The Duality of Emotion: SZA ‘SOS’ Album Review

After long five years since her debut album CTRL, SZA fans worldwide celebrated the release of her sophomore album: SOS. This album, more so than her first, incorporates a burst of melodies, rhythms, genres, and creatively-articulated lyrics across 23 songs packed into one hour and eight minutes. I have personally not been able to stop listening to it since its release. As an avid R&B lover, it was easy to fall in love with many of its songs. The album tells the story of SZA’s emotions, traveling through the ups and downs, the lust and aversion, the wonder and heartbreak of being in a relationship, and learning to grow from it as an individual. 

My attention was immediately captured by the creative cover: SZA overlooking a vast ocean settled on the edge of a diving board. This was inspired by the photo of Princess Diana on her boyfriend Dodi Fayed’s father’s yacht, a week before her passing. SZA said that she loved the isolation shown in the original picture, and drew her cover inspiration from the feelings elicited by it. These are perfectly reflected in the album, as SZA jumps between feeling isolated and insecure to rising above it all. 

Between the time from her debut album to SOS, SZA dropped a few indelible singles including the positive energy radiated from “Good Days” and the fun sing-along “I Hate U” to the feelings of unworthiness and questioning oneself in a relationship in “Shirt”—all of which are included in this masterpiece of an album. Beyond these unforgettable tracks, SOS is a beautiful collage of relatable music artfully meshed together in what I would wholly define as sweet chaos.

The opening song, “SOS,” sets the tone for the rollercoaster of emotions listeners are about to experience. SZA declares feeling undervalued while simultaneously determined to defeat what’s holding her back. From there, we hear SZA take on genres never thought she would fit so perfectly into—then again, it is SZA. She raps unconventional bars on the beat of “Smoking on my Ex Pack,” detailing her independence of moving on from a disrespectful partner, and sings fluttery runs on the soothing melody and rich orchestral notes of “Blind,” explaining her ignorance to all of the things she wants which are right in front of her. SZA then switches to the dreamlike, flowy tune of “Ghost in the Machine,” with the indie influence of one of her few album features, Phoebe Bridgers. She describes the machine which is the music industry, and how she is tired of its robotic, draining nature, singing “Y’all lack humanity, I need humanity.”

SZA is big on taking action in many of the album’s tracks, as “Seek and Destroy” outlines the pain she experiences from a certain love and says she needs to “Do what I gotta do” to break away from the person holding her down. With the stalker-like obsession sung in “Kill Bill” over haunting chords, SZA lyrically relates to her fans who similarly desire revenge over ex-lovers that have wronged them. Its mysterious, plotting nature caused the song to become a popular fan favorite across platforms like TikTok. In “Love Language” SZA establishes her needs towards her lover of wanting better communication and transparency over a chill, mid-tempo beat that ends with a graceful, airy outro. She goes on to announce her disregard for any of the haters over the bouncy beat of “Conceited,” flaunting her cockiness and willingness to do what she wants with no guilt: “Always speaking my name, I can’t lose no sleep about it,” she confidently sings.

Many of the songs allowed me to truly feel the messages given off and get a glimpse into SZA’s outlook on various topics intertwined with conflicted feelings. “Used” featuring Don Toliver talks about feeling worthless and used in a relationship, but how she is working on overcoming this. While SZA says she wants a relationship with no labels because they haven’t been successful before on “Notice Me,” she sings her emotions out on the string ballad that is “Nobody Gets Me,” feeling hung up on an ex-lover who held a special place in her heart. In an internal battle, SZA wonders if breaking up with her lover wasn’t the right decision in “Too Late,” while negating those thoughts and picking herself up from the pitiful situation in “Far.” The transparency of her feelings throughout the album is truly unmatched.

SZA doesn’t let her gentleness go unnoticed, as the album features tracks that touch on SZA’s soft, vulnerable side. We see her put her insecurities on the line with “Special,” along a ‘triple S beat’ (sweet, soft, and sad). In the soulful song “Gone Girl,” SZA criticizes a past lover who has wronged her and shows her listeners that it is important to know their worth. She sings “I need your touch, not your scrutiny,” among other empowering lyrics, delivering a moving message and sweet touch to the album overall. “Open Arms” featuring Travis Scott is one of her other intimate songs, in which both sides of the relationship desire that specific love forever and feel devoted to that person over a breezy beat. 

For my personal favorites from the album, I found three which perfectly touch on many of the things I enjoy when savoring the world of music. “Low,” with its hard bass on an R&B trap-style mix always uplifts my energy. SZA talks about keeping her persona silent, private, and on the DL. What took me by surprise the most was the inclusion of the love child between rock, country, and 2000’s pop star that is “F2F.” I absolutely loved this track, as it shows off SZA’s versatility and success at that. It has to be one of the top pop-punk songs I have heard in a long time, as she shouts for her revenge on a past love over the contrast of the chorus’s distorted riffs with the verses’ whistles and jovial strums. It reminded me of many of the songs I used to blast in my room on my Kindle back in 2012, and I think I loved it more than I thought I would because of the pure nostalgia it brought me. After seeing and hearing many reviews of SOS, my top favorite from the album is quite uncommon; however, “Snooze” just does it for me every time. It’s about dazed feelings of being in love, yearning to be in the moment, and longing to be someone's number one, as SZA sings “I can’t lose when I'm with you.” I urge you to go take a listen, as I haven’t been able to stop myself.

Closing the album is “Forgiveless,” in which SZA radiates her maturity as a warrior woman and growth from the tenacious tug-of-war between her and her past lovers and relationships musically described across the previous tracks. Overall, I love how relatable and fluid this album is. From fun revenge tracks to sweet soulful tunes, each song gives listeners a piece of SZA that can be cherished and used to empower others. I’ve heard some people say they find its bounce between genres to be unfocused, but the best works of art span a range of styles, with the ability to unveil a diversity of rich experiences from which listeners can be encouraged by and grow from.