Released: 2019
Alright, y’all, strap in ’cause we’re about to dive deep into the intoxicating world of Lizzo’s “Juice”. Served up with a fresh slice of confidence, she’s making it clear she is not here to play. This funk-hip hop blend is a celebration of self-esteem, high energy, and owning your worth. Let’s break down them lines, bar by bar.
Starting off the track, Lizzo flips the classic ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall’ phrase. Instead of asking who’s the fairest, she silences the mirror before it can answer ’cause, let’s just keep it 100, she knows she’s cute. She’s dripped in Louis Vuitton from head to toe, indicating wealth, opulence, and setting the tone of her unapologetic love of finer things. The sauce she’s dripping isn’t just about her swagger, it’s an age-old hip hop lingo for confidence, flair, and personal style. By saying she’s “lit up like a crystal ball”, she’s announcing that she can foresee her own dazzling future.
One of the lines that hit me hard – ‘If I’m shining, everybody gonna shine’. See, that’s a pure embodiment of Lizzo’s philosophy of uplifting others with her. She’s all about collective shine, that’s real. And then the metaphor ‘I’m like Chardonnay, get better over time’ ’cause we all know a fine wine ages best. She’s hitting us with facts that her talent, her worth, her ‘juice’, it only gets better with time.
The fruity chorus, ‘Gotta blame it on my juice’ is Lizzo attributing her vibrant behavior and the attention she attracts to her juice, a metaphorical term for her charisma, talent, power and allure. She is who she is and she’s not blaming it on anything else, it’s the essence of being unapologetically proud of oneself. ‘Gotta blame it on the Goose’; that’s an interesting throwback to a classic excuse for reckless behavior in hip-hop – blame it on the Grey Goose vodka, but here, it’s her juice.
In the second verse, Lizzo escalates the boasts saying she’s the ‘whole damn meal’ not just a snack – referencing to how attractive she thinks she is. ‘If the juice ain’t worth the squeeze’ is an age-old proverb modified to fit the song’s theme – if the reward doesn’t match the effort, then the juice (in this case, a man trying to get with her) ain’t really worth it. She warns anyone who thinks otherwise, she won’t be shy about ‘taking your bitch’.
The bridge introduces a humorous break with “Somebody come get this man / I think he got lost in my DMs”. It’s social media age, baby and Lizzo ain’t here for unsolicited DMs. She’s confident and successful, and if you can’t match up to her energy, you best move along, homie.
All in all, Lizzo’s “Juice” is a bombardment of confidence, positivity and self-love. It’s a vibe, a mood, a jingle-jangle tune that redefines who’s got the juice in the hip-hop game. So next time you listen, remember this ain’t just a song, it’s a whole damn manifesto of self-worth and swagger.
