Lizzo Is ‘Unsure’ About a 2nd Season of Amazon’s ‘Watch Out for the Big Grrrls’: ‘We Made a Good Thing; Let It Stay’
It’s safe to say that Lizzo has the Midas touch. Everything she touches turns to gold — or at least sparkling, sequined ensembles with electrifying dance numbers. The Grammy award-winning artist known for championing self-love and body positivity is wrapping up the North American leg of her Special tour, while also juggling a number of other business ventures.
Perhaps none of Lizzo’s projects have been as well-received in the last year as her competition series, Watch Out for the Big Grrrls. The Amazon Prime show reframed the genre and earned the artist her first Emmy award for the effort. But that doesn’t mean Lizzo is guaranteeing a second iteration. In fact, the artist is fairly content to let the first season stand alone.
‘Watch Out for the Big Grrrls’ began when Lizzo couldn’t find the right dance crew
In the teaser trailer for the Prime dance competition, Lizzo says the show came about because she couldn’t find the right dancers to join her crew. “Girls that look like me don’t get representation,” she said. “It’s time to pull up my sleeves and find them myself.”
And find them she did. The show featured 13 Big Grrrl hopefuls, which narrowed to 10 who officially became part of her crew. Spoiler alert: Those 10 women are now on tour with Lizzo, gearing up for the global tour in the spring. The show gained momentum and eventual acclaim for its inclusivity and joyful celebration of women who work toward a common goal rather than tear each other down to be the last one standing. The logistics contributed to that: Dancers won prizes instead of being eliminated on each episode, and only three women left the series over the course of eight episodes.
Watch Out for the Big Grrrls won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Competition Series, landing Lizzo her first statuette for the silver screen. (Big Grrrls‘ director and editors also took home Emmys for other winning categories.)
Lizzo isn’t rushing to do a second season of the Emmy-winning show
Despite the critical acclaim and praise from fans, Lizzo isn’t automatically ready to expand the show into a multi-season production. One factor may be those same logistics that made the show so popular: If you’re keeping 10 dancers per season, it could quickly become an unwieldy entourage. Lizzo, who told Vanity Fair she doesn’t like to be alone, might welcome a big posse. However, viewers of the first season loved the close-knit dynamics that the group forged over the course of filming. That might be difficult to replicate. And getting dancers from one season to the next to bond with each other could pose a challenge.
For now, the “Good as Hell” singer told Vanity Fair she’s unsure that a second season is right. “We made a good thing, let it stay,” she said. “But that being said, I don’t know,” leaving the door open for other options down the road.
The artist is focused on her ‘Special’ tour, an HBO documentary, and her Yitty shapewear line
At the moment, Lizzo has plenty to keep her busy. That includes an upcoming HBO Max documentary, Love, Lizzo, that will follow her recording process and behind-the-scenes life. She’ll wrap up the U.S. portion of the Special tour on November 19 in Los Angeles. The star then takes a few months off until she headlines on global stages starting in mid-February.
The entrepreneur is also parlaying her reputation as a body-positive force into launching an inclusive shapewear line that’s getting rave reviews. Yitty, so-called for a childhood nickname, is backed by Fabletics and includes sizes from XS to 6X. The artist dedicates much of her social media to promoting the brand.
Lizzo told Vogue that Yitty is an extension of her larger goals to bring about positivity and a celebration of the bodies people are living in. “Other than music, never have I ever been able to create something tangible that people can take home and use to make themselves feel more confident,” she said. “The confidence is from within. You put this on, and you tell yourself that you look good because I promise you, you’re going to feel good.”
