SZA got candid about some of the influences on her album in a recent interview with Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast. The “Kill Bill” songstress revealed that she looked to pop-punk artists like Blink 182, Avril Lavigne, and more. To help her cultivate the sound she was looking for, the TDE singer says she turned to her friend and pop star Lizzo after a run-in while she recorded her latest album, S.O.S.
SZA revealed that she and the “About Damn Time” singer recorded at least “five or six songs” during the session. The long-time friends took turns freestyling over the beat that became “F2F,” which was initially titled “Charlatan,” said songwriter/producer Carter Lang who joined the singer during the interview.
“They were putting some energy into it,” he said. “That was the thing that I feel sparked SZA really taking it into her own world and figuring out how it can be part of her story in an authentic way and not like, ‘Hey, I just did a rock joint.’”
For SZA, the pairing made sense because she feels Lizzo “gets her,” and they “have so much together.”
“She’s another person who has hella [wide] music tastes and doesn’t fit in anybody’s box of anything,” the singer said. “She makes it seem like she doesn’t even care, like she just does whatever she wants. And I just love being with her, just as a friend and hanging out. So whenever she comes to a studio, I just feel like, ‘Let’s drop into some bullshi*t.’”
Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.