Where has SZA been all my life? I’ve listened to her music when it’s come on, but I realized that I have never added any of her songs to any of my playlists (except Good Days because it’s basically sinful if you don’t). SZA is the talented R&B artist that we have all been waiting for and anticipating. Her voice is effortless and absolutely beautiful, carrying your mind smoothly throughout each story she tells in her songs. The features that she has in this album make it that much better too, and who knew it could get any better than SZA alone?
Best Overall: Supermodel – Sung as a letter to a lover, SZA questions her beauty and whether or not she is good enough for love. Her mom opens up the song with a message about losing control and how that can drive someone to become “fatal,” as she refers to it. SZA continues the song by explaining her seemingly harmful obsession with what she looks like and receiving the approval of others. That part of the song, I’m sure almost everyone can relate to, of all ages, which makes this song such a beautiful way to open up the album and a great song to listen to if you want to contemplate the opinions of others, or just bop your head to some SZA.
Most Underrated: Drew Barrymore – The beginning CARRIES this song. Hearing this song when it was first released, all I was humming was the tune to “Why is it so hard to accept the party is over?” and I wasn’t mad about it either. SZA really shines through in this song because of how effortlessly she sings in this song. No note is too high or too low, and her song makes you want to straight vibe with everything going on around you.
Most Popular: Love Galore – A completely different side to Travis Scott than I could have ever imagined, and in the best way possible. SZA is extremely talented, but I have to say, Travis Scott’s verse in this song really gives her a run for her money, or at least so I thought. I gave the song a listen a couple more times and their voices are perfect for this type of song and pair so well together (I especially love Travis Scott’s adlibs throughout, it really makes the song (YEAH)). No one person shines more in this song than the other, and that makes this song special because the balance between voices fit amazingly.
Honorable Mention: Pretty Little Bird – I’m biased, I’ll admit. I’m a sucker for Isaiah Rashad. There are very few of his songs that I can criticize, so any song he is a part of, I automatically love. Looking past my love for Isaiah Rashad, the deeper you look into the lyrics, the more metaphors, comparisons, homonyms you see in the hidden meaning behind the song; SZA created this song to be clever with its wordplay.
Least Best: Wavy – Okay, I’m contradicting myself. I said that the features make this album that much better, but I’m sorry James Fauntleroy, not this one. Although this song is in place as an interlude, I feel like it could have been approached much better. I think James Fauntleroy had a little too much autotune in his small portion of the interlude, which brought down the quality of the music and overall feeling to it.