Creator of Lizzo’s signature slogan could get a Grammy nod

Mina Lioness’ longstanding battle to finally receive writing credit on Lizzo’s megahit song “Truth Hurts” is paying off in more ways than one: it could win her a potential Grammy Award. Lizzo’s breakthrough tune features signature line — “I just took a DNA test, turns out I’m 100% that bitch” — a lyric that originated from a 2017 tweet by Lioness and was turned into a popular meme. And w Lioness, a singer based in London who Lizzo agreed to give writing credit to, has a chance at earning her first Grammy mination if “Truth Hurts” scores a mination for song of year — a category reserved for writers of a song.

“I haven’t really been able to kind of just sit and ponder what ramifications is of this happening. I mean, it’s just surreal to me,” Lioness said in a phone interview from London with Associated Press this week. “I didn’t actually realize that Grammy minations were being anunced next week, but I knew that this would be a possibility for me when it’s all said and done. But for it to come through so soon as well, it’s just ar one of those moments when you’re like, ‘Wow.’”

Recording Acemy will anunce its minees on v. 20. When Grammy submissions were due earlier this year, Lioness h t been a listed writer of “Truth Hurts,” but Atlantic Records, Lizzo’s label home, told AP y are in process of submitting Lioness’ name as a co-writer of “Truth Hurts” to Grammys.

“Truth Hurts,” which topped Billboard Hot 100 chart for seven weeks, is a likely contender in categories like song of year, in which Lioness would share mination with co-writers Lizzo, Ricky Reed, Tele and Jesse Saint John. song could also land a mination for record of year, a category that awards song’s performers, producers and engineers/mixers, or best pop solo performance, an award that would only be given to Lizzo.

Lioness said next week will be one of biggest in her life — t only does she find out if she’ll become a Grammy minee, she will “find out results of my master’s degree, pretty much on same day (as Grammy minations).” “I still got work tomorrow,” ded Lioness, who studied social policy at London School of Ecomics. “I’m still a regular person.”

Lioness created tweet that’s changed her life “from zero to 100” — as she put it — around 4 o’clock in morning in 2017. She said she was responding to a tweet from singer-actress Demi Lovato, who h posted about her ancestry background results. “She was saying all se different places she’s from and in one tweet she was like, ‘And I’m 1% African.’ And I was just so besides myself. I was just laughing so hard,” Lioness said. So she replied with: “I just did a DNA test and found out I’m 100% that bitch.” She went to bed. Woke up. And she h gone viral.

Her bold sentence has become so popular that even Hillary Clinton tweeted some of line, sans vulgar word in August around time “Truth Hurts” became a worldwide hit. song was originally released in 2017 but got a boost this year after it was featured in Netflix film “Someone Great,” and as Lizzo’s label saw public’s interest in song, y decided to push it. Lioness learned her words were featured in “Truth Hurts” when she and some friends were Googling some of ir most popular tweets. “I was just like, ‘What?’ From n on I started to try to get in contact with Lizzo,” she said.

Eventually things blew up for Lizzo last month when songwriting brors Justin and Jeremiah Raisen said y felt y deserved writing credit on “Truth Hurts.” A week later, Lizzo anunced she was giving credit to Lioness and later filed a lawsuit to establish that Raisens, as well as Justin “Yves” Rothman, are t entitled to any credit for song.

Lioness said, at first, she wasn’t sure what to do when she discovered her words were in a pop song. “I h a lot of resentment at first, I will be completely honest. It did hurt me in beginning to kw that one actually believed that you’re one who brought this to internet,” she said. “It’s so easy to erase credit online, but I just wasn’t going down without a fight.”

She said watching Peaches Monroee — young girl who went viral after praising her eyebrows for being “on fleek” — t be properly credited for starting trendy word inspired her to fight hard for her own credit. “I saw that she was pleing and it hurt to watch ar black girl have to beg for something that she put on internet just out of a sheer joke. People told me to do same, people told me to do a GoFundMe, but I just didn’t want to do any of that because I’m t begging for something that belongs to me. Absolutely t,” she said.

Things worked out for Lioness, and she and Lizzo are on good terms. y met in person this month after Lizzo’s concert in London. “She’s just really kind. She spoke to my heart. She looked me in my eyes and we h a really heartfelt conversation and we hugged,” Lioness said.

And w Lioness is using her newfound fame to help boost her own music career. She said she’s been singing since she was 3 and counts Jill Scott, Mary J. Blige and Erykah Bu as inspirations. She and her musical partner, Jam, have released music toger , and y are busy working on more songs as well as writing for ors. “It’s still tough because I would like to be kwn for what I said, but I don’t want to be defined by one moment,” said Lioness. “I’m a very multidimensional artist. And so I don’t want to be kwn for just one thing, and I don’t want this to be peak of my career.”