“Hey.”
“Oh, hi.”
“How’s it going?”
“Why do you got this old
professional background?”
“Why do you have this
professional hair?”
“O.K. I look like
this everyday, bitch.
Singing: “Mirror,
mirror on the wall,
don’t say it ‘cause
I know I’m cute.
Ooh, baby.
Louis down to my drawers,
LV all on my shoes.
Ooh, baby.
I be drippin’ so much sauce,
gotta been lookin’ like Ragu.
Lit up like a crystal ball.
That’s cool, baby.
So is you.”
“Hello.
Snowed in, so let’s go.
‘Empire State of Mind.’
[flute music]
My story begins
in Houston, Tex.
I was a flute player
and went to college
for music performance.
[flute music]
“I was really excited
about writing.
I would write raps.”
Rapping: “Ain’t got no time
for the C-3P0, wookie.
Looky here.
Three cheers for the
woman of the year — me!”
“When did Lizzo Lizzo
sort of crystalize?”
“I wrote a song
called ‘My Skin.’”
Singing: “I woke up
in this.
I woke up in this,
in my skin.”
“And people were
just so shocked
that, you know, in 2014, this
big black girl was saying,
I’m in love with myself.
I love my skin.
I was like, why is this
such a shocker to y’all?
I’m going to just talk
about this [expletive]
all the time until
you get used to it.”
“Tell me about meeting Lizzo
and what was your first
impression of her?”
“Honestly, my first
impression was,
yo, this big girl don’t
give a [expletive], bro.
She hard!
She hard, bro.”
“Bitch!”
[flute music]
“I was just drawn to her —
you know, her — I don’t
know what the word is.”
[flute music]
“Do you remember what the
studio was like on the day
you guys started ‘Juice’?”
“We had made a lot of demos.
We had made a lot of songs.
And I was getting
a little tired.”
“I remember, she was like — “
“Ricky, I want you to play
a song that is a [expletive]
undeniable hit.
And he was like, all
right, I think this is it.
We were like, bah!
And it was just the part.
It was the —
with the drums.”
[imitates music]
“I was so specifically
trying to,
like, find the Prince-Bowie
etc., like, thing.”
“It made me want to dance.
It made me feel like, yo,
this has a throwback feel,
but they definitely
made it in 2019.”
“The way he works is, he’ll
just kind of sit there
for a while.”
“I’m just sitting in
a chair, laid back.
And the mic is, like,
literally right here.
And I said, ‘Mirror, mirror,
on the wall, don’t say it
‘cause I know I’m cute.
Ooh, baby.”
“I thought that was
really cute and cool.
But I was like, you
know, keep going.”
“I said, I woke up like this.
I ain’t even got to try.
She was like — she was
like, man, somebody
said that already.”
Singing: “I woke
up like this.”
“But it’s not just
about waking up pretty.
What do we really
mean underneath that?
I was born like this.”
“And I was like, that’s
even [expletive] better.”
“I was born like this
means I love me for me,
no matter what makeup I have
on, what weave I have on,
whether I got my lash
extensions on or not.”
“I was like, I think
we need a word.
What’s the word?
The word that — you know,
we was like, yo, juice.”
“I think juice is
kind of freaky.
I think juice is kind of
spiritual and special.
I think — I think
it’s black [expletive].
[laughs]
“All right.”
“We recorded the demo.
And then when we started
working on it with Lizzo,
I always work on the
key with the artists
to get the
sweet spot, vocally.”
“She went straight
in the booth
and started recording it.
And as soon as I
heard her sing — ”
Singing: “Mirror, mirror
on the wall, don’t say it,
’cause I know I’m cute.”
“I was like, oh,
[expletive], we out of here.
This [expletive] is
hard as [expletive].
This [expletive] is
hard as [expletive].”
“Sometimes, when
I’m in a session,
and an artist
sings one line,
I can’t help but jump on
the talkback and be like,
this is going to be crazy!”
Singing: “I’m
like chardonnay,
get better over time.
Heard you say I’m not
the baddest bitch, you lie.”
“I laugh in the track
and I laugh live.
I just think that
[expletive] is funny.
I be like, bitch,
you’re lying.”
Singing: “Ain’t my fault that
I’m out here gettin’ loose.
Gotta blame it on the goose.
Gotta blame it on
my juice, baby.”
“I texted Ricky, like,
after I was done recording.
I just texted him,
‘emotional,’ because it was.
The song was really,
really simple before.
And Ricky spent a lot of
time being a muso on it
and beefed it up.”
“So, this is sort of
the control room.
Here are some toys,
mostly synthesizers,
early ’70s, early ’80s.
We have basically
two horn parts.”
“I will say I’m a
very horny artist.
[laughs]
“As it went on, there’s,
like, some real kind
of, like, ’80s electro.
[singing]
“You have this kind of
magic thing that happens.
It’s almost, like, 2019,
like, vintage sounds, which
is just, like, pitch-shifting
something to death,
and then it sounds, like,
warbly and [expletive] up.
Oh, I totally forgot.
One of the most
important keyboard parts,
that Lizzo actually
came up with — ”
“Tell me about the decision
to get Lizzo’s friends to come
in and record backup.”
“Oh, man.
That was amazing.
I think the first person that
threw that up was Theron.”
“We needed some
gang vocals, you know?
I wanted, like, a group
of girls in there.”
“And I was like, even better,
I can get my girls in here.”
“I was like, hell
[expletive] yeah.
That’s what I need.
So like, three or four
of her best friends
came to the studio, and they
were just in the booth,
like lit.”
Singing: “That’s how I roll.
If I’m shining,
everybody gonna shine.
Yeah, I’m gold.
I was
born like this.
Don’t even gotta try.
Now you know.
I’m like chardonnay,
get better over time.
So, you know.”
“This was a case where
it was like, this
is bananas, like, how
much it was adding.”
“It’s the little
details like that
that make a song from a good
song to a magical moment.”
Singing: “It ain’t my
fault that I’m out here
gettin’ loose.
Gotta blame it on the goose.
Gotta blame it on
my juice, baby.
It ain’t my fault that
I’m out here making news.
I’m the pudding in the proof.
Gotta blame it on my juice.”
“You know what it felt like?
It felt like fun.
I just kept saying,
whatever we do,
I want people to hear it,
and I want people to smile.”
“It honestly just feels
so, so super joyful,
listening to it back.”
Singing: “It ain’t my fault
that I’m out here gettin’ —
I love this song.
It’s like, I can’t not
sing the whole thing.”
“What were your, like,
high school bus bars like?”
“Oh, my God.
It was always:
Man, what’s the deal?
Man, I’m coming through.
Coming down chilly,
banging on a screw.
It’s your girl, Lizzo.”
[laughs]
