Lizzo Responds To New Album Flopping, Denies She’s Been Committed To The Khia Asylum

Lizzo is doing her best. Following an underwhelming performance of her latest album Bitch, which did not chart at all on the Billboard 200 despite its predecessor Special debuting at #2 with 69,000 album-equivalent units, the "About Damn Time" singer is making the best of a disappointing situation. In a new interview — the first episode of Zachary Hourihane aka the Swiftologist's new podcast Proto Pop — she dives into how she's doing following Bitch's release and the world perceiving her as a flop.

In the hour-long interview she discusses the major shifts in the pop industry, how Bitch was supposed to come out last year, her thoughts on the Khia Asylum, and how she's in no rush to make people fall in love with what she considers her best stuff.

When discussing the Khia Asylum, a term popularized by stans referring to a metaphorical prison for formerly successful pop stars who've faded into obscurity, Hourihane raises a good point: "There are no men in the Khia Asylum. And let me tell you, there are plenty of men that are in the Khia Asylum, that exist permanently in the Khia Asylum, and they don't get this obsessive focus on them flopping that women get." He goes on to ask how she feels about the term and how it cages artists.

"First of all, I was so shocked when people kept saying Khia because it's about Khia, the rapper, 'My Neck, My Back.' We still talk about her, her record," Lizzo begins. "I think that is even backhanded in itself to name it after this extremely talented, incredible pillar in the Black community and in Black rap music. Then it's this weapon that targets only women, and a lot of Black women."

She continues, "I think it's a little strange. I think it's funny for people and it should remain funny. It should remain a meme." Then she expands on how the term has become so ubiquitous with catty fandom and that there's not even a real understanding of what qualifies to be imprisoned in the Khia Asylum.

"I think it's a tool to bully artists and have power over them. It probably used to mean something but now I think it's nonsense," Lizzo says. "I feel like I can't be in the Khia Asylum. I have Grammys and world records in music. I have number ones. I have a diamond record. I am a successful artist." The day that she recorded this episode, "Truth Hurts" went diamond.

Hourihane fully agrees, but then further questions how she feels specifically about her career in June 2026. He asked for a "real answer, not a PR line."

Her response:

I'm in the weeds a little bit. I had so much fun last year when I dropped [the mixtape] My Face Hurts From Smiling. I think that was the most fun I've had as a pop artist in the last, since Special. Even writing was really emotionally exhausting for me because I wrote over 120, 150 songs. I had been writing since September 2023 for this album that just came out in 2026. I had to span every emotion and come back to me again. That's work. That's emotional labor. My Face Hurts From Smiling, I did in a week and I was like oh I'm popping my shit. This is so fun. I want to get back there.

I'm not going to rush you. There's no rush for you to fall in love with the music, honey. I've never been that gorl. I think right now — this is the non-PR — I hurt my own feelings. I was really stressed and I was really sad for a few days. Because I was like wait a minute, this is some of my best stuff. I want people to find it. I had to come to terms with the fact that not only is the music industry different, in the last three years, and we need to talk about that. We need to talk about the fact that I got my ass chewed out for but it's happening and it's true. But my relationship and my connection musically with the world is different. I had to mourn that. I was like, 'shake it off' and move forward. And that's why I'm in this studio today because well what are you gonna do? You have to keep going.

Check out the full interview below.