FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
PHOTO CREDIT: Nathaniel Goldberg/Trunk Archive
Part Seventy-Five: SZA
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BECAUSE there was a period…
PHOTO CREDIT: Blair Caldwell
where SZA (Solána Imani Rowe) was not giving interviews, there is not as much current interview material than I would like. That said, there is plenty online that gives information about the incredible artist. Her sole studio album to date, Ctrl, was released in 2017. Arriving after several E.P.s, it is one of the greatest and most important albums of the past decade. I will drop in a couple of glowing reviews for that album in a minute. I think that SZA is already an artist who commands an enormous amount of respect. She will definitely go down in history as an icon; someone who has compelled and moved many people. Her phenomenal music proves she has the talent to be in the industry for decades. Before sourcing some interviews, I want to show some of the reviews for Ctrl. Listen to the album if you have not heard it before. AllMusic held a lot of love for a truly remarkable debut album:
“Solana Rowe's proper debut album, due to its title, invites comparisons to Janet Jackson's 1986 personal and commercial breakout. It's an individual statement, however, one distinct from even the contemporary likes of Kehlani's SweetSexySavage. Placed beside only Z, its three-year-old prelude, Ctrl is the work of a considerably less-inhibited songwriter. Rowe likewise truly fronts these frank songs that wield power as they lament lonesomeness, insecurity, and inertia. She neither projects slight wisps nor obscures herself inside swirling synthesizers, yet she oversells not a single thought.
On screen, a slight shrug from her would probably devastate an expectant admirer. In the slow-motion hip-hop soul of "Doves in the Wind," featuring a hectoring verse from fellow TDE artist Kendrick Lamar, Rowe schools inapt and inept male behavior, offering intimate counsel and acerbic derision in a uniquely offhanded style. As assured as she is in this mode, she's not too proud to test a partner ("Call me on my bullshit, lie to me and say my booty gettin' bigger even if it ain't"), express personal dissatisfaction ("All alone still, not a thing in my name"), or plainly grieve ("Do you even know I'm alive?"). The production crew here is almost completely different from the one involved on Z, with TDE regular Tyran Donaldson (aka Antydote and Scum) the lone holdover, present on seven tracks. For every overdone trap trick, there's a couple of sly wrinkles, like the thick, chiming groove in "Go Gina," where Rowe brilliantly illustrates a specific kind of fatigue ("Picking up a penny with a press-on is easier than holding you down") and the woozy, decayed synthesizer line in the Travis Scott-assisted single "Love Galore," ideal for a song about rekindling a dead-end affair. This is a marked improvement, a distinctive statement, and an indication of more great work to come”.
I think so many people are asking whether there will be another album soon simply because of the impact and brilliance of Ctrl. It is the creation from a woman who is a role model and hugely importance voice in music (and a wider political and social sphere). Consequence had the following to say about the mighty SZA’s Ctrl:
“SZA’s lyrics across the slow-simmering album resonate well beyond the confines of a diary or a recording booth to remind scorned lovers who have considered suicide — okay maybe just arson or posting a few incriminating texts — when the sorry’s are no longer enough, to say all of the things that end up left unsaid at the demise of relationships. That post-YOLO approach to the creative process first surfaces on “Supermodel”, the smoldering Scum-produced revenge jam that conjures N.E.R.D.’s “Run to the Sun” and finds SZA speeding off of a cliff in a vehicle with no brakes by the opening statements: “I been secretly banging your homeboy/ Why you in Vegas all up on Valentine’s Day?/ Why am I so easy to forget like that?” If ever there were occasion to drop a bomb on an R&B track, this one might be it.
