SZA‘s highly anticipated debut album is titled Ctrl. Earlier on this week while being interviewed on ‘The Breakfast Club‘ she described the concept behind the album title.
“I’ve lacked control my whole life and I think I’ve craved it my whole life. I couldn’t really arrive at it and now, I’m not really looking to arrive at it anymore. I’m just happy to be present. It’s weird. If you try to control a future moment, it’s impossible. There’s no such thing as control anyway. It’s just a concept, a word, a fantasy. But if you focus on the way you feel in the now and what you do with the now, I feel like it leads to having true control in the future.”
“I [wrote about] my younger life, which was haphazard. Being at sleep away camp away from my parents, being the only black girl, not even noticing until I got older, dealing with boys, self-hate, growth, and God. It’s the first time I’m literally writing about my life instead of figuratively writing about it.” – SZA
Until a late flurry of percussion arrives, doleful guitar and bass are Solána Rowe’s only accompaniment on opener “Supermodel”, a stinging kiss-off to an adulterous ex. It doesn’t prepare you for the inventively abstract production that follows—dismembered voices haunting the airy trap-soul of “Broken Clocks”, “Anything”’s stuttering video-game sonics—but it instantly establishes the emotive power of her rasping, percussive vocal. Whether she’s feeling empowered by her physicality on the Kendrick Lamar-assisted “Doves in the Wind” or wrestling with insecurity on “Drew Barrymore”, SZA’s songs impact quickly and deeply.
