Lizzo is back, and she brought company. The 37-year-old singer released her new single ‘Don’t Make Me Love U’ on Friday along with a music video that is as emotionally layered as the song itself, marking the beginning of what she describes as a new musical chapter.
The video, which she first previewed when she performed the song as a musical guest on ‘Saturday Night Live’ in April 2025, features Lizzo alongside an alter ego she calls Lizzy. One version of herself appears in the present day, blonde bob and all, while the other represents her past. The two share a dinner table, stand face to face and eventually embrace in a moment that directly echoes the cover art of her 2019 album Cuz I Love You.
The video is a visual reckoning with growth and self-reflection
According to a press release accompanying the single, the video offers a look into the experience of confronting a former version of yourself, moving through reflection and arriving somewhere new. The visual moves through a range of emotional registers, swinging between vulnerability and defiance before landing on something closer to acceptance.
The song itself is built around an ’80s R&B-influenced production and carries the surface appearance of a romantic breakup anthem. Lizzo pushed back on that reading last month during an appearance on ‘The Jennifer Hudson Show,’ where she explained that the subject of the song is more complicated than it first sounds. The song, she said, is about the relationships in her life that test the limits of her emotional investment, not a single romantic partner.
‘Don’t Make Me Love U’ opens the door to her fifth album
The single is the first release tied to Love in Real Life, Lizzo’s upcoming fifth studio album, which she finished recording last year. It follows Special, released in 2022, which produced ‘About Damn Time,’ the track that won Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards.
The new album arrives during a period that has not been without its difficulties. In 2023, three former dancers filed a lawsuit against Lizzo alleging sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. She denied the allegations. In December, a judge dismissed the fat-shaming claims from the lawsuit. Lizzo said at the time that there was no evidence supporting the claim that she dismissed the dancers for reasons related to their weight, and that the terminations stemmed from an unauthorized recording of her that was shared with former employees.
She addressed the broader experience in a 2024 conversation with Keke Palmer, saying she felt hurt by the accusations given the professional opportunities she had extended to those involved, and maintained that she had done nothing wrong.
The release of ‘Don’t Make Me Love U’ is her most prominent musical moment since those events became public, and the themes running through both the song and its video suggest she has been doing a considerable amount of internal work in the time since.
Love in Real Life does not yet have an official release date.