SZA dodges an ex lingering in her shadow on the Travis $cott-assisted second single, “Love Galore”. The Cam O’Bi-produced “Doves in the Wind” places the pussy on a pedestal and nearly reprises Kendrick Lamar’s “head is the answer” refrain from post-Butterfly gem “Untitled 4”. Pulling the cards of serially disrespectful men, the song — though clearly about the yams — is more a PSA to the scrubs of the world that still do not get how sacred the female body is. All of this is sewn up with a roundabout reference to Kendrick’s m.A.A.d. City as SZA riffs on the theme from ’90s sketch comedy show Mad TV. Doubling down on lead single “Drew Barrymore”, SZA takes listeners inside the female body to sing from the perspective of her perceived imperfections against a well-produced track that plays with a nod to early ’90s grunge. By “The Weekend” and “Go Gina”, SZA’s affection for the slow-burning body roll classics popularized by artists like Guy and Keith Sweat and perfected by R. Kelly is pretty clear. Once “Broken Clocks”, the criminally short James Fauntleroy feature “Wavy”, and “Pretty Little Birds” have run, SZA has put all of her cards on the table, taken a deep dive into a web of complicated feelings, and come up with a seamless release.
PHOTO CREDIT: Elizabeth Wirija
Working with a dedicated team of producers, including Bekon, Antydote, and Carter Lang, SZA makes what may ultimately be the most important statement of the project with genre-bending, atmospheric production that openly challenges the music to evolve. To live indefinitely outside the lines, on the edge where artists do not play it safe and the academy’s categorical boxes no longer exist.
Concerned with elevating the genre to something that is completely her own, SZA trades in the kind of alchemical magic that can only be derived from the intersection of youthful indiscretion, sincerity, and naïveté in her approach to the stylistic pillars of R&B. Somewhere between the house built by Frank Ocean’s monotone and falsetto and Migos’ signature trap cadences, SZA’s unique manipulation of language in performance moves far afield of clever euphemisms and the temporary high of rap entendres or gospel runs to focus on the deliberate deconstruction of words. Her approach to song structure is one that accommodates bespoke production and the angsty weight of her statements. Practically sounding out her thoughts, she gives tangible shape to emotion and establishes a clear respect for the craft of delivery.
This approach elevates otherwise quirky, multi-tonal, sarcastic, and sometimes nasal observations about growing pains to polysyllabic works of art. Her statements are punctuated by the wise observations of her mother and grandmother, who act as spirit guides eager to dole out advice and look back upon the highs and lows of their youth. With Ctrl, SZA proves that the cult following that ballooned with the release of her 2014 mixtape, Z, was not some flash in the pan, but a deserved wellspring of attention from an adoring fan base whose faith in what she had yet to produce helped to produce the project that could eventually stand as the best thing she has ever done”.
I am going to get into interviews. I love reading interviews with SZA. She is such a compelling and interesting person. I will start with one from Wonderland. from summer of last year. Among other things, SZA discussed working with her musical hero, Pharrell Williams:
“Born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, Solána Imani Rowe is no stranger to the isolation many of us are facing during coronavirus social distancing measures around the world. “I didn’t have any siblings that lived with me, all my siblings are 10 years apart, and when you don’t have any friends or playmates there’s a lot of room to get weird,” says SZA.
“Sometimes I was taking up sculpture, or doing martial arts on my own, or going to the library by myself and looking up UFOs and séances, then coming home and summoning s**t in the basement. When I left my house and tried to talk to people in the regular world they were so off-put by me, like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why you acting like this?’ I think it had to do with only child syndrome, plus being in a random suburb, and being one of the only black families in our five-block radius.”
Her self-confessed weirdness is partly what connected SZA to one of her biggest heroes: Pharrell Williams. From taking a 4am train to Manhattan “on a school day” to watch him arrive at the Good Morning America studios, to interning at his Billionaire Boys Club clothing company and ending up in N.E.R.D.’s 2009 video for “Everyone Nose”, SZA has been manifesting making music with Pharrell for years. And, on Super Bowl weekend in February 2020, it finally happened. “I wanna jump up and down every time I think about it,” says SZA.
PHOTO CREDIT: Blair Caldwell
However, this wasn’t actually her first experience with him in the studio. “The first time he was in the room with Rihanna and stunting for him is how I lost “Consideration”. Rihanna’s like, ‘B***h, I’m taking this song and there’s nothing you can do about it, but I’m gonna do it justice!’” she recalls. “Consideration” is, of course, on RiRi’s 2016 album, ANTI, with SZA featuring.
