SZA is an R&B/soul music artist who rose in popularity following her album “Ctrl” released in 2017, and her feature on “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar on the Black Panther Official Soundtrack released in 2018. She has been making her voice heard in the music industry for some time now, and has been gathering a fanbase throughout her time making music. “I don’t even know how I got into [SZA’s music],” junior Nour Bataineh said. “As soon as I got the opportunity to listen to music on Spotify, I found her album ‘Ctrl’ and I’ve stuck with her ever since.” 

Spotify specifics show that her features on “All the Stars” with 1.13 billion streams and  “Kiss Me More” with just around 1.38 billion streams rank as her two most popular songs, along with her songs from “Ctrl” that stretch between 50 million to 600 million streams per song.

With all this traction building over the span of five years since her debut album, fans have found  anticipation for the new album release almost unbearable. “It’s been five years since she’s released an album, and [fans] have been feeding off of feature songs,” sophomore Jiya Chadha said.

SZA is known primarily for the intense R&B of her previous album, but “S.O.S” branches out into different genres such as rap, indie pop, and hip-hop. Students had suspicions about the new and different genres that SZA was exploring, but were pleasantly surprised, “I love Phoebe Bridgers, so I thought the song [“Ghost in the Machine”] was really good,” Chadha said. “I was questioning [the collaboration] because SZA produces R&B while Bridgers is more indie, but her voice fits well in the song.” Fans have also noticed a difference in genre and music style in songs like “F2F,” “Nobody Gets Me,” “Too Late,” and more nearing the end of the track list, with country and pop music production. 

Students weren’t the only ones who had something to say about the new music SZA dropped.“I love [artist] pairings that make no sense, they’re the best,” math teacher ShawDriggers said. “SZA and Travis Scott have collaborated before, so [the album] was really good. I’m not mad about it.” 

To draw her attention to the release of her new album, SZA released three songs off the album early. The songs “Good Days,” “I Hate U,” and “Shirt” have gained popularity on social media apps like TikTok, and have been drawing attention to her new album, “SOS.” This did build anticipation for fans.  “I’m so excited for the album [release], because three of the songs we’ve already heard and listened to,” Bataineh said. “She dropped them before, so I literally can’t wait to see what’s in store for the rest of the album.” 

As positive responses started coming in from fans and new-time listeners, some listeners were not as interested as others. “I have listened to [SZA’s] popular songs and a couple collaborations, but I would say I’m not a big fan,” senior Nina Lal said.

It’s a growing consensus that “Ctrl” is her better album, but comparing the two albums could be tricky, as they don’t share a lot of common ground. “Her music is going in a different direction,” Driggers said. “‘Ctrl’ was very R&B, and “S.O.S” is still R&B but has more hip-hop and rap styles in it. It’s more the rejection of genre-bending, but it’s really creative.”

“SOS” was different from her prior albums, but it’s nice to see your favorite artists branch out and collaborate with other unexpected artists. The wait for this album was longer than predicted, but you can tell SZA used this time to master her craft. Not every song made it to our playlist, but quite a few, such as Low and Kill Bill did. We cannot wait for future SZA releases.

In celebration of the new album drop and milestone in her career, SZA announced her “S.O.S” tour. On the 17- city tour, she will be accompanied by American singer/songwriter Omar Apollo.

“S.O.S” is available on all streaming platforms and tickets for her tour are now on sale.