Lizzo Inserts A Flute Solo Into The Sam Smith & Kim Petras Hit, 'Unholy'

Lizzo made a rock song out of Unholy, the Sam Smith and Kim Petras hit, in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, with a full band comprising a guitarist, bass player, drummer, three backing singers, and a keyboard player. What made Lizzo's cover stand out, of course, was her epic flute solo.

During her time in the Live Lounge, she also performed Special from her 2022 album of the same name. Check out both videos below.

Lizzo's cover has received mixed reactions from fans, with some absolutely loving her vocals and flute solo, while others have criticised the "low-energy" nature of the performance.

Last year, Lizzo tweeted, "I wanna play flute for @bjork sooooo bad", after the Icelandic singer revealed Atopos, the first single from her tenth album, Fossora.

Lizzo's tweet isn't as random as it might seem, with the musician having studied classical flute at the University of Houston and spoken of a desire to have a career similar to Björk's. Speaking with Billboard in 2019, Lizzo revealed her fandom of Björk, "Man, I want to have a career like Björk, where I can put out albums and do exclusive shows and do a whole flute album like that bitch did", which make the two teaming up in some manner seem quite conceivable.

Sam Smith and Kim Petras won the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance Grammy Award for Unholy. They performed the hit single with Petras in a cage and Smith in a horned top hat, which US Senators Ted Cruz and Majorie Taylor Greene labelled the performance as “evil” and “demonic”, respectively, and Fox News host Tucker Carlson called it “transgender satanism”. 

Lizzo, meanwhile, took out Record Of The Year with her smash hit About Damn Time. 

Last month, Lizzo took to TikTok and commented on the body-shaming critiques she receives. While the Am I Ready (2 Be Loved) hitmaker didn't name people who made remarks about her body, she clarified that she sees comments on her social media. 

"I see comments go from 'oh my gosh, I liked you when you were thick' to 'oh my gosh, why did you lose weight?'" she starts.

Lizzo added that some people tell her that she needs to lose weight "for her health," to which she responds: "Are we okay? Do you see the delusion? Do we realise that artists are not here to fit into your beauty standards? Artists are here to make art. And this body is art. And I’m going to do whatever I want with this body."

She continued, "I wish that comments costed y’all money, so we could see how much time we are fucking wasting on the wrong thing. Can we leave that shit back there, please?"