Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart nearly two years after its initial release, thanks to a TikTok meme and an appearance in the Netflix film Someone Great. The hit is co-produced by Tele and Lizzo’s frequent collaborator Ricky Reed, who is also known for working with Halsey, twenty one pilots, and Jason Derulo. Reed recent sat down with Genius to break down how the song was made.
To start the “Truth Hurts” session, Reed pulled up one of Tele’s piano loops. “There was a whole world built inside of this piano riff,” Reed explained. “I grew up in The Bay listening to guys like 40, $hort. So my natural inclination on this song, or any song, is gonna be to have the bass knock. So now the pattern is no longer a two-bar loop, it’s a four-bar loop, which makes the song a lot more listenable.”
He continued by building out the beat with a “good hard snare” and kick. Then he worked with some of Tele’s “great ear candy” that stuck out to him. “One thing Tele’s brilliant at is all these little sound design things happening,” said Reed. “I had never heard anything like that in my life. It’s almost like an alarm or a bell or a signal that’s just like, ‘Ding! Dinner’s ready!’”
The final sound that Reed added was a clap on the bridge. “It was so many music references, so many songs that have that moment,” he said. “‘Put A Ring On It,’ whatever it is, where like that attitude that comes from somebody just doing this in your face. It’s like, it’s aggressive.”
Check out the full Deconstructed episode above to learn more about how the song was made, and read all the lyrics to Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” on Genius now.
