GOSSIP & ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

ESSENCE Magazine is taking a radical approach to their Holiday issue.

Source: Chrisean Rose / Ramona Rosales/ Chrisean Rose / Essence Magazine

The magazine is offering up three different covers for the issue, which they’ve dedicated to self-care. Cover stars Lizzo, Nikole Hannah-Jones and Simone Biles all made headlines this year for choosing themselves and their mental health amid public pressure.

We’re excited to offer a look at all three covers along with excerpts from the magazine’s feature stories on all three ladies.

Source: Ramona Rosales / Essence Magazine

First off, we have to applaud the editorial/photographic direction of these looks! Lizzo’s bold turquoise eye is EVERYTHING!!!!

Senior Entertainment Editor Brande Victorian interviewed Lizzo about body positivity and more, in her cover story “Simply Being.”

The musician told Victorian she feels constantly misunderstood, “No one’s ever right about me.”

Source: Ramona Rosales / Essence Magazine

She also revealed that she’s grown tired of being the spokesperson for body positivity.

“It’s exhausting,” Lizzo admits. “And that’s the point. I don’t want to talk about this anymore. We should be neutral about bodies.”

Source: Ramona Rosales / Essence Magazine

That’s definitely easier said than done. But we agree that there is a WHOLE lot more to discuss when it comes to Lizzo than her body. We really enjoyed hearing her talk about making the kind of music audiences don’t often expect a Black woman to make:

“I use 808s, just not in the same way everyone else does,” she explains of the drum machine that characterizes most of today’s hip-hop and R&B. “I have songs I could drop right now, but that’s just not my purpose. That’s not why God made me and put me on this planet at this exact time.”

Listen, we’re eagerly awaiting her music! Whenever you’re ready Lizzo!

Hit the flip for an excerpt from Simone Biles’ cover story “More Than A Medal.”