By: Aiden Wright ’26
“I just want what’s mine.” The lyric lurches with the weight of conviction and lands with
resolute certainty, both a proclamation and a promise. In SOS, the namesake track of the album,
SZA announces her resurgence, setting forth her intention to cement herself as a vocal talent of
our generation – and that she did. Sprawling across genres, lush with evocative lyricism, and
replete with emotional depth, SZA’s long-awaited album is nothing short of a sonic landscape. As listeners, we are almost instantly lulled into enthrallment, yet given the space for
introspection; we are taken on a journey, following SZA as she emerges raw and fragile from the
ruins of yet another broken relationship.
From the first track, SZA commences her album coiled and poised to strike, songs
swollen wide with venom allowing her to fashion rage into an instrument of retribution. In the
sharp cadence of her delivery on “Seek and Destroy,” the haunting chorus of “Kill Bill,” and the
explosive beat of “Low,” SZA’s anger finds a voice, rising from a hushed whisper to a guttural
scream; it is palpable, biting, and so tightly wound we are hopelessly ensnared.
Every track on SOS is not a withering condemnation. Some serve as elegies – deeply
poignant as they lament the downfalls of past relationships and subsequent fracturing of SZA’s
identity. From “Gone Girl” to “Nobody Gets Me”, sincere monologues and silken melodies
seamlessly fold in on themselves. The result: dreamy, emotive anthems that spool across themes
of self-perception, loss, acceptance, and isolation. This is what we have come to expect from
SZA, but the album is not without experimentation – the dynamic rapping track “Smoking on my
Ex Pack,” nostalgic, pop-rock flair of “F2F,” and futuristic ethereality of “Ghost in the Machine”
all constituting significant deviations from her characteristic R&B niche.
The album concludes with a stark duality: “Open Arms” and “Good Days” aglow with
the warmth of reconciliation, “I Hate U” and “Forgiveless” darkened by the shadow of
embitterment. Throughout SOS, this same ambivalence animates SZA as she interrogates her
past romances. Gushing vitriol. Abject desolation. Blind denial. Wistful reminiscence. Each
stroke adds a new layer and the portrait laid before us is seemingly muddled – love, its abrupt
absence, and how that has colored SZA’s emotional turmoil all questions we must answer for
ourselves.
Stepping back to contend with the album as a whole is when clarity arrives. As SZA
picks up the shards to make herself whole again, we see how love functions: how it consumes
just as fast as it hollows, steels just to soften, dances with drama and desperation just to vanish.
We see that SZA’s romantic experience, much like the cover of SOS, is a vast, churning sea; the
rich density and complexity of her emotions submerse us beneath the waves, and maybe that’s
the point.
As listeners, we are kept afloat by the unflinching intimacy and vulnerability that pulse at
the heart of SOS. When SZA refers to herself as a “loser” and croons that she “might kill her ex”
or confesses that she is “still playin’ the victim” and can’t “grow without hating the process”, her
pithy, self-deprecating wordplay grants us proximity to her deepest fears, insecurities, and
doubts. Suddenly, SZA’s romantic woes are no longer hers to grapple with alone; they possess a
broader relatability, and listeners are able to distill meaning and insight from the trials she has
undergone. When SZA gazes into the cracked mirror of her former relationships, for a fleeting
moment, we see ourselves in the distorted reflection.
By the album’s end, SZA is not a hazy figure beyond reach and comprehension. Armed
with unabashed candor, SZA bares the contents of her soul and comes into full view where we not only see, but understand her. Nothing about her reality is smoothed for the sake of
palatability – edges remain unrefined, even jagged, blemishes and scars apt for scrutiny. Rather
than mounting herself on a porcelain pedestal – above reproach and criticism – SZA presents the
truth: she is flawed, but whole, her humanity intact among the scattered wreckage of her
romances. Interpretations of SOS may vary, but one thing is for certain: throughout the album,
SZA’s artistry never falters; lyrics are intricately woven, bridges are irresistible, instrumentals
dip and soar, and songs gleam with a magic only she can conjure.