It would have made it on to Ctrl had she listened to the advice of Top Dawg Entertainment president, Punch. “Punch gave me strict instructions not to play anything from my album, but I wasn’t about to go in there, to a room with [him] and Rihanna, and play the flops. I’m playing “Drew Barrymore” and I’m playing “Consideration”. I’m playing everything I have!” she laughs. “But Punch says, ‘I’m telling you, do not do this,’ so we agreed that I wasn’t gonna do that. Then I walk in, Pharrell is sitting there drinking wine, and I guess my hands just slipped and I played my album. I played Ctrl.”
SZA thought that session, coupled with another for Ariana Grande that she felt she blew, had ruined her shot of working with the super-producer forever. Thankfully she was wrong and spent a week writing and recording with N.E.R.D. in Miami. “He asked me to do something on a beat, in front of everybody, and I normally record in a room by myself all the time. This was him, Chad [Hugo] and like five other people. So I go into the studio, I lay my crystals down on the floor in a grid and I just start f**king snapping. I’m snapping anything […] I was trying so hard, but not at the same time; it was weird. So then I go over to DJ Khaled’s house to record on the beat once our session’s over. Ty Dolla $ign randomly comes over and we’re making s**t, and then I play it for P and he’s just f**king with me the way I dreamed he would be f**king with me. He ended up extending the session for an extra three days and at the end I was just like, ‘You don’t know how much you mean to me in the realm of black, suburban, weird kids. You validated me in the world for thinking differently and dressing differently, and feeling differently, and that’s priceless.’ I’m damn about to cry right now just thinking about it.”
SZA spent her childhood listening to Justin’s old band, NSYNC, as well as other boy bands like LFO, Backstreet Boys and Hanson. “I don’t know why, but I was very much an “MMMBop” person,” she says. “I loved that boy band energy. It was intoxicating.” Her diverse musical tastes — including everyone from Ella Fitzgerald to Jamiroquai, Björk to Limp Bizkit — all play a part in SZA’s own unique sound, and why she doesn’t want to be categorised within the one genre of R&B. “Nobody does that to white people at all, ever. No one ever does that to Adele or Justin Bieber when they’re wholeheartedly singing R&B. Or Björk, where nobody’s sure what the f**k she’s singing, but it’s energy and nobody’s concerned.”
“It’s like the only genre that we’re allowed to own is R&B and soul, and even then you might get bumped outta that category by somebody with fairer skin and a better marketing team. But I can’t pretend it’s not exciting to see someone who isn’t black execute so exceptionally well. It’s mystifying; the soul is an energy. Like Nai Palm from Hiatus Kaiyote, she’s a f**king force to be reckoned with. She’s one of my favourite voices of soul right now, next to Ari Lennox. R&B is too fickle.
I spent too much time growing up on just as much Imogen Heap, and listening to Comfort Eagle by Cake and vibing for people to call me a ‘queen of R&B’. Why can’t I just be a queen, period?”
As we wrap up our chat, talk turns back to our present way of quarantine living and the effect that it’s having on our mental health. Currently living with her best friend Amber, who was her college roommate, plus her dog and a bunny rabbit gifted to her by a former neighbour, SZA isn’t completely on her own — but she is learning how to be alone with herself.
“It’s definitely hard for me because I’m always with somebody and it’s crazy to not have the option to go out and do anything. But that’s when you have to get used to yourself. I realised I don’t enjoy spending time by myself, then I was like, ‘Do I not like myself?’ And I was like, ‘No b***h, you don’t like yourself for a host of reasons and you’re trying way too hard for people that are already your friends to like you because you don’t like yourself.’ So right now I’m learning how to spend time with myself… You can’t waste time pretending or trying too hard. Everyone who doesn’t like you wasn’t gonna like you anyway”.
Late last year, SZA released the magnificent single, Good Days. It was an exciting and much-celebrated song from her. It is definitely a song that is still in my mind. Billboard spoke to SZA around the release of that song. She was also asked about championed good mental-health. It is interesting learning how she keeps herself afloat and uplifted:
“I know you're a huge advocate of mental health, especially for the Black community. How have you been able to protect your mental health during the pandemic as SZA, Solana and each persona that you are?
