On S.O.S., her second album, SZA is sometimes an R&B singer who flirts with rap, other times a pop singer who plays with rock. Often, she falls somewhere in the middle, making this disc, hearty without being excessive, a witness to the multiplicity of her talents and her ambitions.
This album was expected, after the fantastic CTRL, the first offering of the American SZA, released in 2017. If she was rather active between the two releases, never letting us forget her presence, this new album is the proof that we expected that SZA is one of the voices dominant of the new generation of R&B and soul. Styles that she presents in her own way, without compromise and without a fixed mold to define her.
SZA welcomes quality collaborators on this disc, namely Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott and Ol’Dirty Bastard. Everyone improves the piece in which he participates. Ghost in the Machine, with Phoebe Bridgers, presents an encounter that we would not have anticipated, but which works wonderfully. Bridgers is true to herself, in her singing, her intonation, and it all blends very well with SZA’s rhythm on the piece.
As for OBD, the sample of his voice at the start of Forgiveless takes us back to the 1990s for a verse, while SZA’s chorus comes naturally to embellish the whole thing.
Collaborations at the production level (Jay Versace, Benny Blanco, Babyface or Darkchild, in particular) also offer superb results. And the list of authors, from Pharell Williams to Jacob Collier, is just as brilliant. SZA left nothing to chance and it shows.
The cover of S.O.S. shows the singer sitting on the edge of a diving board, in the middle of the ocean, isolated. The artist explained that he was inspired by a photo of Princess Diana on Mohammed Al Fayed’s yacht, a week before his death. She wanted to echo the isolation, talk about it on the cover as she talks about it in her songs. SZA addresses her moods, from the frustration of being in an industry that dehumanizes her (Ghost in the Machine), his doubts and insecurities (S.O.S.), of his unsuccessful loves (Used, F2F, too late).
His voice is impeccable, his flow equally. Inventive, SZA is guided, it seems, by nothing other than her intuition and the framework she has drawn herself.
R&B/Soul
S.O.S.
SZA
Top Dawg Entertainment