"5 things you didn't know about Lizzo, America's next 'bop' star" by Libby Torres - 24 May 2019 - Insider
She's a big Prince fan, and was invited to play a show at Paisley Park before his death
When Lizzo first moved to Minneapolis, she imitated a scene from the Prince movie "Purple Rain" before playing a local venue made famous in the film. She revealed in her interview with The Cut that she took a rowboat to the middle of Lake Minnetonka, and "purified" herself in the waters before her show — the same thing Prince did in the movie.
Later on, Lizzo's group GRRL PRTY became a hit in the Minneapolis area — and attracted the attention of Prince himself, who asked them to record a song for his 2014 album "Plectrumelectrum."
Following their collaboration, the famous musician asked GRRL PRTY to play a show at his estate, Paisley Park. According to Lizzo's interview with The Cut, they had to tone down their notoriously raucous antics — but did play in front of a projection of "Finding Nemo."
"Lizzo On Feminism, Self-Love And Bringing 'Hallelujah Moments' To Stage" by Terry Gross - 23 May 2019 - Fresh Air on National Public Radio
GROSS: So that was "Boys," which is on the expanded, deluxe version of Lizzo's new album, "Cuz I Love You," and it also was released last year as a single. I hear so much Prince in the production on that. So I know you met Prince when you were living in Minneapolis. And...
LIZZO: I was on his album.
GROSS: Yeah. And you did a track on the - on one of his...
LIZZO: "Plectrumelectrum."
GROSS: "Plectrumelectrum," with 3RDEYEGIRL. And so how did he find you? 'Cause he invited you to perform for him. He asked you then to do a track for Plectrumelectrum. So I know when you moved to Minneapolis after college - after dropping out of college, you became a kind of important part of the music scene there. But - so how did he find you? How did he hear you?
LIZZO: OK, so there was a documentary being made about burgeoning musicians and also, like, you know - yeah, I think it was just burgeoning musicians, actually, in Minnesota. And it was on one of the, like, local news stations, and it was us - me and my best friend and my DJ Sophia Eris' group, The Feelin, who won "The Voice," and Plectrumelectrum, who was Prince's band and I think some other people too, but I can't remember.
And (laughter) they did a piece on us, and the day it aired, the Current, the radio station in Minneapolis called - or St. Paul and Minneapolis - they called and said - they hit us up and said, yo, you won't believe this, but Prince just sent us an email asking for y'all's contact. And we were like, what? And mind you, this was maybe two years after I moved to Minneapolis.
And I was - I couldn't believe it. I was like, well, give him our email. What are you waiting for? And the email just simply said, I would like for you to come to Paisley Park on Easter Sunday, and...
GROSS: Easter Sunday - wow.
LIZZO: Yeah, it was pretty - it was amazing to work on a song. And we went, and it was magical. And from then on, we had a relationship with Paisley Park and with him where we would just - he would ask us to come perform for his parties, and we would come and perform. And we also had - he, you know, talked about me in interviews. He was like, you know, Lizzo's one to watch. She's up next.
When nobody was checking for me, he was checking for, you know, young black girls and young black artists and giving us a voice and gave me my first big check. I mean, I have a lot of respect and a deep, profound relationship with one of the greatest artists of all time, so that's all I can say about that.