ARTWORK

TBA

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TBA

Some tidbits from the new GQ interview below:

SZA, born Solána Imani Rowe, says in a tone that registers as half-amused, half-disappointed in herself. “I came back and I just went right into some bullshit. I don’t know why I’m back in the studio making a whole other album, just doing a whole bunch of s***. Spending time outside of my house for days at a time. I feel so frazzled.”

Recording sessions notwithstanding, she has no immediate plans to release another album anytime soon, maybe not even in 2026 at all.

The first step to that self-actualization is embracing a new approach in the studio. SZA has spoken before about being bemused by how some of her biggest and most acclaimed hits—“Kill Bill,” “The Weekend,” “Ghost in the Machine”—were “palate cleansers” she made quickly and without much consideration in order to exorcise a feeling. (Versus a ballad like “Nobody Gets Me” or a narrative like “F2F” that she put time and effort into crafting.) This annoys her. “Well, you don’t know how to duplicate it,” SZA explains. “It was an accident. It’s comforting because it’s effortless, disturbing because you cannot replicate it on command.”

Now, all these years later, she might have finally found a way to hack it. She’s been posted up in the studio, sometimes with the likes of Steve Lacy, and encouraging everyone in attendance to write some words on a scrap of paper. The scraps are mixed up in a hat, and whatever words she pulls out then inform the title and concept of a song she has to make from scratch on the spot. Finished tracks in the chamber include “Passenger Princess,” “Burgers,” and “Yearner.” The process? “Fun as s***.” And the results? Fire, she confirms. Which given how tough SZA is on her own work must mean they’re incredible.

We’ll hear these tracks in some form soon, she says, but they’re just a taste of whatever her third album will become. “I had such a chip on my shoulder for so long. I was like, ‘I don't even want to write in front of anybody. I don't want to have writers and blah, blah, blah,’” she explains. “But now I really want to know what it's like to put my ego down. I haven't done it yet outside of Steve, but I want to call a writer team in.”

It’s all part of remaining a student of the craft, versus fronting like she has it mastered. “When you find a sound, you stick to it for so long. So you automatically go there,” SZA says. “But when you start attempting to depart from that and open your mind and ears to other means of melodic transportation, you find so many other sounds.” SZA’s un–learning curve has taken her down a wormhole of really studying the legends, like Paul McCartney and the Beatles, the Delfonics, and Stevie Wonder, whom she sought out personally: “I had a wild-ass morning with him once…” she says of meeting Stevie. “He was playing the piano, just me and him in a room, I was crying and having an emotional breakdown, and he was just writing song after song.”

The goal, at this early stage of her next album at least, is to deliver some “certified bangers” and infuse these songs with “so much intention that it’s just palpable to anybody.” Lately, though, what a lot of fans of contemporary R&B and pop have been asking for online is a return to #RealYearning. It’s a call SZA seems more equipped than most to answer.

OP - TBA

Another classic on the way

Bonus quote:

But her attitude toward the movement is wary and a little cynical. “You don’t even know what you’re asking for,” SZA says, referring to the posters calling for a yearning resurgence. “I feel like people just took the word yearning, saw it memeified with a couple visual references.” She brings up “Drive,” by the Cars, and breaks out singing the refrain—“Who’s going to drive you home? Can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong.” “That s*** is yearning,” she says, approvingly. “I don’t even know if today’s kids are comfortable enough to yearn. I feel like they be judging too much to yearn. Like if the yearning don’t coincide with the collective identity or ideologies, then it’s lame to y’all. But, perhaps you don’t understand the myriad facets of yearning.”

I love her. Lmao. Real for referencing The Cars.

We're off to the races, folks.

We need the album to be more experimental

The longevity of SOS is unmatched

In

crazy how she peaked artistically w ctrl and is now completing the white girl mainstream artist transformation to pump out the same mid every other year

?
SOS dropped 3 years ago

Wtf did I just read
Y'all get on here and say anything

late 2027 drop incoming

In

It's a scorned Drake stan pay him no mind

In

I’m just hoping she changes up her songwriting content a little for the next album.
I’d like to hear more from her lyrics other than being down bad for d*** or being obsessed with toxic relationships, lol

first page blassic

Makes sense

Recording sessions notwithstanding, she has no immediate plans to release another album anytime soon, maybe not even in 2026 at all.

You know how that go

Thats honestly fine with me

This will be AOTY 2031

third classic incoming