SZA Releases ‘SOS’
SZA’s SOS continues to navigate the journey carved out in Ctrl.
As a diehard SZA fan, I was absolutely starving up until December 2022. She is a master at articulating even the most inexpressible of feelings and experiences, and does so with the most beautiful voice and runs.
SZA’s long, long, long awaited sophomore album SOS graced us in December 2022. It really was an early Christmas present for me. We were treated to a 23-track body of work, which in this day and age of streaming and ever so short attention spans, is remarkable.
In my opinion, SOS is a worthy second chapter to the revolutionary Ctrl. I believe it was generally expected that whatever her second album centred on would be a clean and happy resolution to the anguish, pain and confusion she expressed in her debut. A bit like the arc of Dua Lipa’s discography: sad in the first album, happy in the second. But life is rarely like that (no shade at Dua, I love her), and healing is hardly ever linear. It is not an A to B situation, no matter how much I wish it so. SOS reflects this notion impeccably.
She begins with the title track SOS, an immediate cry for help. The deed has been done, the ship is sinking, and she’s doing whatever she can to save herself. It sets the tone for the entire album, flagging what we are in for.
The next few tracks, Kill Bill, Seek & Destroy and Low, all allude to a type of hurt that enlivens intrusive thoughts and denial. Kill Bill in particular embodies this, where she details her intense fantasies of murdering an ex-boyfriend and his new girl. This track represents the kneejerk resentment and fury that follows a heartbreak. Of course, it’s not literal, but God, does it sum up how we feel.
The mood takes a shift with tracks like Love Language and the ethereal Blind. Here, she momentarily softens and becomes introspective. It signifies a brief period of acceptance and even self-pity: a place to where heartache can push. There’s a sense of fulfilment and contentment in the wallowing and a comfort when we finally validate our feelings and allow ourselves to be sad.
Then things start to get really depressing with tracks Snooze, Notice Me and Gone Girl. I think this section of the album is where she most deeply expresses her love for another person who doesn’t reciprocate, and the extreme desire to disappear and start a whole new life in response to heartbreak. Lyrics such as “I can’t lose when I’m with you”, “I’m not tryna be your girlfriend, I’m just tryna be your person” and “Trying to grow without hating the process” are some of the best I’ve heard in a long time. The romantic idea of going off the grid and starting again after a heartbreak is something with which I especially resonated. Her choice to title the track Gone Girl after the critically acclaimed novel was so clever.
From Track 12, the midpoint of the album, SZA is now on the warpath. She embarks on a journey of self-destruction, brutal honesty, conceitedness and victimhood. The outstanding tracks Ghost in the Machine (feat. Phoebe Bridgers), F2F and Nobody Gets Me particularly epitomise this. She knows things are blowing up and crumbling both inside and around her, therefore she reverts to old, unhealthy habits as a means of coping. It leads her to an unstable and turbulent journey of one day being extremely confident, self-assured and even cocky (Conceited), to continuing her wallowing in pity on another (“I wish I was special / I gave all my special / Away to a loser / Now I’m just a loser” from Special).
The remainder of the album depicts the pendulum of her extreme emotions. One moment she says to her ex-lover, “I’ll be right here with open, open, open, open arms” (Open Arms feat. Travis Scott), the next she unequivocally declares, “And if you’re wondering if I hate you…I do” (I Hate U). She even attempts to rectify her mistakes and resolve inner conflicts as she prepares for the collapse of Earth in Good Days (“Gotta get right, tryna free my mind before the end of the world”).
What draws me the most to SZA is that she is unashamedly candid, no matter how embarrassing, degrading or undignified it makes her look. Her un-formulaic approach to songwriting and melodic structures is so refreshing and only serves to heighten the impact of her words. I once read that she mainly freestyles and lets the words, melodies and ideas flow out without bounds. Her songs and bodies of work are like a late-night conversation – nothing is off-limits.
SOS, to me, conceptualises the tumultuous path from heartache to recovery. One may prematurely reach the top of the mountain and feel as though the battle has been won. We just may not realise that the ship is still slowly sinking. We may still fall short. But that’s life, and that’s okay.
