SZA’s new album and its importance

Tavian B.

SZA has just released her second studio album dubbed “SOS”, one highly anticipated by all fans of the singer. The album runs slightly over an hour with a total of 23 songs, featuring artists such as Travis Scott, Don Toliver and Phoebe Bridgers. The ambitious album sees SZA explore new sounds and styles of production across the album.

This recent album has received widespread acknowledgement from both fans and critics alike, projected to sell 275,000-300,000 copies in its first week, debuting at the number one spot on the Billboard Top 200 during its first week. Aside from its popularity, the album has received good critical acclaim, many of the lowest reviews residing around an eight out of ten.

 

Fans have seemed to love it even more than critics, with it seemingly hitting them hard emotionally. “It’s an emotional work of art,” says Aryam Agili-Shaban, sophomore at Lower Dauphin High School. LD senior Riana Agili-Shaban stated, “The new SZA album revived me,” with fellow LD Senior Mena Patel echoing this sentiment. “It is a beautiful album… it made me cry.”

 

Overall, SZA’s newest release is a great work of heart, housing both emotional experiences of her own life while still being simply enjoyable to listen to. It is clear to see this has been one of the better releases of the year, and many are excited to see SZA move forward with new releases in the future.