SOS cover

SOS

SZA

Released

SZA is back with Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Phoebe Bridgers and Travis Scott and all of the same licks and vocal strategies from CTRL. Which is only a problem if you don’t like the blues or comedians or anybody else who has a schtick, which is what SZA has, without doubt. Her life is still a messy conflagration of “fuckshit” and fuck bois, most of which triggers her fuck this and fuckouttahere mechanisms. On “Nobody Gets Me,” she goes straight into Taylor Swift territory, suggesting she might eventually leave her R&B in the shower improvisation for the straight pop world, which is always being reconfigured by artists as strong and unbiddable as SZA. She is still waiting for everyone to catch up.

Sasha Frere-Jones

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