A highly beloved R&B artist SZA, recently dropped her third album, S.O.S. on Dec. 9 after a five year hiatus from her last studio album. During her break, she struggled immensely with trying to gain artistic control over her label. Furthermore, she was battling with the death of her grandmother, whom she reminisced about in the album “CTRL,” as it displayed audio recordings of her voice towards the end of many tracks. When S.O.S. was released, many fans took an eye to the lyrics and visuals of the album, which they interpreted to represent reminiscing over a failed past relationship.
SZA’s albums, although scarce, seem to follow a pattern of expressing different prominent hardships she endures, being a young adult in the music industry. Fans have remained closely by her side as many have found ways to relate to her lyrics and feel the meaning of her music. S.O.S. served as a heartbreak album for anyone feeling the wrath of a recent, or past relationship break. Lyrics like “I might kill my ex,” derived from “Kill Bill,” the second song presented on the studio album, caught the eyes of fans on social networks like TikTok and Instagram. This song reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs, a first for SZA, and catapulted her album’s overall success and attention on social media.
Despite her popularity, SZA was well prepared for the album to be a flop. According to Rolling Stone’s interview with the well renowned artist, she invited her friends and family to accompany her due to her nerves surrounding the success of the album. “I never thought in a million years people would like it,” she remarked. Nonetheless, there aren’t too many points of criticism for S.O.S. according to fans. Even social media stars have been shown promoting the album. A tweet by @YemisizealTv shows “Madison Beer sings SZA’s “Kill Bill” on a recent Instagram Live,” with an attachment of the star singing lyrics of the fan favorite hit.
This goes to show that a doubtful anticipation can lead to something quite promising, SZA continues to top charts and defy expectations as more fans delve deeper into S.O.S.!
Written by Naima Cho-Khaliq of Thomas S. Wootton High School
Photo courtesy of BET