SZA is a renowned American singer-songwriter working in one of the newest neo soul genres. Her compositions can be described as a combination of R&B with elements from soul, hip-hop, witch house and chillwave.
The singer began her musical career in 2012. She has received 9 Grammy nominations and 1 Golden Globe nomination. She also won the Billboard Music Awards in 2018.
SZA's early life
SZA is the artist's stage name, taken from the Supreme Alphabet, where "Z" and "A" stand for "zigzag" and "Allah" respectively. Her real name is Solana Imani Row. The actress was born on November 8, 1990 in the American city of St. Louis (Missouri).
The girl never complained about her childhood, as her parents had above average income. My father worked as an executive producer for CNN. In turn, the mother held a senior position in the company's mobile operator AT & T.
Solana has an older brother, Daniel, who is now developing in the rap direction, and a half-sister, Tiffany. Despite the fact that the mother of the performer is a Christian, her parents nevertheless decided to raise the girl as a Muslim. As a child, in addition to studying in a regular elementary school, she additionally attended a Muslim one. Until the 7th grade, the girl even wore a hijab. However, after the September 11 tragedy in New York, she was bullied by her classmates. To avoid bullying, Solana stopped wearing the hijab.
SZA attended Columbia High School in high school, where she was very enthusiastic about sports. During her studies, she actively attended cheerleading and gymnastics classes. Thanks to this, she even managed to get the title of one of the best gymnasts in the United States.
After graduating from high school, she tried to study at three universities. The last specialty that interested the performer was marine biology at Delaware State University. Nevertheless, in her last year of study, she still decided to leave the university and work.
The beginning of the creative path and the first successes of Solana Row
In her youth, SZA did not plan to devote herself to the creative field. “I definitely wanted to do business, I didn’t want to do music,” she said, “I thought I would work in a nice office.” The aspiring performer recorded her first tracks in 2010.
In 2011, Solana performed for the first time on CMJ New Music Report with friends from Top Dawg Entertainment. The girl got there thanks to her boyfriend. He worked for a company that sponsored events. The show also featured Kendrick Lamar. Terrence Henderson (President of the TDE label) liked the performance of SZA. After the performance, he exchanged contacts with the singer.
Over the next two years, Solana released two successful EPs that earned her a contract with TDE. Her friends helped the performer in creating the first compositions.
Together they found some beats on the Internet, wrote lyrics for them and then recorded tracks. So the girl's debut EP See.SZA.Run was released in 2012. And already in 2013, another mini-album "S" was released. In support of the collection, the singer later went on tour.
In 2014, the single Teen Spirit was released. After its popularity on the Internet, Solana, along with rapper 50 Cent, recorded a remix and released a video. In the same year, the artist could be heard on feats with many friends from the label. Another significant work was Child's Play with Chance the Rapper.
Thanks to the "Z" EP, which peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200, SZA's visibility has increased tremendously. Then artists from all over the world began to send her offers. So, Solana managed to participate in writing songs for Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj и Rihanna. In 2016, she even sang one part of the song Consideration from Rihanna's Anti.
First studio album and SZA awards
In June 2017 (after signing with RCA Records), SZA released their first studio album, Ctrl. Initially, it was supposed to be released back in 2014-2015. as third EP "A". However, the girl decided to improve the tracks and write a number of others for a full-fledged album. The work received a significant number of positive ratings from listeners and critics. Already in March 2017, she received a silver certification.
Ctrl was named the best album of 2017 by Time magazine. It included the track Love Galore, recorded together with Travis Scott. It managed to reach number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later certified platinum. SZA, her record Ctrl, tracks The Weekend, Supermodel and Love Galore received nominations at the 2018 Grammy Awards. Moreover, the artist received the highest number of nominations among all performers.
The album sounded like traditional R&B, but there was still a noticeable influence of trap and indie rock. The record contained a precise sound methodology with elements of pop, hip hop and electronica. In his review of the album, Jon Pareles of The New York Times said of SZA, "But now she has complete control of the foreground in her songs. Her voice sounds candid and natural, with all its graininess and colloquial quirks."
What has Solana Row been doing in recent years?
One of SZA's most successful songs was All The Stars, performed in collaboration with Kendrick Lamar. It was the lead single on the Black Panther soundtrack album. A few days after the release, the composition took the 7th position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Moreover, the song received a nomination for the Golden Globe Award in the Most Original Song category.
In 2019 (after the release of the song Brace Urself), Solana announced that she was thinking of releasing a second studio album. There were rumors that the artist wants to write three more records, after which she will end her career. However, SZA soon denied these rumors. The artist said that the songs will be released for sure, but does not know how soon a full-fledged album will be released.
Based on a series of tweets published in August 2020, it became clear to fans that the record was ready. Solana wrote: “You need to ask Punch. Everything he says is soon. The posts were talking about Terrence "Punch" Henderson, who is the president of Top Dawg Entertainment. The artist and the president of the label had a very tense relationship.
Singer SZA today
In 2021, SZA and Doja Cat presented a video for the song Kiss Me More. In the video, the singers got the role of patrons who seduce the astronaut. The video was directed by Warren Fu.
At the beginning of the first summer month of 2022, the American singer pleased with the release of the deluxe disc Ctrl. Recall that this album was released 5 years ago. The new version of the collection has become richer by as many as 7 previously unreleased tracks.
