SZA keeps Ctrl
SZA is nominated for five Grammy Awards for her debut album, Ctrl.
THE JUICE IN BEYONCÉ’S LEMONADE
SZA, who co-wrote Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé’s hit song Feeling Myself, didn’t think the song would see the light of day. “I’m like, ‘This ain’t gon’ be nothing because this is just, I’m talking — what am I talking about? I’m talking about drugs and, just, pimp (stuff ),’” SZA said. “I’m just being silly. Like, I’m being silly.” SZA said Terrence (Punch) Henderson, Top Dawg Entertainment co-president, knew what she wrote would get used: “And Punch like, ‘This is it! This is on.’ I’m like, ‘What?” He’s like, ‘Watch! Watch!,’” she said, laughing. “And he was just laughing at all these drug references . ... He’s like (rapping), ‘36 of that real ...’ I’m like, ‘No, no, this is not going to be nothing.’ And I walked out of the room and I never heard from them for, like, months.”
THE WEEKEND WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
SZA was completely uninhibited when she recorded The Weekend — simply because it samples a Justin Timberlake song and she never thought the music would get cleared. “I didn’t even think about anything I was saying. I was just happy to be singing over that Justin Timberlake sample,” she said. “I was just like, ‘This is for fun. This is crazy.’ “Honestly, thank you Justin Timberlake, because you have the juice,” she said. “I just borrowed it.” The Weekend borrows elements from Timberlake’s Set the Mood (Prelude)/ Until the End of Time, from his 2006 album, FutureSex/LoveSounds.
GETTING TOO DEEP
SZA sings about dating, sex, confidence, insecurities and more on Ctrl. But she says some of her songs are so heavy she didn’t include them on the album. “I pulled back a lot of topics on the album. There’s mad personal s--- that I was like, ‘This is too much.’ Like, and I’m glad ’cause they can’t even handle The Weekend, so I feel like the other topics are safe where they are, at home, understood by me,” she said.
SZA’S FAVOURITE COLOUR: MAROON
SZA’s biggest chart success so far is her duet with pop-rock band Maroon 5. The upbeat song What Loves Do, which SZA cowrote, reached the Top 10 on the Hot 100.