SZA

SZA Details “S.O.S.” Cover Art Being Inspired By Princess Diana

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We’re hours away from finally receiving a new SZA album, and fans can’t contain their excitement. It has been five years since the R&B diva released her hit debut Ctrl, and since then, the world has been questioning SZA about her follow-up. S.O.S. arrives at the stroke of midnight, and ahead of its release, the Top Dawg Entertainment hitmaker sat down with Hot 97 to speak on the album’s cover art.

After sharing the artwork, the public quickly noticed that the image mirrored a photo of Princess Diana. While speaking with Nessa, SZA confirmed the rumors and explained being inspired by the late British royal.

Read More: SZA Reveals Tracklist For “S.O.S.” With Travis Scott, ODB & More

“Originally, I was supposed to be on top of, like, a shipping barge,” said the singer. “But in the references that I pulled for that, I pulled the Diana reference because I just loved how isolated she felt. And that was what I wanted to convey the most.”

A last-minute change would lead SZA and her team in a different direction.

“We didn’t get clearance to get the shipping barges that we wanted,” she continued. “And we were like, ‘We’re gonna build the diving board instead. We’re still gonna try it.’ We didn’t nix the boat altogether, and we tried it. It turned out cool, and I wasn’t sure it was going to be really cool until, like, right now.”

Read More: SZA Hints That She Might Be Done With Music Soon

The singer has been teasing S.O.S. for some time as she was hit with one delay after another. SZA has repeatedly taken to social media to voice her frustrations, causing her fans to attack TDE’s President then, Terrence “Punch” Henderson. Despite a few dust-ups online, SZA maintains that she appreciates the hard work her label puts forth on her behalf.

Are you excited about S.O.S.? As the countdown begins, check out snippets of SZA’s recent appearance on Saturday Night Live below.

[via]

SZA Explained Why So Many Of The Collaborators She Wanted On ‘S.O.S.’ Didn’t Turn In Their Verses

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When SZA shared the tracklist for her long-awaited album, S.O.S., much of the buzz surrounded the appearance of indie star Phoebe Bridgers and fans wishing for a contribution from Paramore’s Hayley Williams. As it turns out, though, in addition to buzzy features from names like Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Travis Scott, she wanted way more features on the upcoming album. There’s just one problem: Many of them never turned in their verses.

Appearing on Hot97’s Nessa On Air with host Nessa Diab, SZA expressed disappointment that so many of her requested collaborators didn’t get their verses back on time, but also said she understood, since she’s done the same thing. “For a lot of these people, I didn’t turn in my verse – so I can’t be too mad,” she explained. “But also, on the same token, it’s like, ‘Damn this sucks, I really needed you. I wish you showed up for me.’ But I’m sure they felt the same way for me.”

Of Bridgers’ contribution, she said, “I’m grateful Phoebe showed up for me, I didn’t think she would come to the studio in person. She did, which is crazy. We laughed, it’s just hilarious.” You can watch the full interview above.

S.O.S./em> is out 12/9 via Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA Records. You can pre-save it here.

SZA Hints That She Might Be Done With Music Soon

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SZA is set to drop her highly-anticipated album S.O.S. this Friday. But, according to a new interview, the singer-songwriter might be hanging up her singing career in the near future.

The 33-year-old opened up about the pressures she faces as an artist during an interview with radio personality Nessa Diab.

“People are expecting so much from me, and then it’s like if it’s not what people expect then they attack you,” she revealed on Nessa On Air. “And then it’s just like, ‘Ugh, whatever.’ Then it makes me never wanna put out music again. It’s just exhausting.”

After Nessa brought up SZA’s past comments about taking up farming instead of music, the “Love Galore” songstress nodded her head in agreement.

“I’m definitely about to get up out of here shortly.” she continued. 

After admitting that she isn’t the most present on social media, the St. Louis native then joked about copping a flip phone with no apps.

(Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Global Citizen)

SZA revealed the tracklist for S.O.S. earlier this week ahead of the album’s debut. The 23-track project will feature a number of notable artists, including Travis Scott, Don Toliver, and Phoebe Bridgers. 

Ol’ Dirty Bastard will also appear on the album, likely as a sample. The hip-hop icon passed away in 2004 following an accidental drug overdose.

Teasing the album’s tracklist, SZA uploaded two photos of herself laying in a muddy puddle with her waist and butt partially exposed. 

“Which version for back tracklist?” the singer asked her nearly 7 million Twitter followers on Monday.

READ MORE: SZA Teases Hayley Williams Collab On Twitter

Last week, she released the cover art for S.O.S., which shows the Grammy-nominated musician sitting at the end of a diving board and surrounded by dark blue water. 

She shared that the picture was inspired by Princess Diana, who was photographed in the same fashion in 1997 shortly before her death.

What are your thoughts on SZA’s possible retirement from the music industry? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Via]

SZA, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers, And Calvin Harris Are Headlining The Hangout Festival 2023 Lineup

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Paramore 2018
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In its over a decade of existence, Hangout Festival has risen among the most notable mega music festivals in the South. Taking place on the glistening beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, it’s a quintessential summer starter fest (they even have a stageside swimming pool) boasting a loaded lineup year in and year out. For 2023, Hangout Fest is coming in hot with the newly announced headlining slate of SZA, Paramore, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Calvin Harris. Both SZA and Paramore will be riding the high off of their new albums, S.O.S. and This Is Why, respectively. But the buck doesn’t stop there.

The festival takes place from May 19th – 21st and joining the headliners on the Hangout Fest 2023 lineup are gigantic acts in hip-hop, rock, EDM, and more. Lil Nas X, Skrillex, Flume, and the Kid LaRoi are damn near headliners themselves. While the rest of the thoroughly-curated lineup also includes Russ, Thundercat, GloRilla, Sabrina Carpenter, Kevin Gates, Tove Lo, Alison Wonderland, and more.

Ticketing pre-sale begins Friday, 12/09 at 10 am CT here. You can register for the pre-sale leading up to then. Check out the complete Hangout fest 2023 lineup poster below.

Hangout Festival 2023
Hangout Fest

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

SZA Fans Are Asking For A Hayley Williams Collab And Her Answer Is Surprisingly Promising

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SZA
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Yesterday, SZA revealed the official tracklist for her sophomore album, S.O.S. dropping on Friday. The record, which contains a whopping 23 songs, also shocked fans by the collaborations that are on it. While SZA is teaming up with Travis Scott once more on “Open Arms,” the real surprise came in the form of a Phoebe Bridgers appearance on the song “Ghost In The Machine.”

After the reveal, fans of both Bridgers and SZA were sent into an internet frenzy. It also left many wondering: Who will SZA feature on a song next? (And will it take another five years?)

One fan threw Paramore’s Hayley Williams as a potential collaborator. As it turns out, they weren’t too far off. “I talk to her more than you’d think lol,” SZA revealed in response.

This isn’t the first time Paramore and SZA have interacted, either. In 2018, the band did a mash-up of their song “Grow Up” with SZA’s “20 Something” during a live show. Then, in May 2020, Williams covered SZA’s song, “Drew Barrymore” — and has dropped references to “Go Gina” in her Instagram Story.

Other users have since shared that they want to see everyone from The Weeknd, Taylor Swift, Kehlani, and more on future SZA albums. “you talk to kehlani too? lets get into this collab,” another fan wrote.

View some reactions below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

SZA’s ‘S.O.S.’ Album to Feature Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Travis Scott & More

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SZA's 'S.O.S.' Album to Feature Ol' Dirty Bastard, Travis Scott & More

We are just days away from the release of SZA’s S.O.S. album. Before the official drop, the TDE songstress revealed the tracklist and features. The forthcoming album will be 23 tracks in length and highlights Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Travis Scott, Phoebe Bridgers, and Don Toliver as features.

SZA made her return to Saturday Night Live, delivering a performance of a couple of singles while also announcing the release date for her S.O.S. album.

SZA performed both “Shirt” and Blind” during her time on the SNL stage. During the televised set, SZA revealed S.O.S. would drop on Dec. 9.

On the same show, Keke Palmer revealed she was pregnant. More on that here.

The post SZA’s ‘S.O.S.’ Album to Feature Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Travis Scott & More appeared first on The Source.

Phoebe Bridgers Will Feature On SZA’s ‘S.O.S.’ And SZA Is Laughing At The Intensely Positive Reactions

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Phoebe Bridgers Primavera Sound Festival Brazil 2022
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Yesterday (December 5), SZA unveiled the tracklist of her long-awaited upcoming album, S.O.S.. There was one feature that immediately stood out: Phoebe Bridgers on “Ghost In The Machine.” SZA and Bridgers don’t exactly travel in the same musical circles, but despite/because of that, people are super excited. Specifically, one person SZA knows couldn’t contain themselves after hearing the news.

Late last night/early this morning, SZA shared a video on Twitter and captioned it, “Response to having phoebe on the albums been pretty positive lol.” The video is a screen recording of her phone, which shows two brief audio messages she received. The first one is of a person intensely screaming, “Phoebe Bridgers! Phoebe Bridgers! Phoebe Bridgers!” In the second, they shout, “Yes! Yes!”

Yesterday was actually pretty major for Bridgers stans. Aside from the SZA news, it was also revealed that her boyfriend (or perhaps fiancé) Paul Mescal will be sitting down for a joint interview with Taylor Swift’s also-actor boyfriend, Joe Alwyn, as part of Vanity Fair‘s “Actors On Actors” series. That also garnered some enthusiastic responses on social media.

Check out some additional reactions to the Bridgers feature below.

S.O.S. is out 12/9 via Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA Records. Pre-save it here.

SZA’s ‘S.O.S.’ Tracklist Features Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott, Don Toliver, And Ol’ Dirty Bastard

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sza new album
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It’s all happening, y’all: SZA’s sophomore album S.O.S. is right around the corner. The “Broken Clocks” singer revealed the release date during her Saturday Night Live performance this past weekend and S.O.S. is dropping this Friday, December 9th. It’s been a long-time coming since the brilliant Ctrl established SZA as a bona fide force back in 2017 and SZA has had her share of delays for the new album in the years since. Now that we’re finally, officially on the home stretch, SZA has now shared the S.O.S. tracklist and it has its share of surprises (Phoebe Bridgers!) and familiar faces.

For starters, both the previously released first single, “Shirt” and the SNL-debuted “Blind” are among the album’s 23 tracks. Yes, that’s right, 23 tracks! Travis Scott is set to appear on another collaboration with SZA on a track called “Open Arms.” There’s a posthumous appearance from Ol’ Dirty Bastard on the album-closing “Forgiveness,” Don Toliver will appear on “Used,” and then perhaps the most unexpected featured guest, Phoebe Bridgers, is on the album’s 12th track, “Ghost In The Machine.”

SZA also reached out to fans to ask which of two back cover designs they liked. The more minimal layout of the tracklist which better showcases a photo of SZA won out.

Check out the full tracklist for S.O.S. below.

1. “S.O.S.”
2. “Kill Bill”
3. “Seek & Destroy”
4. “Low”
5. “Love Language”
6. “Blind”
7. “Used” Feat. Don Toliver
8. “Snooze”
9. “Notice Me”
10. “Gone Girl”
11. “Smoking On My Ex”
12. “Ghost In The Machine” Feat. Phoebe Bridgers
13. “F2F”
14. “Nobody Gets Me”
15. “Conceited”
16. “Special”
17. “Too Late”
18. “Far”
19. “Shirt”
20. “Open Arms” Feat. Travis Scott
21. “I Hate U”
22. “Good Days”
23. “Forgiveless” Feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard

S.O.S. is out 12/9 via Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA Records. You can pre-save it here.