Solána Imani Rowe, or SZA, is an African-American R&B singer who’s most currently known for her newest album SOS.
Born in St Louis, Missouri on November 8, 1989, SZA began her career on October 29, 2012, when she needed money for graduate school after college, debuting with See.SZA.Run. She also released S and Z in the years after, but SZA’s career kick-started when she released Ctrl in 2017.
Ctrl is an album that dives into the mind of a girl who’s fresh out of high school, climbing her way up into adulthood, and dealing with things like relationships, insecurities, and vulnerability.
SZA’s vision for Ctrl is to comfort and open the eyes of many people who struggle with similar issues and situations.
Peyton Brown (11) shares his opinion on SZA’s discography, “I think Ctrl is her best album because of how real it is, she didn’t have a lot of success or fame before so there was no barrier for her relatability.”
The album opens with Supermodel, beginning with a voice note from her mom, “That is my greatest fear. That if, if I lost control- or did not have control, things would just, you know I would be– Fatal.” to reference to the title Ctrl. SZA uses this technique to express the inspiration her mother has given her her whole life. SZA tells Vulture, “My mom has spent her whole life living in openness and acceptance and I never really understood,”
Supermodel is one of her more vulnerable songs, starting the first verse with immediate aggression to a past lover. “Heard you got some new homies, got some new hobbies, even a new h** too?”, but then adding on her inner thoughts with, “Why am I so easy to forget like that? It can’t be that easy for you to get like that.” To show that even though this particular person is continuing to treat her badly, she continues to keep him around.
“I could be your supermodel if you believe, if you see it in me, see it in me. — Why I can’t stay alone just by myself, wish I was comfortable just with myself, but I need you.” Toxic relationships are common in young love because of the lack of emotional maturity between them.
Track 4 on the album is Drew Barrymore, named after the well-known actress who starred in Scream, The Wedding Singer, and her talk show, The Drew Barrymore Show. SZA says she named the song after Barrymore because she sees her as a “constant inspiration”, being a girl who identified as an outcast in high school, she found roles similar to Barrymore’s role in Never Been Kissed to be comforting.
SZA wrote Drew Barrymore during a time when she struggled with self-esteem issues while being in a relationship. “Cause it’s hard enough to let you treat me like this. Lonely enough to let you treat me like this. Do you really love me or just want to let me down?” SZA features Barrymore in the official music video for the song, giving you the visual of SZA’s genuine love and admiration for her.
The album closes with “20 Something” which perfectly summarizes the entire album.
“How could it be 20-something, all alone still? Not a thing in my name.” To show that through all of the growth she endeavors throughout the album, she still feels exactly how she felt in the beginning. But even though she feels no change now, she hopes for the future.
“Hoping my 20 somethings won’t end, hoping to keep the rest of my friends, praying the 20 somethings don’t kill me.” but ends the song on a more positive note, “But God Bless these 20 somethings.” to express that even though she’s currently going through a hard patch, atleast she is still living.
The album closes with another message from her mother. “And if it’s an illusion, I don’t want to wake up, I’m gonna hang on to it. Because the alternative is an abyss, is just a hole, a darkness, a nothingness. Who wants that, you know? So that’s what I think about control, and that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!”
SZA’s mother had gotten sick the year before she released Ctrl, her grandmother and her mother-in-law had also passed before the release, she has many moments in her album where she honors them. She had never previously gone to her mother for advice in her youth, she was 21 years old the first time she asked her mom for help. Now she goes to her mom for everything, “I’m not even sure that it’s all the way healthy because part of it is rooted in fear of losing her, and part of it is rooted in admiration.”
