Born November 8, 1989, Solána Imani Rowe, known professionally as SZA, would become one of the most popular artists of this generation, releasing multiple hits that rose to the top of the charts. SZA is an American singer-songwriter who started as a lesser known artist. According to SZA’s artist bio on Billboard, she grew up in a strict household, which meant she couldn’t listen to music or watch television. In 2011, while selling merchandise at a Kendrick Lamar concert, one of SZA’s friends played a few of her mixtapes, which caught the attention of TDE (Top Dawg Entertainment)’s co-president. After dropping out of college, SZA would independently release 2 extended plays, See.SZA.Run in 2012 and S in 2013. These EPs garnered some attention and TDE’s co-president would get in touch with SZA again and sign her as their first female artist. She would then release her 3rd EP, Z, in 2014. Z ended up charting on the US Independent Albums chart, peaking at the top 10. Z would also hit the top 40s on the Billboard 200 chart. Around this time, SZA would go on to write and feature in songs for notable artists, such as writing Feeling Myself for Nicki Minaj’s Pinkprint album in 2014, and co-writing and featuring in Consideration for Rihanna’s 2016 album, Anti. SZA would also perform Consideration with Rihanna live at the 2016 Brit Awards.

After signing a joint contract with RCA Records, SZA would go on to release her debut studio album, Ctrl, in 2017 with Drew Barrymore serving as the leading single off the album. According to Genius, Ctrl was already in the works dating back to 2014, when it was originally titled A. Ctrl would become her most successful album at the time, earning 5 Grammy nominations, debuting at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and selling over 60,000 units in the first week of Ctrl‘s release. Ctrl would achieve another milestone, as the album would become a certified 5x RIAA Platinum album according to their official website in 2023. After dropping hints on her Twitter in 2018, SZA would release a deluxe version of Ctrl in 2022 with 7 bonus tracks, the day of Ctrl‘s 5th anniversary of its release. 

Ctrl touches on SZA’s complexities with modern romance. According to an interview with MTV, SZA’s meaning behind Ctrl is about us as human beings grappling with the existence of control and wondering if we have control or not, who is in control, and the approval and denial of someone else being in control. With 14 tracks on the album and an additional 7 tracks on the deluxe album, Ctrl is a lengthy, but enjoyable listen, with the time length being 1 hour and 9 minutes. Artists like Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, James Fauntleroy, and Isaiah Rashad all make cameos on Ctrl. Most of the songs on Ctrl were written by SZA herself, along with other notable names playing a part in writing lyrics such as Tyler, The Creator, Drake, Timbaland, and Justin Timberlake.

My top picks on the album would be Garden (Say It Like Dat), The Weekend, and Love Galore. Ctrl has a ton of amazing songs, so having to choose three that I enjoyed most was difficult.

Garden (Say It Like Dat) is the 8th song on the album. In the music video, Donald Glover, aka Childish Gambino, plays the role of SZA’s love interest but does not sing in the song. SZA’s mother also makes a cameo in the music video. In the chorus, SZA sings, (Open your heart up / Hopin’ I’ll never find out that you’re anyone else / ‘Cause I love you just how you are / And hope you never find out who I really am / ‘Cause you’ll never love me, you’ll never love me / You’ll never love me, but I / Believe you when you say it like that). These lyrics sum up the meaning behind the song, as SZA expresses her need for emotional vulnerability and support from her partner, wondering if she is deserving of it. It also touches on the many insecurities someone might face when in a relationship, wanting one’s reassurance, and clinging to your partner for your sanity. At the end of the song, we get a monologue from SZA’s grandmother, “If you don’t like me, you don’t have to fool with me. But you don’t have to talk about me or treat me mean. I don’t have to treat you mean. I just stay out of your way,” In these sentences, she advises SZA to not let others push her around and to stand her ground when people try to mistreat her.

The Weekend is the 6th track on the album. According to an interview with Vulture, she explained her idea behind the song, “Time-sharing a man is real. If we’re all being honest there’s very few men that are just dating one woman. I think, low-key, the internet makes it so difficult [to be in relationships] because we’re taking in so much information. There’s always new, new, new, more, more, more. Having one person seems like a restriction, like a limitation. Everyone’s used to being overstimulated.” She explains how common it is for men to be dating multiple women at once and how just having one partner can feel limiting or restricting. In the song, SZA sings, (You’re like 9 to 5, I’m the weekend). These lyrics speak about how their partner is on a schedule, where one woman has him for these dates, another woman has him for other dates, and so on.

Love Galore is the 6th song on the album. Travis Scott makes a feature in the song, singing in the intro, having some adlibs scattered across the song, and an entire verse to himself. Love Galore was initially teased with a snippet on her Instagram back in November of 2016. She also performed the song in full at one of her private shows in New York. Love Galore is one of her most successful singles off the album, peaking at No. 32 on the Billboard 100 chart. Here, SZA sings about her getting played around by a man. She also speaks about giving up on fighting (I said farewell / You took it well / Promise I won’t cry over spilled milk). She explains the true meaning in an interview with Genius, “This whole song is about being played out by a man who thought he was cuter than you, who thought he had it all together and he was on the move. But somewhere in between this whole mayhem of whatever’s going on, you got over it, and you flipped the script and didn’t say anything. Why play yourself?” The song then ends with another monologue from SZA’s grandmother, where she advises SZA to speak up for herself and not keep quiet, “But see Solána, if you don’t say something, speak up for yourself. They think you stupid. You know what I’m saying?”

What is your favorite song on the album? Let us know in the comments!