More about: SZA

Since the drop of SZA’s (perfect) 2017 album CTRL, her fans have been starving for another SZA project to drop. She hasn’t kept our plates completely empty, with the release of various singles and paired music videos, epic features with the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Doja Cat and an extended version of CTRL - but this simply wasn’t enough. Finally, the queen has returned, five years later, with her hefty 23-track sophomore album SOS. So the question is, was it worth the wait?  

SOS serves as a versatile yet sporadic project, covering all bases. In just over 68 minutes, SZA  takes us through every genre and mood she has to offer. Opening with ‘SOS’, Solana comes through scrappy, delivering raw, theatrical vocals with traditional rap cadence over a layered gospel sample, unashamedly confirming bum lift allegations and thoroughly taking no shit. 

The opener is followed by a run of fantastic songs: the twisted lullaby ‘Kill Bill’, where she flirts  with the idea of killing her ex; the boppy ‘Seek & Destroy’ with the catchy line ‘I had to do it you’ pulsing throughout, and the infectious trap cut ‘Low’, featuring ad libs from Travis Scott, who of course reinforces that “It’s Lit”. Travis features later on the album too on the reflective ‘Open Arms’, alongside a prelude by the return of SZA’s grandma, who we heard an awful lot from on CTRL - added in as a nice nod to the previous era. The album features aren’t limited to these two, with Don Toliver organically appearing on  the banger ‘Used’ and the highly-anticipated collab with Phoebe Bridgers, who mismatches SZA’s  vocals perfectly on the eerie ‘Ghost In The Machine’, where the sad-girl powerhouses plead for “humanity”. 

"With the enormous growth of her fanbase over the five year hiatus, SOS serves to please every member of this cult, experimenting with today's trending sounds regardless of genre..."

After this, the project takes a dip - ‘Snooze’ through to the jarring ‘Gone Girl’ are a forgettable run of unpolished, filler tracks for me, swiftly broken up by the rap cut ‘Smoking On My Ex Pack’  which feels like a mimic of a Drake song. The album takes an even roguer turn with the pop-punk ‘F2F’ followed by country ballad ‘Nobody Gets Me’ which both feel like they’ve been plucked  straight from the back-catalogue of songs that didn’t make the Hannah Montana movie  soundtrack. Although it feels like a very weak track to me, people online seem to be lapping up  ‘Nobody Gets Me’ and mutually agonising over the taxing heartache of being a simp, with SZA’s aid.  

‘Conceited’ through to ‘Far’ serve as the R&B leg of the album, with ‘Special’ singing the  shattering line “I gave all my special away to a loser/ Now I’m just a loser”, closely following after  ‘Conceited’ to capture the SZA charm in a nutshell, juxtaposing bad bitch carefree energy with vulnerable, sad girl vibes and advocating for being both. The tracks are followed by ‘Far’ which shares the zeitgeist of CTRL, as well as earlier track and album highlight ‘Blind’, basking in themes of vulnerability and femininity, paired by stunning SZA vocals.  

The tail end of SOS includes previously released, incredible singles: the hard-hitting ’Shirt’, 90s style slow jam ‘I Hate U’ and the ethereal ‘Good Days’. The running order of these songs together doesn’t sonically make so much sense, but at this point, the listener has become pretty  accustomed to the track-list jumping all over the shop, with the switch ups reengaging you each  time .The album closer of ‘Forgiveless’, sampling Wu Tang Clan’s Ol’ Dirty Bastard, serves as a paired bookend to the opening track as MC SZA returns, very much establishing that she’s back on her bullshit. Tieing up the chaotic album in a neat package, I can't help but wish this neat through path cut through the whole project rather than just from exit back to the entrance.

Despite the confusion and lack of cohesion of the album, this project is there to be explored. The CTRL shoes to fill were frankly too huge and its only fair to see this project as a separate  entity. With the enormous growth of her fanbase over the five year hiatus, SOS serves to please every member of this cult, experimenting with today's trending sounds regardless of genre but ingraining her SZA flair on each cut regardless - earnestly sharing her conflicting and ever changing internal monologue, a pendulum swinging between “I’m that girl” or “I wish I was that girl”.

SOS is out now

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More about: SZA