SZA SOS Remains #1 for a Powerful 8 Weeks
SZA makes history by becoming the first woman to hold an R&B album, SOS, at the number one spot on Billboard 200 for eight weeks since Mariah Carey’s Music Box in 1994.
Number one GLOBALLY is incredible!! 🥹 I’m so GRATEFUL! Thank you to everyone around the world listening to SOS and kill bill 🫡🆘 pic.twitter.com/9Z7xdANtDB
— SZA (@sza) January 10, 2023
SZA’s Collaborations
Five years after the release of Ctrl, SZA finally dropped her follow-up album, SOS, in 2022. However, this new album is independent of the music SZA is known for. It’s experimental because it is a wildflower, rooted in R&B with various genres. Another reason for the album’s versatility is its many features, including Phoebe Bridgers, Don Toliver, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, and Travis Scott. The link-up with Travis Scott came five years after his feature on the Ctrl single, “Love Galore,” now holds 109 million views.
Throughout the 23 tracks, listeners will hear SZA rapping, yelling, singing her angelic melodies, and even some pop-funk. Acknowledging this, SZA shares a tweet explaining that she is capable of making different tracks than just “sad girl” music.
Ignoring songs like Sos, Psa,concieted, low,forgiveless, seek n destroy, notice me, or ex pack . To pretend I only make sad girl music is dumb
— SZA (@sza) December 19, 2022
Creating Friendships
In alignment with the success of spending eight weeks at number one, SZA collaborated with her dear friend Lizzo, who recently won Record of the Year at the Grammys. They created the track “Special,” which received over 1.4 million streams in one day.
Over 1.4 million streams in one day 🤯 https://t.co/g33jLUUb5p
— FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) February 11, 2023
SOS has an abundance of intimate moments, including SZA’s friendship with Phoebe Bridgers, who she collaborated with on “Ghost in the Machine,” one of the album’s titular tracks. In a recent interview with Consequence, “We had been playing at festivals together recently, but our sets were at the same time, so we never got to meet,” SZA states. She also describes how the two eventually connected through DMs on social media. Phoebe and SZA’s collaboration gained lots of love from fans, and SZA shared an audio message from her phone about her team-up with Bridgers.
Response to having phoebe on the albums been pretty positive lol pic.twitter.com/D2Y7ckHP7l
— SZA (@sza) December 6, 2022
This unique album has created massive success for SZA’s career, being a complete standout from her past discography. “The sound is a little bit of literally everything,” SZA states in her interview with PEOPLE, “It’s a little angry as an overview, but some of it is really beautiful, soft, and heartfelt. It’s about heartbreak; it’s about being lost; it’s about being pissed.” Leaving her mark, SZA is becoming known for her impressive versatility with her new album.
The 2023 Tour
Congratulations to SZA on a fantastic piece of art. She will be featuring songs from SOS in her upcoming tour this year. The exclusive 17-city tour begins in Columbus, Ohio, and stops through North America in Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, New York, and many more before finishing in Los Angeles, CA. Tickets are available for purchase. SOS is streaming on all major music platforms.
