Lizzo Looked Great at the Met Gala, So Why Is the Internet Missing the Point?

Lizzo was on theme and on point wearing custom Christian Siriano at the 2025 Met Gala, but if you google her name, you’ll find that instead of focusing on the singer’s gown or styling, most headlines are all about her weight. “Lizzo Looks Sensational as She Shows Off Weight Loss at the Met Gala in Figure-Hugging Black and White Mermaid gown,” one reads. Another goes: “Slimmed-Down Lizzo Goes Platinum Blond for Met Gala 2025.”

Many compliment her “slimmed-down figure” or note that she recently reached her goal weight. One even called her “unrecognizable.” It’s clear that despite Lizzo’s nonstop efforts to shift the conversation about her weight, the endless interviews reclaiming body positivity and op-eds she’s penned about not being afraid to take up space, this Met Gala has yet again reduced Lizzo to a weight-loss headline.

And if Lizzo can’t inspire the media to get over this nightmare ’90s-era belief that “thin is in,” what hope do the rest of us have?

To be fair, it is an indisputable fact that Lizzo has lost weight over the past few years. The pop star tracked her “weight release” journey in the occasional Instagram post, and in January, she shared that she had “reached my weight release goal.”

Now, you might think that if Lizzo has confirmed it herself, it’s okay to point out the changes in her body in a celebratory way. And it can be, but as someone who built an entire career on body positivity and celebrating the “Big Grrrls,” Lizzo has approached this era of her career with very intentional language. She doesn’t call it “weight loss” but “weight release,” and she’s careful not to celebrate her new body at the expense of her old one.

Speaking about her weight release journey for the first time in an interview, Lizzo told Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast that she was being “very intentional with the words that come out of my mouth” because she didn’t want her words to have a negative effect on her fans. She’s aware of her position as a fat pop star (yes, she still identifies as fat, thanks very much) and of how she has helped women embrace their own bodies. It’s clear she doesn’t want to become another symbol of diet culture.

It’s a tough line to walk. As a fat Lizzo fan, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that Lizzo’s public celebration of weight loss was complicated. It’s hard to see someone who declared so loudly and proudly that there was nothing wrong with being bigger admit that, actually, what she really wanted was to be smaller all along. As a fat woman, it feels like a validation of the voice in your head telling you that you’ll never be happy until you lose weight. But I take comfort in knowing that this isn’t Lizzo’s intention and that she doesn’t want to be associated with the triggering “weight loss” label, which is why it’s so disheartening to see the headlines today.

And so, despite her very clear messaging, we’re still forced to read about Lizzo’s “weight loss journey.” No matter how hard she tried to take control of her own narrative—first by celebrating herself, then by carefully framing her weight release—it didn’t matter. Because thinness is still the dominating beauty standard of our time.

The fact is, the morning after the Met Gala, no one is writing about Lizzo’s weight release because that’s not a term that has permeated pop culture. But it won’t ever be normalized until we embrace it the same way we embraced fat liberation and body neutrality. And now would be a great time to start.

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