Recently, SZA has taken a break from touring with Top Dawg Entertainment on the label’s Championship Tour due to injuring her vocal cords. It looks like she’ll be taking a much-needed break to recover and after hearing about this, I got to thinking about what I like so much about the artist and her debut album, Ctrl. Not only can I listen to her songs literally every day, there is something so relatable about SZA. There is a sense of vulnerability, opening to love and empowerment in her work as she’s bending genres of R & B, neo-soul, and more.

When I first started jamming to SZA’s Ctrl, I instantly thought of Janet Jackson’s famous album, Control. Obviously, there is no coincidence that the two break-out albums are synonymous to each other. In the Control album, the legendary singer took back her power, proclaimed herself Ms. Jackson, and set herself apart from her famous brother(s) who rocked the 70s and 80s at the time. SZA asserts herself in her album as well but in a very different way. Ctrl embraces coming to one’s power gradually, being vulnerable while acknowledging insecurity, which is highlighted in songs like Drew Barrymore, Normal Girl, Garden (Say It Like Dat), basically the whole album…. Also, this journey is expressed through the audio of the female figures in SZA’s life, her mom and grandmother. Simultaneously, SZA is bold (singing about men, pussy, and the uncertainty of modern relationships) and being entirely herself, i.e. her songs Doves in the Wind and The Weekend just to name a few.  I think in this age of self-care and self-love, this is a vital step: declaring you are awesome, out-of-this-world fabulous (did y’all see her at the Met Gala?!) and a work in progress.

I think her music videos truly help express how relatable she is because they are quirky and defy norms. They are all vastly different, never quite what you expect, but they show aspects of SZA. There is femininity, a bit of fantasy (which I can’t help but adore), and the sense of wandering that’s wrapped up in being 20-something, as she puts it. I just love the dreaminess, the nostalgia, and hints of vivid reality in her videos. The most stand out example is the video for my favorite song on the album, Broken Clocks. It starts in a summer camp setting with someone screaming wake up. It has this faded 80s movie filter setting that immediately feels reminiscent of good-old-times. Yet, the end of the video pulls the viewer and SZA back to “reality,” which is set in a strip club.

SZA’s first song on the album, Supermodel, is one of the rawest songs where she puts herself out there, addressing the state she was in during, and after, a sucky relationship. Yet, in the visual representation of her song, SZA plunges into a fairytale world in which she becomes a supermodel in her own eyes, not in the eyes of a man. I think the video adds texture to the song in this way when there are very honest lyrics like “I don’t see myself”. So, primarily she transforms into a person that relishes their own beauty and inner strength. My favorite moment is when the shift happens, where you see the ex-boyfriend character laughing at her, then SZA hears fairy children calling out to her. They seem to coax out her ideal self, where she can easily walk away from the taunting ex-boyfriend, even forget about him momentarily, while she’s strutting down her own type of runway. I think having children present in her videos highlights recapturing joy, and of course, going back to the basics of a somewhat simpler time.

Fantasy is also explored in her most recent video, Garden (Say it Like Dat). She reimagines Adam and Eve, places the Garden of Eden in a lush tropical setting. Seeing the abundant greenery, cliffs, and seascape, I thought to myself, this actually makes so much sense. I wondered why I never really imagined an Eden this way…but that’s a very different conversation. There are the scenes of her cuddling up with co-star Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino, which highlights opening to romantic love. Yet, the moments were SZA is singing on a hilltop and meeting her mother, a grounded female figure, are some of the more poignant pieces. The artist has said herself that she didn’t really ask people in her life for advice, even her mother. So, to have these moments in the video suggest that SZA is opening to other types of love from herself and others.

Hands down SZA has one of the best visual representations of the battle of the sexes in her music video for Doves in the Wind. It’s one of my favorite videos of hers’ because it looks like she and Kong Fu Kenny (Kendrick Lamar) are having so much fun, and showing off some pretty cool skills, but also I appreciate the homage to old kong fu films. It had the elements like the pupil and the master, martial arts showdowns, and the dialogue that doesn’t quite match up since many of those old films were translated. I thought of my brothers and my dad who all admire martial arts, Bruce Lee, and such films as Enter the Dragon, Drunken Master, Fist of Fury and tons more. And, I myself remembered watching more contemporary examples like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and all the Jet Li and Jackie Chan movies with my family too. Watching her music video, I felt wow she totally gets it! The video felt like a nod to the very real cross-cultural experience for some Black people that emerged from those films and that still arises today from media like anime and manga. In the video itself, SZA was a complete badass, conjuring up grace and fierceness, like the two main actresses (Michelle Yeoh & Zhang Ziyi) in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. SZA was up for any fight and not backing down even when she was literally knocked down by Kong Fu Kenny. In the end, she levitates after delivering the final blow and winning the battle.

SZA herself has stated that control is a fantasy, a concept. When you listen to the album, it becomes clear that the songs are questioning dynamics like relationships with family, friends, and lovers, as well as questioning perceptions of being a totally actualized woman. There’s beauty in confidence and there’s beauty in being a little awkward and unsure. What I love about the album is that it’s offering an honest perspective, the soul-searching is palpable. People are more than one thing. Black women are more than one thing. They can be funny, playful, awkward, sexy, feel like outcasts, and be so very complex and wonderful. I am so happy I was able to see all this in action when I saw her live and up close!

When SZA came to The Novo at LA Live in Downtown, Los Angeles, some good friends and I stood

for hours waiting for her to grace the stage, but it was worth the aching feet and standing packed like sardines. I think it’s clear I barely knew what to do with myself, my excitement is written all over my face :D.

Her show will be in my vault of favorite memories, because not only did I meet her and see wonderful performances from emerging artists Ravyn Lanae and Smino, I saw her perform some of my favorite songs with such beautiful Black girl magic! I think her freedom in just simply being herself was truly on display and it was empowering to see. 

Also, Kendrick dropped by to just hang out and, you know, join SZA in Doves in the Wind. (The SZA concert was the third time I’ve seen this man just pop-up in LA, one day we will meet in person, I can feel it.)

I look forward to whatever SZA offers next since this debut is just the beginning for her and I know those vocal cords won’t keep her down. I hope there are more explorations of self, love, theories/concepts like control, as well as genres in music and music videos in her future.

Sending all the health and wellness to SZA!

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Best,

Kai 😀