Lizzo is positioning herself as a throwback artist who values craft over virality—her new album 'Bitch' dropped just days before the interview, and framing herself as a serious musician in an era of distractions reinforces her artistic credibility.
The timing of this interview is suspiciously convenient: Lizzo's first album in four years dropped June 5th, and the Drink Champs clip aired June 6th. Some online are calling it a calculated rollout move dressed up as reverence for musical legends.
"How lucky are we to be able to experience or have experienced or witness the kind of artistry that Michael Jackson and Prince gave in real time? This is Mozart-level s–t." — Lizzo, Drink Champs interview (June 6, 2026). Her new album 'Bitch' arrived on streaming services June 5, 2026.
Whether you buy her reverence or see it as album-release posturing, Lizzo's take is generating heat—and that's probably exactly what she wanted two days after dropping her first project in four years.
Lizzo just delivered the kind of interview clip that's already living rent-free across social media—and honestly? She didn't hold back. During an appearance on Drink Champs that dropped Saturday (June 6), the Detroit native was pressed to pick between two musical titans who've been compared for decades: Michael Jackson and Prince.
Her response? A firm no, followed by a sprawling monologue about why neither legend will ever have an equal. The "Truth Hurts" artist made it clear she wasn't playing favorites.
"How lucky are we to be able to experience or have experienced or witness the kind of artistry that Michael Jackson and Prince gave in real time? This is Mozart-level s–t," she said, before doubling down with a jaw-dropping prediction: "In 150 years, people are still going to be talking about these artists." But it was her explanation for why modern performers can't touch that legacy that's already sparked fierce debate online.
Lizzo pointed directly at the digital age as the culprit. "It's not even possible to be that great anymore," she declared. "We got too many cell phones, too many distractions.
What they had was working at home on their craft." She then offered a vivid image of the dedication required: "Do you know the blisters and the bleeding that you have to have on your fingers to play guitar the way Prince played guitar? That comes from hours of sitting and just playing. Like, that's not going to come to you after going viral on TikTok." She didn't stop there.
The conversation shifted to Michael Jackson's legendary work ethic—a topic she clearly admires. "Michael Jackson was working on his spins in a dance studio from 7 p.m. to six in the morning," Lizzo noted, framing it as proof that greatness requires sacrifice modern artists simply aren't willing to make. She also credited the Jacksons as the architects of pop stardom itself, declaring Janet "the queen of pop because they invented pop" and crediting Motown with creating what contemporary pop sounds like today.
The timing of this interview is worth noting—Lizzo's new album Bitch arrived on streaming services Friday (June 5), marking her first project in four years since 2022's Special, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 total album-equivalent units. Whether her Mozart-level commentary reflects genuine artistic philosophy or savvy album-cycle positioning is, perhaps, beside the point—both are driving clicks. She crowned Prince as "the greatest guitar player of all-time" and declared MJ unmatched: "I don't think there's ever been a pop star of that magnitude. And it will never happen again, baby." The receipts back her up somewhat—Michael Jackson logged 52 Billboard Hot 100 entries with six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200; Prince landed 47 Hot 100 songs and five chart-topping albums during his storied career.
