Itās no secret that 2017 has been a huge year for SolĆ”na Imani Rowe, better known as SZA. After dropping a couple of successful mixtapes (2012ās See.SZA.Run and 2013ās S), SZA released her EP Z in 2014, then threatened to quit the music industry altogether. Lucky for us, she didnāt, and instead released her debut LP, Ctrl, earlier this year after feeling liberated by a mushroom trip.
Ctrl was quickly embraced by fans and music critics (including yours truly), and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. Every song is exceptional: SZA pours her honeyed vocals over catchy melodies with brazen, gritty, and sometimes triggering lyrics that dig into toxic relationships, anxiety, and the unattainability of control. Itās been called the feminine counterpoint to projects like Bryson Tillerās Trapsoul and Drakeās Take Care, as SZA offers a different perspective for a similar narrativeāone thatās simultaneously vulnerable, confident, and defiant.
She confesses her insecurities on āSupermodelā and āNormal Girl,ā confidently rips apart the stigma of being a sidechick on sultry track āThe Weekend,ā and processes feeling like the āotherā on āDrew Barrymore.ā Songs from Ctrl have appeared on several recent episodes of Issa Raeās HBO series Insecure, and last week SZA released āQuicksandā especially for the showās soundtrack. I expect her sold-out Portland concert to be a religious experience.