“Oh my god, I love music!” Lizzo said in response to James Corden asking if she minded if he played some music at the start of her first “Carpool Karaoke.”
It’s a rote question and answer that sets up the bit, but she brought so much over-the-top enthusiasm to her role, it cracked the “Late Late Show” host up and set the stage for what had to be an absolute blast of a taping session.
Lizzo was all smiles and laughs, even ribbing herself when she messed up the lyrics to her own song during the opening lines to “Juice.” Mostly, though, her vocals were on point, as were her dance moves right from her seat.
Those moves got even more intricate when they got to “About Damn Time.” It was Lizzo’s first song to inspire a viral TikTok craze with a dance created by Jaeden Gomez. So, of course James wanted to learn it.
Eventually, they got out of the car and into a park and Lizzo turned it into a bigger production, even including Jaeden herself — which was only right, all things considered. And yes, the recreation joined the throngs of dances already on TikTok.
Elsewhere in the video, James asked her about her name transforming from Melissa to Lizzo and she explained that it was kind of a happenstance going back to high school.
“In Houston, you chop the second half of your name and you put an ‘O,'” she explained, which left her with the nickname Lisso. It was when the kids put some swag on it that she swapped those S’s for Z’s and Lizzo was born.
While she had high moments like that during her school years, like most kids, Lizzo suffered some low periods, too. She explained that it was the music of Beyoncé who helped get her through.
“I would listen to Beyoncé in my bedroom and it would transport me,” she told James. “I would feel something, I would feel like my life is gonna be better, you know, there’s hope for me.”
“When I dropped out of college and I was really depressed, I listened to ‘B-Day’ on repeat and I would say all the time, ‘I’m gonna be a singer, I’m gonna be a singer,'” Lizzo recalled. “The way she makes me feel is how I want to make people feel with music. She’s been my North Star.”
This kicked off a rousing rendition of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love,” with Lizzo riffing epically throughout the piece, and especially at the end. Her love for her idol was evident in that moment, but even more so when James had her believing he was going to call Beyoncé.
If he got her with that one, she definitely got him back even better when she decided to share with him that her thong was riding up so hard she thought it was cutting skin. After she adjusted it — with James dying and avoiding looking beside her — she told him, “I feel like oxygen went back to my brain.”
This was easily one of the funniest few moments we’ve ever seen on a “Carpool Karaoke.” As always, Lizzo keeps it real!
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