When I write about music, there are a few synonyms I might employ to avoid repetition of the word “singing.” I’m partial to “belting,” but I probably need to retire the term. How can it be applied with any accuracy to any track that follows Lizzo’s “Cuz I Love You”? In a phenomenal, blessedly tight three minutes, the Midwestern modern chanteuse absolutely sings the hell out her lyrics of helpless affection, as if she simultaneously grabbed batons passed by Nina Simone, Darlene Love, and Sharon Jones and then sprinted forward another hundred yards. Backed by a prowling, punching blast of music — orchestrated big enough to drown out lesser singers, but merely a humbled companion to Lizzo’s voice — the cut is decisive, thrilling, and wonderfully exhausting all at once.

I could type out more thoughts, but those words would be mere sputtering, pure futility. The performance is an earthquake bomb, impossible to collapse into description. My heavens, this is special.