Solana Imani Rowe, better known as SZA (pronounced "Siz-ah"), recently became more famous after her debut studio album "CTRL" (pronounced "control") was released last month. With guest features from Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell Williams, James Fauntleroy, and Isaiah Rashad, the album was met with critical acclaim. Three years in the making, "CTRL" is an R&B album that draws a lot of influence from hip-hop, pop, and a handful of other genres. The lyrics are personal and brutally honest, which may be the reason why SZA has blown up on Twitter. Many fans found SZA's lyrics and anecdotes about love to be relatable, thus creating a plethora of memes.
However, just because SZA's new album is deeply personal doesn't mean that we know everything about her.
SZA was born in Missouri and grew up in New Jersey (fact: Lauryn Hill is from the same town). Her mother is Christian, and her father is Muslim. She was raised Muslim and wore a hijab until the September 11th attacks occurred. She decided to stop wearing a hijab after being bullied for her religion. After high school, SZA attended a handful of colleges and studied liberal arts, but flunked her freshman year because she "got high and failed out." Her stage name, like Wu-Tang rapper RZA's, is taken from the Supreme Alphabet, and stands for Sovereign/Savior, Zig-zag, Allah.
SZA is currently a part of Top Dawg Entertainment's record label, which has signed artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock, and ScHoolboy Q. She got involved with the label after her boyfriend's company backed a Kendrick Lamar show.
Prior to releasing "CTRL," SZA has created a number of other projects already. She has two mixtapes ("See.SZA.Run" and "S") and an extended play, "Z." Besides creating her own music, SZA has also been featured on a number of other artists' music, such as fellow TDE artists, A$AP Ferg, Wale, Rihanna, D.R.A.M., and Travis Scott. She also has songwriting credits on a number of hit-songs, such as"Feeling Myself" by Nicki Minaj, "OK/Alright" by Travis Scott, and "Consideration" by Rihanna.
SZA is considered a very fashionable artist, but she claims she doesn't understand why. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said "I get a considerable amount of attention fashion-wise, which is weird to me because I'm 150 pounds and 5'4." I don't look like a model. I hate shopping. It's very frustrating, so I don't try stuff on. I just shot for a magazine a couple of weeks ago, had a stylist for the first time, and I ended up switching out everything in the middle of it and wearing my own clothes."
"CTRL" was three years in the making, with label problems and writer's block getting in SZA's way. It's going to be interesting to see what she will do next. Maybe it won't have anything to do with music at all.
