Ctrl cover

Ctrl

SZA

Released

The last time we all flipped for an album called Control, Janet Jackson declared her self-emancipation. With her own Ctrl, SZA fulfills the promise of her earlier EPs by tackling romantic drama in the age of Tinder through trap beats and a genre-pushing “alt R&B” sound. Labelmate Kendrick Lamar makes an appearance on “Doves in the Wind”—so do Isaiah Rashad, Travis Scott and James Fauntleroy. But SZA keeps the focus squarely on herself, dropping personal bombs including but not limited to the “Supermodel” revelation: “I been secretly banging your homeboy.”

Miles Marshall Lewis

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