Singer SZA Says Bad Experiences In High School In Maplewood Fueled Her Success

MAPLEWOOD, NJ — The singer SZA — who released a new album, SOS, last month — is in the Hall of Fame at Maplewood's Columbia High School, but life there wasn't always beautiful, she recounted in an interview in People Magazine on Wednesday.

She said she had almost no friends and (like so many) felt "awkward," but it made her into what she is today.

"I realized that all the things that made me feel so lame were actually what made me into who I am," she says. "It's like, I didn't go to prom because I didn't have any friends and I had no one to go to prom with."

She added, "If I had such a fulfilling existence and experience in high school, I would've felt validated to the point where I didn't need to do anymore. [So] I just had to do more, I had to be more because I was like, 'This s—y experience can't be the end of it.' "

SZA also said she stopped wearing her hijab in school after the Sept. 11 attacks.

SZA, born Solana Imani Rowe, has stayed active in the local community, and sang as part of a program to discuss racial integration in the town last year.

SZA's mother, Audrey Rowe, is the program director of the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race.

SZA, 33, also performed in 2018 at the high school when she was inducted into the Hall of Fame, encouraging students to daydream.

Read more in the interview with People here.