the whole world I love SZA’s fantastic, genre-bending new album SOSstreaming it so relentlessly that she left Bad Bunny behind to become the number one artist on the planet on Spotify.
But five years between albums, it wasn’t the reputation she expected. In a new interview on the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast. “Now my father is here with my mother. We are just hanging out.
To hear the full episode, listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or hit the play button above. Some highlights follow.
SZA reveals the main theme behind SOS. “I think the album was partially inspired by lost love, but mostly by breaking away from trying to be a nice girl. I’ve been trying to be a nice girl for a long time. And I think I’ve done a good thing, and I’m a kind person, but I’m not a good boy, and that’s okay. Expanding and exploring that is like a new chapter in my life.”
Finding my lane in music and carving it out was not easy. “If you remember, when I first came out, it was Jeneye Aiko, Tinashe, [FKA] twigs,” says SZA. “They were all pale and skinny. And I came out, but I was none of those things. I still wanted to make interesting music. And why are you here?” when i was doing the opening for her and it was hard and i feel like people are coming to punch [the CEO of her label, TDE] A lot of the time it’s like, ‘Oh, you need to remake her.’ I didn’t think there was…and I didn’t expect anyone to judge it. But they were, and it was weird. And maybe it wasn’t until I lost weight that I realized everyone was acting weird differently.My music hasn’t really changed.I don’t think it’s because of my weight, but something happened. [where] Ah, as a commercially acceptable idea, I may have to try this. And I still don’t know where I fit in the grand scheme of things. I think people want to see me sticking my ass out and being super feminine. But when I go back to SZA in hockey jerseys or back to baggy clothes,SNL SZA, I’m not sure. Do not know. Anyway, I prefer not knowing what people think of me because I just want to be myself without expecting anything. The best way to do that is to keep changing shape aggressively and often, sonically and otherwise. ”
Some of the fearlessness of her lyrical revelations comes from boredom“I have a very short attention span and I’m off medication for things like ADHD, which makes it really hard to function in other aspects of my life,” she says. “But it also makes me really bored. So if I’m sitting on an album for five years and not getting bored working on it, at random times I have to start doing something completely different. It’s the same with my own lyrics, it’s like, ‘Eh, this is boring’ or ‘Eh, or I already said that. I try to think about what I am not saying or what I am hiding. I can usually tell what I’m hiding from myself or in general.And then I try sayBBL or not [Brazilian butt lift – on the album’s title track, she raps, “So classic, that ass so fat, it look natural, it’s not”], The embarrassment, shame, anxiety of the ex-boyfriend, anything. Maybe that’s the only way I don’t get bored is to do weird self-mutilation.
I can’t wait for the first arena tour, which was sold out immediately. “I’m really excited to be able to give people whatever they want,” she says. “It’s really annoying because I feel like I’ve been away for so long and people have kindly watched me play the same set for five years. I’ve shown you all the way … I want to give them the craziest experience ever and play whatever they want, whether it’s an unreleased song they thought they heard on the internet, or their favorite album cut from 2012. It doesn’t matter if it’s a deep cut, I just want to give them what they deserve and make it beautiful. No. It’s a lot different than this whole thing, like putting shit out on streaming and seeing people yell about it on Twitter. Because we can connect with people, make a difference in people’s lives, and move energies.
The album-making process was fraught with emotional depression. “It was probably only a few times. Like maybe until last week, when I texted. [my label] And I was like, ‘You don’t have to put this out. Just pull it out and move it to January. You can let this go.And she said, ‘You can’t, you’re wearing a crown.. You can’t push the baby back.’ can Please push the baby back. I can do it!even when i was [doing the] When I look at the tracklist and think, ‘Wow, this is boring’ or ‘This sucks,’ or when the first cover idea didn’t quite get what I wanted or didn’t work out, I thought, ‘I’m going to change the cover. Don’t put anything on it, don’t write anything on it.” And part of me just wanted to get over it. I want to meet my destiny If you don’t like it, great. I can never do music again. And I told the engineer that we would move to India, live in an ashram, take a vow of silence and that would be the end of it…and I am also really scared that we didn’t. Like me, what do I do now? And what does this really mean and when will the tide turn? When will people hate me again or think this sucks? And it’s unhealthy. That’s what I need to talk to a therapist about. “
upon Avatar: Path of Water: “I’m so excited about it!”
Download and subscribe to our weekly podcasts, rolling stone music now, on Apple Podcasts or Spotify (or wherever you can get the podcast), hosted by Brian Hiatt. Mariah Carey, Bruce Springsteen, Halsey, Neil Young, Snoop Dogg, Brandi Carlyle, Phoebe Bridgers, Rick Ross, Alicia Keys, National Ice Cube, Taylor Hawkins, Willow, Keith Richards, Robert Plant, Dua Lipa, Questlove, Killer Mike, Julian Casablancas, Sheryl Crow, Johnny Marr, Scott Weiland, Liam Gallagher, Alice Cooper, Fleetwood Mac, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Donald Fagen, Charlie Puth, Phil Collins, Justin Townes Earle, Stephen Malkmus, Sebastian Bach, Tom Petty, Eddie Van Halen, Kelly Clarkson, Pete Townshend, Bob・Seger, The Zombies, Gary Clark Jr., and many others. Plus, there are dozens of episodes featuring cross-genre discussions, debates, and explainers. rolling stonecritics and reporters.