SZAs in Ctrl

Alternative R&B singer SZA (pronounced sizz-ah) was born Solana Imana Rowe in St. Louis Missouri, though she was raised in New Jersey. The acromial name is based off of the Islamic Supreme Alphabet. Religion was a defining feature of Rowe’s childhood, as her father raised her Islamic and she spent a generous amount of her childhood attending an Islamic school. The singer has since distanced herself from her formerly held religion, but she maintains a close relationship with her family, especially her mother, who contributed voice audios to the singer’s debut album “Ctrl.”

SZA’s entry into the music scene was largely shaped by her brother. She recalls making music casually with him as a child, but she started creating music more seriously as she reached her adult years. Rowe attended multiple colleges, originally intent on studying marine biology, but eventually dropped out. SZA’s debut album, Ctrl, shared his own deal of controversy. The album, which was originally supposed to release in 2015, was finally released in Summer of 2017. The singer’s debut project is regarded as one of the best Alternative R&B albums of this generation. With features from artists like Travis Scott and hit songs such as “The Weekend,” the album was an immediate success. Upon its release, the album was extremely well received and spent 200 hundred weeks on the Billboard album charts. In addition, SZA was nominated for five Grammys for the project.

Following the release of the project, SZA toured the United States before taking a hiatus to focus on her vocal propriety. In the coming years, SZA began to release music less and less frequently. Despite constant promises for a new LP, the singer’s fanbase began to wonder whether SZA would ever return to music. This fear was heightened by the fact that Rowe had expressed her desire to quit music several times throughout her career. On the five year anniversary of “Ctrl,” SZA released “Ctrl (Deluxe)” featuring several previously unreleased tracks from the original album.

The anticipation continued to grow for Rowe’s follow up project until in November of 2022, SZA announced the release of a new single “Shirt.” The song was an immediate success and it quickly peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, garnering nearly 15 million views on Youtube. Following the release of the single, SZA began teasing her second album. Quickly thereafter, Rowe announced the name and tracklist of her long awaited album. “SOS” was an immediate hit upon release as the album destroyed the single day streaming record for an R&B album with nearly 70 millions streams. The album is expected to sell 300k first week copies and debut at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 this week. 

By Sawyer Sugarman