Pop Culture PitPCP

Lizzo Goes Full ‘Jolene’ as Dolly Parton for Halloween, and Splits the Internet

By

Mike Wayne

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Lizzo laughs while holding James Madison’s crystal flute at the Library of Congress in 2022.

Two months after Dolly Parton’s death, Lizzo recreated the “Jolene” cover art for Halloween and thanked Parton for crediting her flute on Rockstar. Not everyone was ready for it.

A 2022 file photo, not the Halloween look. Photo by Shawn Miller, Library of Congress, cropped (CC0)

The Lowdown

Lizzo spent Halloween as Dolly Parton, recreating the cover of the 1973 “Jolene” single and dedicating the look to the country legend, who died in August at 80 (Billboard; Wikipedia). Plenty of fans loved it. A vocal group called it too soon (UNILAD).

Key Takeaways

  • Lizzo posted the costume on Oct. 31: a yellow floral jumpsuit and a platinum-blonde wig modeled on the artwork for Parton’s 1973 single “Jolene” (Billboard).
  • In the clip, she lip-syncs Parton’s 1967 song “Dumb Blonde,” with the caption “Singing Jolene tonight 4 U @dollyparton” (Billboard).
  • A second post recreated the red alternate “Jolene” cover and showed Lizzo with a guitar in front of a plaque for Parton’s album Rockstar, which features her on flute (Billboard).
  • SZA commented, “How is everything u do perfect” (Billboard). A Pop Base post of the look passed 1.2 million views on X (@PopBase on X).
  • Some commenters called the tribute disrespectful so soon after Parton’s death; others said Parton, who often praised her impersonators, would have loved it (UNILAD).

Lizzo on Instagram

The Story

Lizzo went big and very blonde for Halloween. Her costume, a yellow floral jumpsuit topped with a platinum wig, was built on the cover art of Dolly Parton’s 1973 single “Jolene,” according to Billboard (Billboard).

The song she picked for the video was a deeper cut. Lizzo lip-synced “Dumb Blonde,” the 1967 single that opens with a line Parton built a career on: “Just ’cause I’m blonde, don’t think I’m dumb, ’cause this dumb blonde ain’t nobody’s fool” (Billboard). Her caption: “Singing Jolene tonight 4 U @dollyparton” (Billboard).

Fellow singer SZA was among the first to weigh in, writing, “How is everything u do perfect” (Billboard).

The flute, the credit and the plaque

The second post explained why the tribute was personal. Recreating the red alternate “Jolene” cover, Lizzo posed with a guitar in front of a gold plaque for Rockstar, Parton’s rock album, where Lizzo played flute on the cover of “Stairway to Heaven” (Billboard).

“In 2024 when the world turned its back on me Dolly Parton asked me to play flute on her album,” Lizzo wrote. “I, of course said ‘hell yes’ and my only ask was that she credit Sasha Floot as well… she not only credited @sashabefluting we went on to get a plaque for that album” (Billboard). Sasha Flute is the name Lizzo gave her flute (Wikipedia). Rockstar was released in November 2023 (Wikipedia).

She closed with a goodbye: “Dolly, you icon you, thank you for believing in the good of humanity, for seeing our light in the darkness and loving us anyways! From H-Town to Nashville— ! We will always love you” (Billboard).

‘Too soon’ versus ‘Dolly would’ve loved this’

Not everyone was ready. UNILAD rounded up comments calling the costume “more mocking and disrespectful than the iconic tribute” it seemed to be going for, and asking, “It’s a little too soon no? Read the room” (UNILAD).

Others pushed back just as hard. “Dolly would’ve LOVED this,” one fan wrote, while another argued that anyone calling it disrespectful “clearly don’t know dolly or her personality” (UNILAD).

Parton herself addressed the question years ago. Speaking at the National Press Club in 2009, she called people recreating her look a “great compliment,” adding: “It’s like Halloween. I mean, you see Dollys everywhere” (UNILAD).

The Pit Take

This is opinion. This was a tribute, and it read like one. Lizzo didn’t pick a random icon for a cheap laugh. She picked a collaborator who put her on a record and credited her flute, and she said so in plain words.

“Too soon” is a fair feeling, but it isn’t a rule, and Parton spent decades telling the world that a blonde wig and a big smile in her honor was a compliment. Some of the harshest replies weren’t really about the costume at all; they were about Lizzo. Her body and her past aren’t the subject here, and they shouldn’t be the price of paying respect to a friend.

The Background

Parton died on Aug. 25, 2026, at 80. Over a six-decade career she wrote and recorded hits including “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and “9 to 5,” and in 2022 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which inspired Rockstar (Wikipedia).

Lizzo, a classically trained flutist, broke through with “Truth Hurts” and “Good as Hell” and has won four Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for “About Damn Time” (Wikipedia). For more celebrity costumes from this year, see PCP’s Halloween 2026 roundup.

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