Lizzo related how she took the initiative to manage her own marketing push after seeing early figures.
"I had all of these high hopes, I think, for what we'd do the first week, and it didn't match," she said.
The singer described the initial letdown when the project went live on streaming platforms.
"I was so excited because I met my pre-save goal and I met all of that, and then it dropped, and I was like, Oh, this is not what I thought it would be," she said.
Lizzo noted that fellow artist SZA reached out to offer personal support during the difficult period. "Thank god for Solana (SZA's real name).
SZA called me and was like, 'Hey, you're on my mind!" she said.
The conversation helped the singer process her feelings of professional insecurity. "I was like (mimicking crying), 'Am I a failure?'
She was like, 'Oh my God, no!'" Lizzo recalled.
Lizzo concluded that the interaction reinforced her decision to stop evaluating her creative contributions through commercial metrics. "She was so sweet, and I meditated and prayed on it.
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I was, like, this is why I don't judge myself and my success, or impact, on numbers because it's soul-crushing if you do," she said.
