wasn't mainstream at that point, and I felt very misunderstood. I felt on the outside looking in."
Still, Lizzo said, she didn't let it bring her down "because I wanted to make the world a better place so I had to be that change," adding, "And now, I look around and there's all these songs that are about loving our bodies and feeling comfortable in our skin … and I'm just so proud to be a part of it."
"I like to believe that not only can people do good, but we just are good. We are good, inherently," she continued. "And anybody at home who feels misunderstood or on the outside looking in like I did, just stay true to yourself because I promise you, you will attract people in your life who believe in you and support you."
Unlike Song of the Year, which pays tribute to songwriters, Record of the Year celebrates the artist's performance as well as the producer(s), recording engineer(s), and/or mixer(s), and mastering engineer(s) who all helped to develop the song that's been delightfully stuck in our heads ever since. With the win, Lizzo becomes the first Black woman to win Record of the Year since Whitney Houston won for her rendition of "I Will Always Love You" in 1994.
The full list of this year's Record of the Year contenders were: ABBA's "Don't Shut Me Down;" Adele's "Easy On Me;" Beyoncé's "Break My Soul;" Mary J. Blige's "Good Morning Gorgeous;" Brandi Carlile feat. Lucius' "You and Me on the Rock;" Doja Cat's "Woman;" Steve Lacy's "Bad Habit;" Kendrick Lamar's "The Heart Part 5;" Lizzo's "About Damn Time;" and Harry Styles' "As It Was."
The 65th Grammy Awards aired live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
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