SZA Saves Our Ship

After five long-awaited years, SZA, real name Solána Imani Rowe, released a new album. Her 2017 album, “Ctrl” was a global success, with 2,145,000 albums sold. After releasing 16 singles over the span of five years, and leaking multiple snippets of future songs, on December 9, 2022, she released “SOS” with 23 songs on the album. 

SZA released “Shirt” on October 28, after releasing a snippet of the song 2 years earlier on an Instagram story. After fans begged for years, she finally released the full song. The song is now the 19th song on the album along with chart-toppers like “Blind” and “Kill Bill”. The album is R&B influenced with Hip-Hop songs as well. As of right now, SOS is one of the most listened-to albums of 2023. The album even has Lizzo crying! Lizzo tearfully said in an Instagram live, “I’m beyond moved.” Lots of new and old fans can find something they can enjoy on the album.  

 SOS has been met with claims that Taylor Swift and SZA are feuding over “Kill Bill’ making number 1, surpassing Taylor’s “Anti-Hero”. ‘Ctrl’ was a big part of a lot of fans’ lives. “I’ve been a fan since probably eighth grade,” says senior Meleen Juarez. When ‘SOS’ came out, there was no hesitation in listening to the beautiful new album. “I follow her on Instagram, so as soon as she posted that her album was out, I went to Apple Music and listened,” says Juarez. The album has been popularized by Tiktok. There have been dance routines made to songs like ‘Low’ and videos made to a sped-up version of ‘Kill Bill’ “I hate it on Tiktok because people make it a trend, and they’ll create a stupid TikTok dance to it.” Abigail Guisa, Grade 9. The relevance has been boosted by these apps and even more so with videos and posts of fans’ reactions.

SZA’s popularity has only been on an incline. The teaser for her album has millions of views, and her new album already has millions of listens.  With fans incredibly moved and thousands of tickets to her tour sold, SOS is one of the best albums out right now.