SZA

100 Best Albums

  • 9 DEC 2022
  • SOS
  • 23 Songs

Essential Albums

  • SOS
    SOS
    SOS

    100 Best Albums In 2017, Ctrl—a 14-track project rife with songs about love, sex, self-doubt and heartbreak—became one of the most influential albums in R&B. Ctrl was the soundtrack for many people in their twenties, highlighting the growing pains of young adulthood. SZA’s vulnerability and raw honesty, coupled with ultra-relatable lyrics full of diary-like ruminations and conversations from friend group chats, are what made her debut so impactful. Where Ctrl reflected SZA’s journey towards finding self-love and acceptance, her long-awaited sophomore LP SOS finds the St. Louis-born singer-songwriter dealing with some of the same topics of love and relationships from a more self-assured place. She ditches the uncertainties of her romantic entanglements to save herself—most of the time. On the soulful and gritty album opener “SOS”, SZA reintroduces herself and says precisely what’s on her mind after a night of crying over a lost relationship: “I talk bullshit a lot/No more fuck shit, I’m done,” she swaggers. This isn’t the only song that shows her weariness towards relationships that no longer serve her; see also “Smoking on My Ex Pack” and “Far”. She finds the confidence to know that she doesn’t need to depend on a man to find happiness on “Conceited” and “Forgiveless”. However, not every song on the project is about moving on and leaving her past relationships behind her; SZA still has a penchant for making wrong decisions that may not end well for her (“Too Late”, “F2F”) and questions her worth in some instances (“Special”). The album sketches the ebbs and flows of emotions, with strength in one moment but deep regret and sadness the next. There’s growth between her debut and sophomore album, not just lyrically but sonically as well, blending a mix of her beloved lo-fi beats and sharing space with grunge- and punk-inspired songs without any of it sounding out of place. On the Phoebe Bridgers collaboration “Ghost in the Machine”, the duo take a deeper look at the realities of stardom, looking for a bit of humanity within their day-to-day interactions. The track is not only progressive in its use of strings and acoustic guitars but haunting in its vocal performance. Throughout the journey of SOS, there are moments of clarity and tenderness where SZA goes through the discomfort of healing while trying to find the deeper meaning within the trials and tribulations she endures. She embraces this new level of confidence in her life, where she isn’t looking for anyone to save her from the depth of her emotions but instead is at peace with where she’s at in life.

  • Ctrl (Deluxe)
    Ctrl (Deluxe)
    Ctrl (Deluxe)

    Control is an illusion, but as SZA's mother suggests at the open and close of Ctrl, there's power in holding on to the illusion, even while acknowledging it as such. The singer's debut examines what it looks like to own the narrative of your life and regain control simply by giving it up. It's at once deeply personal and profoundly universal, like an unlocked Tumblr with thousands of reposts spilling out in music form. Until a late flurry of percussion arrives, doleful guitar and bass are SZA’s only accompaniment on opener “Supermodel”, a stinging kiss-off to an adulterous ex. It doesn’t prepare you for the inventively abstract production that follows—disembodied voices haunting the airy trap-soul of “Broken Clocks”, the stuttering video-game sonics of “Anything”—but it instantly establishes the emotive power of her rasping, percussive vocal. Whether she’s feeling empowered by her physicality on the Kendrick Lamar-assisted “Doves in the Wind” or wrestling with insecurity on “Drew Barrymore”, SZA’s songs impact quickly and deeply. The deluxe version, released on the fifth anniversary of the original, adds seven more, all packing an equal emotional punch. On songs like “2AM”, “Tread Carefully” and “Awkward”, as throughout the album, she duels with herself as often as she does her partners; sometimes she's at peace with the mess of it all and then the tables turn and then turn again. The idea of control is reconciled through acceptance—of her barefaced self, of others, of the love she's offering and the love they can't—rather than attempts to manipulate reality. Through Ctrl, SZA sets herself free having realised that surrendering isn't always settling, that the demons and skeletons in the closet were, in fact, remarkably human all along.

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About SZA

Solána Rowe had a weird time growing up. Jersey suburbs, orthodox Muslim household, parents working their way through corporate America, wanted to fit in, couldn’t. She got bullied for wearing a hijab after 9/11 and became the kind of teenager who, on at least one occasion, drew the police into a chase while joyriding in the family car. “[My parents] were only strict because they were reasonable,” she told Apple Music in 2017. “Like, they’re Black, they come from the South and Midwest, they don’t come from anything…they’re not tryna take a gang of risks.” That Rowe had her own ideas about how to live didn’t help. “I rebelled really hard, and I learned everything the hard way,” she said. “I’m very hard-headed, very curious.” It’s a balance—rebellious but insecure, expressive but self-conscious, dreamy but alert—that has made Rowe resonant, but also an anomaly, the kind of artist who doesn’t ignore her quirks or contradictions, but brings them to the table in all their messy human glory. After self-releasing a couple of EPs in her early twenties (she took her name from the Nation of Islam’s Supreme Alphabet—Savior Zig-Zag Allah), she became the first female artist signed to Top Dawg Entertainment, joining future collaborators Kendrick Lamar and Jay Rock. Released in 2017, her debut album, Ctrl, put her at the vanguard of contemporary R&B, mixing the expressivity of classic soul with a hazy, synth-heavy atmosphere and a playful sense of lyricism that brought Rowe’s inner monologue out. “Even with the heels and tighter clothes and other things, I’m still just me,” she said. “I still have a lot of anxiety about the world, and my thoughts and what people think about my thoughts.” Following a five-year gap, SZA returned in 2022 with SOS, an album that crystallised her status as one of the most dynamic and commercially dominant singer-songwriters of her era. Coated in an eclectic mix of hip-hop, R&B, folk, electronica and more, the second LP finds SZA tackling imperfect love, with tracks like the No. 3 hit "Kill Bill" and the Grammy-winning "Snooze" embodying the type of songwriting that can be as ironic as it is heartfelt—a trademark for artists that turn emotional chaos into idiosyncratic grace. Her Apple Music Live session, performed at Brooklyn's Barclays Center, was broadcast in January 2024.

HOMETOWN
St. Louis, Missouri
BORN
8 November 1989
GENRE
R&B/Soul

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