"About Damn Time" is a song by American singer and rapper Lizzo, released on April 14, 2022, by Nice Life Recordings and

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

as the lead single from her fourth studio album '' Special'' (2022). The song reached number one in the United States, becoming her second number one single there, while reaching the top three in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The song was nominated at the

2022 MTV Video Music Awards The 2022 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey on August 28, 2022. The show was emceed by LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj, and Jack Harlow. Minaj was honored with the Video Vanguard Award, pr ...

for

Song of the Year Song of the Year may refer to: * Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year * Dove Award for Song of the Year * Golden Melody Award for Song of the Year * Grammis Song of the Year * Grammy Award for Song of the Year * Latin Grammy Awa ...

Best Pop Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop was first given out in under the name of Best Pop Video, as MTV began to put several teen pop acts in heavy rotation. Nominations, however, were not just limited to pop acts, as dance, R&B, pop/rock, and reg ...

, and Song of Summer. The song won Record of the Year at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards making her the first female rapper to win the award, also receiving nominations for

and Best Pop Solo Performance. Additionally, Purple Disco Machine's remix won the

Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording The Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical is an honor presented to producers for quality remixed recordings at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in sever ...

Background

"About Damn Time" was the final song created for ''Special''. Prior to the song's creation, Lizzo felt the album was not yet complete, so she wanted to write a song that had the same uplifting emotional impact as "

Good as Hell "Good as Hell" is a song recorded by the American singer and rapper Lizzo. Written by Lizzo and producer Ricky Reed, it was released on March 8, 2016, by Atlantic Records and Nice Life Recording Company as the lead single from her first extended ...

." Blake Slatkin, a co-writer and co-producer of the song, explained in a 2022 ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' interview that he and Ricky Reed began creating the song in January of that year. According to Slatkin, the song began with four piano chords which Reed used as a basis for a

bassline Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...

. At that point, the two played Lizzo the instrumental, motivating her to travel to the studio to contribute to the track. Slatkin credits Lizzo with crafting the hook and melodies. The song required approximately thirty additional studio sessions to finish, spanning four months. At one point, the song featured an entirely different chorus from the one included in the final release. About the song's thematic content, Lizzo stated, "I think life had thrown some major traumas and hard experiences at us, especially globally these last few years. And I wanted to write a song that allowed us to take a moment and celebrate our survival, and celebrate how far we’ve come."

Composition

''Billboard'' Rania Aniftos said "About Damn Time" has a "feel-good" chorus, and Rachel Brodsky of ''

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'' described the song as "a funk-pop cut with tons of instant-classic Lizzo-isms". Similarly, Alex Gallagher of ''

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'' called the song "a funk-tinged, classically Lizzo cut that comes replete with a groove-heavy bassline, an instantly memorable flute melody and lyrical gems". Nardine Saad from the ''

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'' said the song has an "affirmative, instantly uplifting disco beat", Ree Hines from '' Today'' labeled the record as "a uplifting disco bop". The song's chorus features a piano motif interpolated from the 1984's tune " Hey DJ" by

The World's Famous Supreme Team The World's Famous Supreme Team was an American hip hop radio show duo and recording group active from 1979. The original members were Sedivine the Mastermind (Larry Price) and Just Allah the Superstar (Ronald Larkins Jr.). Career The group's ...

Chart performance

For the week dated April 30, 2022, "About Damn Time" debuted at number 50 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, with 7,000 digital downloads and 6.5 million U.S. streams. On the week dated May 14, 2022, the song jumped from number 60 to number 19, becoming her fourth top 20 hit. One week later, the song rose to number nine becoming her fourth top 10 hit. The song has peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in its 14th week, becoming her second number one on the chart after " Truth Hurts", and the first number one hit to feature the word "damn" in its title. "About Damn Time" held at number one on the Hot 100 for 2 consecutive weeks.

Promotion

Lizzo previewed the song on ''

The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28am ...

'' in March 2022. She first performed the song in full on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' on April 16, 2022, where she pulled double duty as both host and musical guest. During the months following the song's release, Lizzo promoted "About Damn Time" heavily through

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, including a video celebrating the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the

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. TikTok personality Jaeden Gomez choreographed an easily replicable dance for the song that became a viral phenomenon on the platform; Lizzo spotlighted Gomez's choreography in multiple performance and tutorial videos. On June 26, 2022, Lizzo performed "About Damn Time" at the 22nd BET Awards; during the song, Lizzo stated, "It’s about damn time we stand in our power. Black people, my people." On June 27, ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' premiered a Carpool Karaoke segment with Lizzo, which culminated in Corden and Lizzo performing the song's TikTok choreography with a troupe of dancers. Jaeden Gomez appeared as a cameo in the segment.

Music video

The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was directed by Christian Breslauer. In the video, Lizzo runs out of a "Stressed & Sexy"

support group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...

meeting. While dancing in an office building, her outfit changes from a

sweatsuit Sweatsuit may refer to : * Sweatsuit, a set of exercise clothing comprising a sweatshirt and sweatpants Sweatpants are a casual variety of soft trousers intended for comfort or athletic purposes, although they are now worn in many differen ...

into a sequined

jumpsuit A jumpsuit is a one-piece garment with sleeves and legs and typically without integral coverings for feet, hands or head. The original jump suit is the functional one-piece garment used by parachuting, parachuters. The original skydivers' j ...

that she wears for the remainder of the video. In further scenes, Lizzo dances down a hallway with an

illuminated dance floor An illuminated dance floor, LED dance floor or disco dance floor is a floor with panels or tiles that light up with different colours. They are used for dance. They were popularised for disco by the 1977 film '' Saturday Night Fever,'' which had ...

and plays a

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

while walking atop the water in a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

In other media

"About Damn Time" was used in the pre-game montage for the October 15, 2022 broadcast of ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

'' on Canadian sports channel

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celebrating its 70th season on television. The montage began with host Ron MacLean summarizing events that occurred when the program went on the air in 1952 before cutting into the song beginning. The game the montage served as the intro for the game between the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

and the

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, which was broadcast on all Sportsnet regional channels except Sportsnet East, which broadcast the game between the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and the

Washington Capitals The Washington Capitals (colloquially known as the Caps) are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL) ...

instead.

References

{{Navboxes , title = Awards for "About Damn Time" , titlestyle = background: lightblue , list1 = {{Grammy Award for Record of the Year {{MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Social Message 2022 songs 2022 singles Lizzo songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Atlantic Records singles MTV Video Music Award for Best Video with a Social Message American disco songs Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical Grammy Award for Record of the Year