Album reviews: Lizzo – Cuz I Love You, Fat White Family – Serfs Up! and Cage the Elephant – Social Cues

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Heard you say I’m not the baddest, bitch, you lie.” “Woke up feeling like I just might run for president,” she announces on “Like a Girl”, “even if there ain’t no precedent.” Later on that song, whose chanty chorus is not quite as brilliant as its friskily rapped verses, she declares: “Only exes that I care about are in my f**king chromosomes.” This is a polished, playful album, though it has a DIY edge to it: “S**t, f**k, I didn’t know it was ending right there,” she chuckles in the final few moments of “Like a Girl”. “When I’m headlining next time,” she announced, “I’m gonna need my motherf**king ears to work.” Judging by the strength of her third album, that might not be such an implausible assumption. Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial Sign up Social Cues opens with the bouncy punk of “Broken Boy”, where the raw, driving energy and distorted vocal delivery recall The Damned’s seminal 1977 track “Neat Neat Neat”. By the time the album reaches its closing track you’re well prepared for a blistering climax, which makes the stripped-back, sombre piano notes and Shultz’s low murmurs on “Goodbye” all the more disarming.