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Pop Culture

Lizzo explains how her new video explores the 'juxtaposition' of how Black women are seen

Everyone loves a superhero, but what about when she takes off the mask?

lizzo special music video
Lizzo Music/Youtube, @lizzobeeating/Instagram

"America loves a Black woman as superhero, but absolutely hates her as a human being."

Lizzo has taken her hero status to new levels in her latest music video—becoming a full-fledged caped crusader.

The story follows Lizzo as a waitress with a secret identity as a Marvel-esque superhero, who saves strangers from peril. In particular, she saves a little Black girl from getting hit by a car, reminding her just how special she is.

We also see that while doing heroic deeds, Lizzo is adored by the crowd—even by those who initially hold up signs in protest. As a regular Black woman, however, Lizzo (or “Melly,” as it says on her waitress name tag) doesn’t garner nearly as much respect. That is, until she starts standing up for herself.


The video, of course, is for her song “Special,” which has universal resonance as a power anthem of self-love. But in a voice note shared to her Instagram account, Lizzo explained that for the visual story, she wanted to tap into the specific point-of-view of a Black woman.

"The music video starts off as showing the superhero, the Black woman as superhero. And it's like, America loves a Black woman as superhero, but absolutely hates her as a human being," she said.

She continued, "The glorious superhero, you see her doing the regular life-saving, press, everyone loves her. And then she takes off her costume, it's a Black woman and just showing the juxtaposition of how she gets treated in the real world."

In her caption, the singer shared how she would like for others who look like her to receive the same kind of love that she gets from her fans. “Every night on stage I say ‘thank you for supporting me. For loving me. And when you see someone that looks like me in the Real World, keep that same energy.’ What good is representation if I’m the only one benefiting?”

While that perspective might have been the “seed that planted” the idea for the video, Lizzo did share that the story “is for anyone who has felt unseen, alone, disrespected. I see you.”

Watch the superpowered video below:

Real heroes lift others up. They help make the world a better place for everyone. If anyone fits that bill, it’s Lizzo. And she doesn’t even need a cape to do it.

A Korean mother and her son

A recently posted story on Reddit shows a mother confidently standing up for her family after being bullied by a teacher for her culture. Reddit user Flowergardens0 posted the story to the AITA forum, where people ask whether they are wrong in a specific situation.

Over 5,600 people commented on the story, and an overwhelming majority thought the mother was right. Here’s what went down:

“I (34F) have a (5M) son who attends preschool. A few hours after I picked him up from school today, I got a phone call from his teacher,” Flowergardens0 wrote. “She made absolutely no effort to sound kind when she, in an extremely rude and annoyed tone, told me to stop packing my son such ‘disgusting and inappropriate’ lunches."

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It's incredible what a double-sided magnet can do.


A new trend in treasure hunting called magnet fishing has blown up over the past two years, evidenced by an explosion of YouTube channels covering the hobby. Magnet fishing is a pretty simple activity. Hobbyists attach high-powered magnets to strong ropes, drop them into waterways and see what they attract.

The hobby has caught the attention of law enforcement and government agencies because urban waterways are a popular place for criminals to drop weapons and stolen items after committing a crime. In 2019, a magnet fisherman in Michigan pulled up an antique World War I mortar grenade and the bomb squad had to be called out to investigate.


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Pop Culture

Woman was mocked online for calling an $80 purse a 'luxury item.' Her response went viral.

"I'm so grateful that my dad was able to get me one. He worked so hard for that money.”

@zohtaco/TikTok

Zoe Gabriel, showing off her new purse from Charles & Keith

Insults of any kind are painful, but jabs towards someone’s financial status are their own breed.

In January 2023, Singapore-based Zoe Gabriel was on the receiving end of this particular flavor of mockery when she posted a TikTok about a purse from local retail brand Charles & Keith—a gift bought for her by her father.

In her excitement, the 17-year-old called the bag, which costs around $80, a “luxury” item as she unwrapped it. Her excitement was sadly cut short by some of the negative comments she received.

One comment seemed to stand out above the rest and prompted Gabriel to post an emotional response video.

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Ring doorbell video captures what it's like to be the default parent.

Kids, man. I'm not sure of the scientific way audacity is distributed, but kids have a lot of it and somehow make it cute. That audacity overload is especially interesting when you're the default parent—you know, the parent kids go to for literally everything as if there's not another fully capable adult in the house. Chances are if your children haven't sought you out while you were taking a shower so you could open up a pack of fruit snacks, then you're not the default parental unit.

One parent captured exactly what it's like to be the default parent and shared it to TikTok, where the video has over 4 million views. Toniann Marchese went on a quick grocery run and *gasp* did not inform her children. Don't you fret, they're modern kids who know how to use modern means to get much-needed answers when mom is nowhere to be found. They went outside and rang the doorbell.

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Pop Culture

'American Idol' contestant has perfect response to Katy Perry's 'mom-shaming' joke

The 25-year-old used the moment to stand up for moms everywhere.

@sarabethliebe/TikTok

"Keep loving your babies."

You might recall us singing the praises of Sara Beth, the exuberant young mom with major vocal chops dubbed the “Accidental American Idol.”

During Sara Beth’s initial audition for the show, judge Katy Perry made a joke that rubbed many viewers the wrong way.

Before Sara Beth even began to sing, the 25-year-old revealed that she had three children, which prompted Katy Perry to dramatically stand up from her seat and feign shock. When Sara Beth, all smiles, said, “If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out,” Perry retorted, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.”

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YouTube creator Steve Mould shows us what echo looks like through an acoustic camera.

It’s bizarre to think about seeing sound, but nowadays we can do just that. If you haven’t seen an acoustic camera before, that’s because they’re mainly used for industrial purposes, but they’ve been available commercially from gfai tech since 2001.

YouTuber Steve Mould, who has a science channel with over 2.1 million subscribers, took the complicated concept of the acoustic camera and made it easy to understand in his latest video, “Acoustic cameras can SEE sound.”

In the video, Mould explains how an acoustic camera is much like your smartphone's video recorder. But it also creates visual representations of sound emanating from where it’s generated within the video.

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