diff --git a/beetsplug/lyrics.py b/beetsplug/lyrics.py
index 4c35d8a2e3..76854f0e99 100644
--- a/beetsplug/lyrics.py
+++ b/beetsplug/lyrics.py
@@ -958,7 +958,7 @@ class LyricsPlugin(RequestHandler, plugins.BeetsPlugin):
 
     @cached_property
     def backends(self) -> list[Backend]:
-        user_sources = self.config["sources"].get()
+        user_sources = self.config["sources"].as_str_seq()
 
         chosen = sanitize_choices(user_sources, self.BACKEND_BY_NAME)
         if "google" in chosen and not self.config["google_API_key"].get():
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index d4a2a31d4b..fbb7573f55 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Bug fixes:
   audio-features endpoint, the plugin logs a warning once and skips audio
   features for all remaining tracks in the session, avoiding unnecessary API
   calls and rate limit exhaustion.
+- :doc:`plugins/lyrics`: Accepts strings for lyrics sources (previously only
+  accepted a list of strings). :bug:`5962`
 
 For plugin developers: