SZA

SZA Strives To Stand Out In Her Inspirational ‘The Anonymous Ones’ Video

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As long-suffering SZA fans impatiently await her next album, the TDE singer shares the video for her new single “The Anonymous Ones” from the upcoming Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack. The video sees SZA sitting in her room writing a song before riding a bus to a crowded city park. There, she sets up with a small amplifier and a microphone to sing her new song, despite being mostly ignored by passersby. Appearing discouraged, she relocates to a park bench, where she finds inspiration again in peeking over the shoulder of a young girl drawing in a sketchbook — the same way SZA wrote in her own songbook to start the video.

The Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack, in addition to containing songs from the film adaptation of the popular musical, also has covers of the songs from contemporary singers like SZA, including Sam Smith, Carrie Underwood, Finneas, and Tori Kelly. “The Anonymous Ones” features in the film sung by Amandla Stenberg.

And although SZA hasn’t given any indications of when her follow-up to CTRL might arrive, she has been issuing sneak peeks, including three “random thoughts” released toward the end of August, and appearing as a featured artist on songs from Isaiah Rashad, Summer Walker, and of course, Doja Cat.

Watch SZA’s “The Anonymous Ones” video above.

Kali Uchis Teased A New Remix Of Her 2020 Single ‘Fue Mejor’ Featuring SZA

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Kali Uchis has been breaking out in a big way over the last few years, and her 2020 album Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros Demonios) ∞ continues to rack up streams and attention this year. Uchis was recently tapped as one of the artists to open for Tyler, The Creator on his 2022 tour, and the two rather infamously collaborated together before on “After The Storm” off her 2018 album Isolation. Now, she seems to have another big collaboration in the works, teasing a remix of one of her Sin Miedo tracks with a guest verse from none other than TDE’s First Lady, SZA.

Since her 2017 critically-acclaimed breakout album Ctrl, fans have been eagerly awaiting an update from SZA, and anticipation for her new album combined with the fact that she doesn’t often do collaborations is stoking anticipation for this feature. In a newly shared video to her Instagram feed Uchis teased the new version of “Fue Mejor,” which already features PartyNextDoor, and it sounds like SZA is singing in Spanish for her appearance as well. Since she’s teasing the new version clearly the song is done and ready to be released, so listen above and look for it coming out very soon, maybe even this week? And if we could get that new album, anytime, SZA….

SZA Sings For ‘The Anonymous Ones’ Trying Break Out Of The Shadows On Her New Single

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While some may want music at a more steady rate from the TDE singer, for what it’s worth, SZA has been more active in the past twelve months than she’s been in years prior. It all started last fall when she made her return with “Hit Different” alongside Ty Dolla Sign. SZA kept things rolling with the release of “Good Days” and even teased a few songs that he supported can expect in the future. While the new music is all well and good, her fans’ true desire is a new album. For the time being, they’ll have to keep their patience intact for the TDE act’s sophomore album, but they can enjoy a new single from her in the meantime.

SZA arrives with “The Anonymous Ones,” a pop-friendly track that finds the singer singing for those who often find themselves stuck in the shadows of the world, a place she admits she resides in at times. The single appears on the soundtrack for the upcoming film, Dear Evan Hansen, which follows a high school senior who suffers from social anxiety through a journey of self-discovery and acceptance following the tragic suicide of a classmate.

The new song comes after she released “random thoughts” in the form of three songs last month, those being “I Hate You,” “Joni,” and “Nightbird.” Summer Walker also confirmed that SZA will appear on her upcoming album.

You can listen to SZA’s “The Anonymous Ones” in the video above.

SZA Appears To Agree With The Idea That Great Music Requires Some Extent Of Intense Labor

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Crafting a great song or an excellent body of work is not an easy thing to do. This task is often laborious and requires months, even years of hard work. It’s something that many people brought up following the release of Kanye West’s Donda. However, claims that the rapper might have overworked engineers who contributed to the album left people debating where the line exists between hard work and overworking.

SZA seemed to declare her stance on the matter as she shared an Instagram post from singer Sev Daliza that declared great music sometimes requires intense labor.

“Unpopular opinion,” Daliza began. “You don’t get ‘off the grid’ quality of artistry without some extent of forced labor,” the singer wrote referencing West’s “Off The Grid” track from Donda. Sacrifices have to be made for greatness. Everybody tiptoeing these days afraid to cross boundaries or to be exposed. But at the end of the day, your favorite song, your favorite shoe, your favorite garment, your favorite drink wouldn’t be created if everybody in the process was in a comfortable state.”