I don't separate myself, definitely. I just been outside. I'm definitely a good-natured, therapy kind of person. I hit the forest, or I hit the park, or I do a lot of walks, a lot of exercises. Sitting still and meditating is a component for me, but it's not my key component. I need to be outside amongst trees, and among anything nature-based. I'll drive really far to get there and I don't mind. I don't mind dragging whatever I have to drag.
I actually went with my parents on the Delaware River. We kayaked six miles. I did nine miles by myself. We never camped out as family before -- and you know as Black people, that's really important. Hella tree activity. [Laughs.]
Have you seen a spike in your creative activity, with you being outside as often as you have during the pandemic?
Absolutely. I just feel crunchy when I don't get outside, or even when I'm in heavy [traffic] areas -- like a fancy part of New York City -- and there's not enough trees in your area. I really had to go out of my way to find that moment, because it was bringing me down. It was super-weird, and making my music feel weird, because I was like, unsure of myself. You're really just bouncing yourself off an indoor wall all the time. It's just not normal.
You already can't bounce off of people because of COVID, so that has everything feeling crazy. Your music is super-eternal -- and the first time people hear it, it's when it's public, and that's super weird for me. That's never happened to me before. I don't know. It's super weird, but being outside helps. It breaks that monotony and that cycle.
Do you have any positive affirmations you tell yourself on the daily to stay afloat mentally?
My granny used to tell me, "Just do your best, and when you do your best, that's all you can do." It's super simple, right? That's not enough, but usually, it kicks in when I've done something, and I'm asking myself, "Have I done this in a way that's adequate -- or did I actually do my best, and really try to put my foot in this s--t and take this as far as it can go?"
I fluctuate between "I'm filled with love and kindness," "I'm peaceful and at ease" and "I'm well and I'm happy," but I also do, "May I be filled with love and kindness," "May I be well," "May I be peaceful and at ease," and "May I be happy." I just keep it simple. I guess speaking stuff out loud has strength that I've been trying to learn, 'cause I feel like I'm kind of negative on myself. So I've been trying to say more positive and random things aloud at random moments.
CTRL has spent 191 weeks on the Billboard 200, and still remains inside the top 40. Have you sat back and thought back the impact this album has made on your life?
I just had no idea that anybody would like it this much, or that it would be anything like this. Because to me -- I wish I had more time to perfect it, or get it the right way. I never listen to my music. It's like, I'm listening to it back on the four-year anniversary for the first time -- 'cause I'm gonna listen to it, since I'm not on tour. It's very interesting. I just wonder how other people hear it, and I don't know.
I'm just grateful that God put me in a position to touch or be of service to other people even if I don't understand it. The ways I think I can be of service are not adequate, so this is a cool way that's really unbeknownst to me. I have no idea of the effects or how or why people connect to it the way they do. I'm just grateful to be around.
Even after the success you've gotten with your new singles "Hit Different" and "Good Days," are you still critical of yourself musically as much as before?
No, definitely the same. It's the same, if not more. It's so interesting. With "Good Days," I had learned that it wasn't meant to be a single. It was a song that I threw at the end of "Hit Different," because I liked it. The fact that it became a single, or even that random TikTok thing, -- [it] was not a song that I was working on, it was a song that I posted mad long ago. It was a snippet of a bunch of stuff that I was working on with Rodney Jerkins and we ended up making a bunch of songs.
I don't know. It's like my trajectory is out of my hands. All I can do is stay creative, try to be honest, do work and not be lazy. So I'm trying to be my best. That's all I can do -- my literal best. If I hear a song, now I wanna make it the best song that it can be. I might be overanalyzing that, but we'll see when it comes out.
With the "Good Days" visual on the way, you think you can rank you top three favorite videos of yours?
I can't do it in order, but the "Supermodel" video had the little Black girls and the fairy energy. It was exactly what my mind was thinking conceptually. I love the "Love Galore" video, except when Travis [Scott] dies at the end. He was really mad at me for that. It wasn't my decision. It was supposed to be [based on] the movie Misery. I don't know. I would probably say "Hit Different / Good Days." Those three I really like.
Which female artists would you say you've been checking out as a fan on the hip-hop and R&B side during the pandemic?
