Marvin Gaye obscurity<\/a>.<\/p>\n13. Joni ft Don Toliver (2025)<\/p>\n
Joni had a tortuous gestation: SZA leaked a version online in 2020, fans leaked another in 2023, prompting SZA to announce she wouldn\u2019t release it officially. She changed her mind: a good thing, given how utterly lovely its Joni Mitchell-inspired melody and sample of the late Elliott Smith\u2019s guitar playing sound.<\/p>\n
12. 20 Something (2017)<\/p>\n
20 Something draws CTRL to a sombre, soul-bearing conclusion driven by acoustic guitar: SZA\u2019s life\u2019s a mess, she\u2019s alone, fearful of adult responsibilities that she doesn\u2019t feel ready to accept, a situation to which, evidently, millions of fans could relate. It ends, winningly, with a faintly exasperated pep talk from her mum.<\/p>\n
SZA at the Billboard music awards, Los Angeles, 2021. Photograph: Rob Latour\/Shutterstock11. Good Days (2020)<\/p>\n
The first single from SOS suggested things hadn\u2019t improved much emotionally in SZA\u2019s world: the line about \u201ctrying to get my mind together before the end of the world\u201d struck a particularly resonant note on release, in the midst of the pandemic. The sparkling, summery prettiness of the music somehow amplifies the gloom.<\/p>\n
10. Saturn (2024)<\/p>\n
The deluxe version of SOS, Lana, appended an entire album\u2019s worth of new material to the original: quite why it wasn\u2019t released as an album in its own right is a mystery when the new songs were as good as Saturn, a shimmering ballad that\u2019s the match of anything on the original album.<\/p>\n
9. Garden (Say It Like Dat) (2017)<\/p>\n
The brilliance of Garden lies in the tension between the music \u2013 trap drums beneath a haze of electronics and vocal samples spiked with euphorically bubbling electronic tones \u2013 and the rawness of SZA\u2019s vocal and the emotions it draws: yearning and pleading for emotional reassurance and commitment amid a burst of insecurity.<\/p>\n
8. I Hate U (2021)<\/p>\n
One of several songs on SOS in which SZA makes no bones about how aggrieved she feels after a breakup, I Hate U sets its 4am drunk-dialling despair and bile \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s shitty of you to make me feel like this!\u201d \u2013 to a superb musical backdrop made of equal parts murky lo-fi R&B and smooth yacht rock.<\/p>\n
7. Snooze (2022)<\/p>\n
SZA: Snooze \u2013 video<\/p>\n
Snooze came in two, equally great versions \u2013 the original is classic R&B that would have been a hit at any point in the last 30 years (\u201caunties approve of its authenticity,\u201d as one critic put it); the acoustic version is woozily dreamy and features Justin Bieber. Both are poignant, confessional and softly powerful.<\/p>\n
6. Kendrick Lamar \u2013 All the Stars ft SZA (2018)<\/p>\n
Just a guest appearance, but let\u2019s bend the rules a little: this surprisingly slick contribution to the Black Panther soundtrack is worth it. It\u2019s theoretically Kendrick\u2019s show, but it gifts SZA an absolute monster of a chorus, which she totally nails: they feel like equal partners, which is quite some feat.<\/p>\n
5. Drew Barrymore (2017)<\/p>\n
The point which you might suggest SZA as we now know her came into being, Drew Barrymore is direct, relatable and witty \u2013 \u201cwith her mom jeans and her new Vans, she\u2019s perfect and I hate her\u201d \u2013 and musically striking: spare beats, twanging guitar. The titular movie star was apparently impressed.<\/p>\n
4. Nobody Gets Me (2022)<\/p>\n
Performed live while SZA soared above the audience in a boat (!), Nobody Gets Me takes an intriguing route to anthemic ballad territory: it\u2019s alternately crestfallen, raunchy, intimate and subject to some spectacular vocal pyrotechnics. The chorus is key: it\u2019s got a definite slice of Natalie Imbruglia\u2019s Torn in its DNA, but it really works.<\/p>\n
3. The Weekend (2017)<\/p>\n
SZA: The Weekend \u2013 video<\/p>\n
Classic cheating soul \u2013 \u201cmy man is your man \u2026 you like 9 to 5, I\u2019m the weekend\u201d \u2013 retooled for today: slow beats, soft synths, a sample from Justin Timberlake\u2019s Set the Mood (Prelude). Calvin Harris\u2019s excellent remix, meanwhile, recasts it as mid-tempo disco. Both versions are great \u2013 take your pick.<\/p>\n
2. Kill Bill (2022)<\/p>\n
Wikipedia describes 2023\u2019s third biggest-selling single as a murder ballad. It is, although that doesn\u2019t capture how engagingly witty its fantasies of offing an ex are \u2013 she follows him \u201cat the farmer\u2019s market, with your perfect peach\u201d \u2013 amplified by the pure pop sweetness of its chorus.<\/p>\n
1. Broken Clocks (2017)<\/p>\n
If you had to pick a song that summed up SZA\u2019s multi-platinum appeal, Broken Clocks would be it. The lyrics exemplify her brand of confessional, no-filter intensity, depicting a life on the brink of chaos: still haunted by the memory of an ex from years ago, not even she can work out how she feels. The music blends R&B classicism with trap beats and a distinct note of chillwave-derived fogginess. Her voice feels powerful and natural: it has an unaffected, almost conversational quality, as if she\u2019s confiding in the listener. And the chorus is superb, built for an audience who know how she feels to howl along to.<\/p>\n
SZA\u2019s best songs \u2013 playlist Spotify<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"20. Hit Different (2020) A bit of a buried treasure: Hit Different was coolly received on release \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-5437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}