SZA rules over R&B with “SOS”
Buckle up, we’re all going to jail with SZA!
In the five years since its release, SZA’s debut CTRL has become a classic, going down as one of the decade’s best and solidifying her presence at the forefront of contemporary R&B. The album announced the arrival of an artist willing to push the boundaries of the genre: defiantly experimental and yet enveloped with the emotion of classical R&B.
Since then, SZA has dropped a few tracks and features here and there but not a fully-fledged body of work, so SOS has been a long time coming. We have seen SZA master the art of transforming her inner thoughts and feelings into a song flawlessly. This album is no different; she transforms deeply personal experiences into grand songs that feel intimate, relatable, and elusive, all at once.
On first look SOS is very long – 23 tracks, well over an hour. Listening to the album in full is undoubtedly not an easy task. This is definitely not a complaint, however its dense content needs time to be unpacked and processed. Its bending and stretching of R&B subgenres and its prolonged release exhibit SZA as continually adding to and reworking a project, or perhaps throwing everything she’s ever felt since CTRL into this one project.
On the opening title track, “SOS,” SZA oozes confidence in her artistry and announces her long-anticipated return by comparing herself to Tom Brady and Kevin Durant. “They can’t survive off mini-mes,” she yells as she looks for competition but can’t find anyone. The track also samples Björk’s “Forgiveless” and interlopes Beyoncé’s “Listen” which elevates it by carrying their deep emotion.
“Kill Bill”, whose title is a reference to Quentin Tarantino’s two-part murder-revenge, finds SZA contemplating how she “might” kill her ex, and that “his new girlfriend’s next.” The song plays on the themes of love and hate as existing closer on the emotional spectrum than one might imagine. The bridge hangs on a stringy Banjo-like guitar finding SZA saying, “I did all of this for love, I did all of this sober, I did it all for us.” She even admits she’d rather be in jail than “be alone.” This blunt admission of unhinged honesty allows for the strong emotion of the song to hit perfectly.
“Blind”, arguably one of the best songs released this year, delivers exquisite lines like “my pussy precedes me,” and, “You still talking ’bout babies/I’m still takin’ a Plan B,” on a soothing, weighted string. The acoustic guitar is backed by a rich orchestra as SZA enchantingly sings. Her voice turns into what could best be described as angelic as she continually sings “Blind”.
SOS also finds SZA approaching her music with a genre-swapping and experimenting perspective. “Ghost in the Machine,” for example, sees SZA dip into alternative waters. While the song is a successful venture, Pheobe Bridgers’ feature seems unnecessary. In fact, all the features on the album are unnecessary; SZA could've easily dropped the project solo and amped up her experimentation. “F2F” is a prominent example of that. On the punk Avril-Lavigne-esque track, SZA presents a hook-up in its most raw form: “I f— him ’cause I miss you.” The distinct guitar and drums instantly take you back to the early 00s and the song could have easily topped the charts during that era.
In “Smoking on my Ex Pack” and “Low” SZA delves into different types of rap. One old school, the other modern, showcasing how she can dip into her emotions and paint them into songs however she wants. She still, however, stays at times in her classic quintessential R&B, as on the honest breakup ballad “Gone Girl,” a moving track over a warm piano, and “Too Late” which sees SZA questioning wanting more in a relationship over tender guitar strings.
This is the exact mix of confidence, pettiness, and ego that has engendered such a passion for SZA’s music and persona. Though the album is admittedly long, it is still not enough; the fans still want more magical music from the R&B artist. Her ability to expose herself and be so vulnerable and still be viewed as the epitome of sexiness and power is spectacular. SOS vindicates and finally releases SZA from the burden of expectation and allows her to finally accept the title of R&B Genuis.
