One Year Of SZA’s “SOS” (Article)

December 9, 2022, we got SZA’s highly anticipated second studio album, “SOS”. 

Coming 5 years after her debut, “CTRL” which, if you were there for it, then you know the weight it held & continues to hold. 

Following up such a heavy-hitting debut is not easy to do. But SZA said sophomore slump WHO?! With “SOS” absolutely dominating 2023, despite being dropped in Q4 of 2022, the response truly speaks for itself. She is the most nominated artist at the upcoming Grammy’s with NINE for her work on “SOS” & it’s well deserved. 

Her ability to capture the essence of things we’ve all felt before in the form of songwriting is what I think makes her such a top dog in this game— no pun intended. Combine that with the fact that it’s layered over amazing music, it’s the perfect recipe.

“SOS” really gave us a little bit of everything. I mean, Solana opened the project RAPPING on the title track; which she dabbles in again on tracks like ‘Smoking on my Ex Pack’, ‘Low’ & ‘Forgiveless’ ft. the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard. Then we get some alternative type takes on tracks like ‘F2F’ & ‘Ghost in the Machine’ ft. Phoebe Bridgers. And then of course, we get her signature sound that we all know & love on heavy hitters like ‘Snooze’, ‘Good Days’ & ‘Shirt’. 

This project isn’t too feature-heavy, but she does bring a few friends along for the ride: Ol’ Dirty Bastard & Phoebe Bridgers as mentioned earlier, plus we get one with Don Toliver on ‘Used’. And like on “CTRL”, she links up with Travis Scott again on the vulnerable record, & one of my favorites on the project, ‘Open Arms’. 

Sitting at 23 tracks & 68 minutes long, it really is a job well done that I believe is going to continue to age gracefully. She gave us a beautiful body of work, a North American tour that she ran back TWICE, & if that wasn’t enough, we still have the deluxe, “LANA” to look forward to. 

Until then though, it’s the perfect day to throw on “SOS” & vibe.