Tuesday night, during her “Special” tour stop at the Capital One Arena, Lizzo performed the crystal flute of previous President James Madison.
She announced to the audience that she is the first person to ever play the 1813-made instrument.
As his audience cheered, the “Truth Hurts” singer handled the artifact carefully, blew twice, and jiggled it. She made a witty remark about how it seemed “like playing out of a wine glass” because of the crystal clarity of the instrument.
‘We just made history tonight,’ she proclaimed to the assembled company. It’s because of the Library of Congress that learning about the past is actually fun. You guys, history is awesome.
Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, invited Lizzo to come to play “a couple” flutes at the library this past weekend.
More than 1,800 flutes can be found in the collection of the Library of Congress, making it the largest in the world.
President James Madison’s crystal flute from 1813 is included,” Carla Hayden wrote on Twitter on Friday. When you’re in DC next week, we’d be thrilled if you could stop by to check it out and maybe even perform a few songs. They are “Good as hell,” to quote your song.
On Saturday, Lizzo unexpectedly replied to Hayden, and on Monday afternoon, she was observed in the Library of Congress.
Apparently, Hayden “personally requested whether it was acceptable for Lizzo to play,” as one library user tweeted. Making “disruptive noises” and “using any musical instrument or another device for the production or replication of sound” are generally not allowed in the Library of Congress.
Below, you can see Lizzo twerk while playing the crystal flute that belonged to James Madison.