I listen to a lot of stuff that's not just hip-hop and R&B. But in that specific spectrum, I love Tiana Major9. She's so crazy. Lots of vocalists. I love Fousheé. I love Jean Dawson. Dawson is a dude. Go look at his music video, it has like a s--t ton of views. It's on YouTube. He's Black, but it's also like some punk s--t. It's tight -- it's super tight.
You know, [I've also been listening to] a lot of rap. A lot of Don Toliver. I'm obsessed. I've been listening to all the girls. Of course, Summer [Walker], Kehlani, and Ari [Lennox]. Those are my favorites, but I love all these new ones coming out. I think it's a beautiful time for music. Kota [The Friend] is [dope] too”.
I am going to finish off by bringing things more up to date. Back in July, SZA was featured by Vogue. Last year, I think SZA said she was going to stop doing interviews. Luckily., she did come back with new music and has done some press too. At such a strange time, it is interesting to hear from her and what she is up to. SZA spoke about directing her music, climate change, in addition to how she keeps and open and focused mind when creating new music:
“I use the anniversary of CTRL as an opportunity to cry and reflect every year,” says American singer-songwriter SZA, 30, of her four-time Grammy-nominated debut, which she released in 2017. “I never imagined I’d make it this far.” It’s this candour and vulnerability that fans love and, ultimately, it’s fuelled the Missouri-born, New Jersey-raised star’s musical growth and distinctive ethereal sound, keeping her high in the charts four years on.
The musical landscape irrefutably changed in 2020, ushering in a time when artists’ schedules ground to a halt. And in 2021, it’s safe to say that SZA’s making up for lost time. In between jumping on tracks with fellow superstars Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion, SZA placated her fans’ desperate pleas for new material by quietly dropping the video (that she also directed) for smash-hit single Hit Different. Featuring American singer Ty Dolla $ign and British musician Jacob Collier, it sent social media platforms into a tailspin and served as her first solo release since her highly acclaimed album. This was closely followed by Good Days, a global smash charged with a declaration of hopefulness — a message needed now more than ever. It quickly earned the musician a spot in the top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart back in January.
How do you keep a clear and open mind when making new music?
“‘What the hell am I going to talk about now?’ [is what I first thought when making the new album]. I try to give the music what it needs, not what I want it to ‘try’ to be. That’s the only way to do a good job. And it’s not something that I’ve mastered a lot of the time. It’s about trying to detach and reattach to self and to sound.”
The videos for your singles Hit Different and Good Days gave the world a chance to see your directorial vision. What was the inspiration behind both and can we expect more of this?
“I’m a novice – I’m trying things I’ve always wanted to do as we did with the creative for the In Bloom virtual concert. I’m excited to shoot my next video and elevate each experience the more I learn.”
You started the year on a great note with the success of your latest singles. What are you focused on at the moment?
“I want to make music I love – that’s all I’m focused on immersing myself in right now. I’m trying to maximise my love of self because I know that’ll permeate into everything I do.”
Climate change and being kinder to the planet is something you’ve been vocal about, especially within Black and Brown communities. How would you encourage younger generations to get involved?
“If you’re unsure where to start, begin by helping these communities any way you can, such as sponsoring your local garden, planting trees, volunteering to clean or writing to your local officials. And try to work with grassroots organisations rather than large corporations.
“A lot of cities face redlining and difficult economic circumstances directly stemming from systemic and environmental racism. For example, the current water crises in Memphis, Tennessee, and Flint, Michigan, are preventable. Officials could take action right now and make the necessary safety adjustments. It’s all about urgency and attention. Just give back because the people are the planet, and we all need one another”.
An artist who I really love - and I feel she will go down as one of the all-time greats - SZA is a modern-day legend. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in terms of an album. She has recently revealed that her November live dates will be her last before a new album. It is exciting that we might well get a new SZA record next year. Many people have been waiting to see what comes next for the modern icon. One can feel and sense a real evolution on Ctrl from her E.P.s. Since 2017, SZA has grown even stronger. Such a phenomenal and accomplished artist! If you need convincing as to how good she is, then the proof is…
IN the playlist below.