As cover star of the Billboard 2022 R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue, SZA announced that her sophomore album S.O.S. releases next month.
It’s officially SZA season. After nearly a year of teasing her long-awaited sophomore album, the Grammy-award winner has formally announced forthcoming LP in Billboard’s latest R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players issue. The news comes after SZA, birth name Solana Rowe, dropped new solo single “Shirt” and a “PSA” teaser on her 33rd birthday last week. In both visuals, the ‘S.O.S.’ title is seen, including a morse code message in “PSA,” also on SZA’s Instagram bio.
In SZA’s Billboard profile, the singer opened up about the loss of her maternal grandmother, Norma, who narrated her 2017 debut CTRL. In 2019, Norma died from complications with Alzheimer’s and SZA shared that while her grandmother was dying that she was regrettably occupied with performing on Saturday Night Live.
“That last week when she was really ill, I went to go perform with DJ Khaled, who I love, at SNL… And in hindsight, that was so dumb,” she admitted. “I just wish I spent those last moments with her at home. That was a hard lesson. Like, ‘Great, I perform for a minute and 30 seconds on SNL and I lost my grandma for the rest of my life.’ ”
Rowe also detailed her stresses with the music industry throughout the making of S.O.S., including her hectic tour schedule and COVID-19. Although the singer – who released a deluxe edition of CTRL earlier this year – is in album rollout mode, she also voiced her grievances with over-productivity.
“I feel like music, in this capacity, I don’t see longevity,” she told Billboard. “I like to create, I like to write, I like to sing, and I like to share. But I don’t know if chasing after superstardom or whatever I’m supposed to be doing right now is sustainable for me or for anybody. I’mma take a good swing at it, and I’mma give ’em my absolute best.”