Daliza added, “Labor takes its toll. Somebody at some point sacrificed something unwillingly for it. It’s not just the willing ones, sometimes we just need to dig our graves in order to feel alive.”

SZA shared Daliza’s post to her Instagram Story as it seems like it’s something the TDE singer may relate to. Prior and after the release of her beloved debut album Ctrl, SZA often spoke frequently about the struggles that went into crafting the project.

You can view the post above.

SZA, Finneas, And Summer Walker Take On ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Songs For A Soundtrack Album

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Dear Evan Hansen has become one of the most beloved musicals of the last decade, so much so that the 2015 production has a film adaptation coming out next month. Part of that is the soundtrack album, and aside from the cast, the OST features some big-name artists.

Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) includes covers of some of the musical’s songs. Sam Smith and Summer Walker will take on “You Will Be Found,” SZA has “The Anonymous Ones,” Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay performed “Only Us,” Finneas sang “A Little Closer,” and Tori Kelly covered “Waving Through A Window.” The album is set for release on September 24, the same date the movie hits theaters.

Check out the Dear Evan Hansen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) tracklist below.

1. Ben Platt and Dear Evan Hansen Choir — “Waving Through A Window”
2. Ben Platt — “For Forever”
3. Colton Ryan, Ben Platt, and Nik Dodani — “Sincerely Me”
4. Kaitlyn Dever, Danny Pino, and Amy Adams — “Requiem”
5. Ben Platt and Kaitlyn Dever — “If I Could Tell Her”
6. Amandla Stenberg — “The Anonymous Ones”
7. Ben Platt, Amandla Stenberg, Liz Kate, DeMarius Copes, Isaac Powell, Hadiya Eshe, and Dear Evan Hansen Choir — “You Will Be Found”
8. Kaitlyn Dever and Ben Platt — “Only Us”
9. Ben Platt — “Words Fail”
10. Julianne Moore — “So Big / So Small”
11. Colton Ryan — “A Little Closer”
12. Sam Smith — “You Will Be Found” Feat. Summer Walker
13. SZA — “The Anonymous Ones”
14. Carrie Underwood and Dan + Shay — “Only Us”
15. Finneas — “A Little Closer”
16. Tori Kelly — “Waving Through A Window”

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

SZA Releases ‘Random Thoughts’ In The Form Of Three New Songs: ‘I Hate You,’ ‘Joni,’ And ‘Nightbird’

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SZA’s musical releases have been far and few since she graced the world with her classic debut album, Ctrl. At one point the singer went two years without a single, a streak that ended with the release of “Hit Different.” She quickly followed up that single with “Good Days,” a track that grew to be her most successful track as it entered the top-10 of the singles chart. Since both efforts, things have quieted done a bit for the singer, outside of her “Kiss Me More” collaboration with Doja Cat, but it looks like things could change soon.

Early Sunday morning, SZA took to Twitter to share three new songs with fans, titled “I Hate You,” “Joni,” and “Nightbird.” The songs were shared to a Soundcloud account the singer created, one separate from the official one she has. In a tweet, she defined the release of the records as “dumping random thoughts” and promised to share more “word vomit” in the future. Additionally, a fan asked her if she can “start Sza Sunday’s and drop random thoughts once a week,” to which the singer replied “Yes .”

Another fan thanked her for the new records but also requested another song fans have patiently waited for. “We love you but we also love Shirt,” they wrote, speaking about her presumed next single, “Shirt.” The singer gave a comforting response and simply wrote, “She nex.”

You can listen to the three songs above.

Summer Walker Confirms SZA, Lil Durk, And Ari Lennox Will Appear On Her Next Album

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At the end of 2019, Summer Walker released her debut album, Over It, which broke the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album by a female artist. It also gave the singer her highest-charting release, debuting at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Now Walker is wrapping up work on her sophomore album, and though a title or release date have not yet been shared, she recently revealed some of the artists that will appear on it.

In a post to her Instagram Story, Walker revealed that SZA, Lil Durk, and Ari Lennox are among the acts that are involved. “Riding around listening to this album, can’t choose which is my favorite song… it’s between durk sza and ari ft,” the singer wrote in the post before adding, “they all so good.”

It would be the first time that Walker has collaborated with any of the aforementioned artists. But if her past work proves anything, it’s that she can create excellent chemistry with various artists. Over It featured excellent collaborations with Bryson Tiller, Usher, Jhene Aiko, 6lack, PartyNextDoor, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and Drake.

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