Lizzo's Stage Name Has Nothing To Do With Jay-Z (Despite What You've Heard)

Lizzo's stage name began back in her childhood years. In a 2020 "CBS Mornings" interview, the singer clarified that her birth name is Melissa Viviane Jefferson and said her father dreamed about having a baby named Melissa before she was born. Furthermore, this middle name is an homage to Lizzo's grandfather, whose first name was Vivian. She went on to state that Lizzo emerged during her time as a middle school student, and it has no relation to Jay-Z's hit, "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," although many fans have assumed this is the case. "Contrary to popular belief — everyone thinks that [name]  came from Jay-Z's song, but it did not," Lizzo said. 

In her hometown of Houston, the "Good as Hell" singer and her friends would put a unique twist on monikers, which is how her stage name came to be. "Me and my friends, we all had this thing where we would just put 'o' on the end of our names," she said before adding, "So I just went by Lisso." Eventually, her title evolved to Lizzo as the nickname "got real swagged out," Lizzo said. She's kept this nickname ever since.

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