Lizzo Gives A TED ‘Twerk’ Talk On History Of Twerking

Lizzo took her TED talk to another level and shared with an audience how the dance of twerking helped her appreciate her butt more! 

According to the “Tempo” singer, her backside was her least favorite part of her body because she says she grew up when the world didn’t have an infatuation of bigger derrières, PEOPLE reports.

“I used to hate my ass, believe it or not,” she says in her opening statement. “I have my father’s shape and my mother’s thighs, so it’s big, and long. I used to think that only asses like J.Lo’s or Beyoncé’s could be famous. I never thought that could happen to me.”

Adding, “I always felt like my body type wasn’t the right one, or the desirable one growing up. Because I grew up in an era where having a big ass wasn’t mainstream.”

But now, her love for her lady lumps is on full display, and she thanks her peers and her fans for their stamp of approval. 

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“My ass has been the topic of conversations, my ass has been in magazines, Rihanna gave my ass a standing ovation. Yes, my booty! My least favorite part of my body,” she says. “How did this happen? Twerking. Through the movement of twerking, I realized that my ass is my greatest asset. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my TED Twerk.”

While Lizzo was first introduced to twerking at a teen club in Houston, she has since done a deeper dive into the history of the dance as it relates to Black culture. 

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“Modern-day twerking derived from Black people and Black culture. It has a direct parallel to West African dances like Mapouka,” she explains. “Black people carried the origins of this dance through our DNA, through our blood, through our bones. We made twerking the global cultural phenomenon it became today.”

Choosing to surround her TED Talk around the origins of the now popular dance is to “prevent the erasure of Blackness from twerking,” Lizzo notes.

“For me, twerking ain’t a trend. My body ain’t a trend,” she says. “… I twerk because of my ancestors, for sexual liberation, for my bitches, hey girls. Because I can. Because I know I look good. I twerk because it’s unique to the Black experience, it’s unique to my culture, and it means something real to me.”

Watch her TED Talk below: