On the day I speak to SZA, she has just left New Zealand – her “favourite place in the world” – and arrived in Brisbane, Australia. Despite being ill and on her 14th month of touring, she is open, amiable and seemingly grateful to still be on the road.
Over the past decade, SZA has gone from an idealistic singer on Soundcloud to one of the most streamed artists in the world. Born Solana Imani Rowe, she emerged on the scene with her first mixtape See.SZA.Run in 2012, but her debut studio album CTRL solidified her position as one of her generation’s most prominent talents – and a figurehead of fellow Tumblr-raised, spiritually functional individuals far and wide.
Her second studio album SOS, released at the end of 2022, has broken multiple records – including becoming one of the longest-running number-one albums of the decade, and having the largest first streaming week of any ‘R&B’ album in the US. While it was widely anticipated, the reception was unexpected for her. “I could have never anticipated that,” she says, sounding genuinely surprised. “I’m super grateful that it went over well and not negatively. But in no way would I have ever been able to think about that or imagine that.”
Now adding another accolade to her repertoire, as of today, May 1, she is the new face of Australian sunglasses brand Quay. Aptly entitled ‘Sides of SZA’, her guest edit features eight different sunglasses that reflect different aspects of her personality. The shades (including her own favourite, the gold-framed ‘ON SET’) all reflect her eclectic and playful style. “Our brand was born in the music festival scene, so we are intrinsically connected to music. Collaborating with a unique talent like SZA was an undeniable and natural expression of the brand,” explains David Adamson of Quay. “SZA brings a level of creativity and a signature style to everything she touches. This edit is no exception.”
Below we spoke to SZA about this new partnership, how she protects her energy, and why she would never want to see the world through anyone else’s eyes.
Quay is ‘rooted in self-expression’. How do you feel the way you’ve expressed yourself has changed over the years?
SZA: I feel like self-expression is supposed to change and morph. I find that now I am more childlike and playful than I was in maybe that middle section [of my career], where I kind of lost myself and started caring so much about what people thought. I forgot that no one knows what they are talking about – literally no one. Even if you study a topic for 20 years, you’re studying the thoughts of other people. It’s collective ideology, no one knows for sure what’s happening, and there’s so much comfort in that. You might as well just do what you want and relax.
One of the frames is called ‘Karma’. I know you’re big into spirituality – do you believe in karma?
SZA: I do. I think there’s the commercial version of what people think karma is, which is cause and effect, but [I also think] karma is more about the amount of energy you accrue over a lifetime. It’s all the stories that have happened to you, all the good and bad things that become the building blocks of you. [We release] baggage over and over, for the rest of our lives. Also in the Hollywood sense, I believe in checks and balances, where choices yield specific outcomes. [But also] karma in terms of shedding karma, like shedding your fears or harmful traumas that have happened to you.
One of my favourite lines on “Saturn” is 'if karma's really real, how am I still here?'
SZA: Exactly. That’s the checks and balances version. We’re all so imperfect and we’re all so flawed, we’re constantly shedding and acquiring new karma.
You’re a Scorpio with a Pisces moon, which supposedly means you’re very empathetic and in tune with other people’s energies. How do you protect your own energy and keep your peace?
SZA: I just try to acknowledge what I’m feeling. If I’m feeling overstimulated, I’m still learning how to distance myself. I also make white baths for myself, and pray and meditate twice a day – I try to go before and after my show. Then just dialogue, literally talking to myself and being like, I wonder what this thing is that I feel? I try to check in with myself and see if that is coming from me, or if it’s coming from [another] person.
The Quay edit is called ‘Sides of Sza’. Generally, you’re known as an ‘R&B artist’ but sonically you’ve not been fixed to one genre. How would you define your own sound? What does your music sound like to you?
SZA: The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black. It’s almost a little reductive because it doesn’t allow space to be anything else or try anything else. Justin Bieber is not considered an R&B artist; he is a pop artist who makes R&B, folk music, or whatever his heart desires. I simply just want to be allowed the same opportunity to make whatever I want without a label, [without it being] based on the colour of my skin, or the crew that I run with, or the beats that I choose. I want “F2F” to be seen as what it is. I want “Nobody Gets Me” to be seen as what it is. I want “Kill Bill” to be seen as what it is.
At the same time, it’s nothing to get bent out of shape about, because it’s just how people are processing you. As long as I don’t process myself that way. I don’t necessarily box myself into anything. I’m just trying to make music, trying to vibe out and enjoy the experience.
“The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black. It’s almost a little reductive” – SZA
I often think that with up-and-coming Black female musicians who are quickly labelled as ‘R&B’. I’m like, are you sure? Have we delved into this body of work, or are we just giving it a label for the sake of giving it a label?
SZA: It’s so strange! Once we’re dead and gone, there will still be work to do in terms of how we’re seen in the world as Black women, and who we are allowed to be seen as – the multifacetedness and all our spectrums of expression. I think humanity will be constantly unfolding itself, and we will be showing each other who we are beyond the reductive labels our brains are regurgitating, from whatever we saw on the internet or learned in college or at home through socialisation. We’ll get beyond that, and that’s just part of being human. I’m down to be human.
You also play with your style a lot – I love tracing a SZA era through your wigs. How did you get to a place where you felt comfortable expressing the different versions of yourself?
SZA: I just love switching up how I feel. I swear sometimes I know this is who I am, this is my uniform. And then it’ll be something completely different a week later, and I’ll be like ‘why did I even want that wig? Straight hair only for the rest of the month!’ It’s silly but it’s so fun. I feel bad for anybody who can’t throw those on. I suggest everybody get a host of wigs. It’s very freeing.
You said that you hope fans feel empowered wearing the collection. When do you feel the most confident?
SZA: When I have autonomy over myself, my environment, my interactions and my energy. When I feel like I can decide who and where I want to share my energy with. Sometimes, even glasses are a part of that. It’s a protective element. Sometimes we want to just disappear. I feel like empowerment means different things to different people. I feel empowered both when I have maximum privacy and silence, and when I’m safely in a corner with my glasses on. I get to observe. There are so many versions, it’s not always a ‘look at me’ that makes somebody empowered. Sometimes it’s ‘I'm looking at y’all’.
If you could see the world through one person’s eyes, alive or dead, who would it be and why?
SZA: I don’t know if I want to see the world through anyone’s eyes. I don’t want to feel the suffering through someone else’s eyes. Everyone suffers in their own way, right? I feel like we’re not really supposed to walk in other people’s shoes. We’re supposed to acclimate to our own shoes, and I’m just now understanding that. I used to wish I was somebody else for so long. But I don’t know if I can handle anybody else’s shoes or eyes. But I definitely admire everybody’s vision.
What excites you most about the future right now? You’ve been speaking recently about the fact that you’re big into agriculture right now. I can imagine a SZA farmhouse, where you’re greeted by the world’s biggest selenite crystal on arrival.
SZA: No, literally. I think everything excites me right now. Even the fear of the future is exciting. I guess genuinely not knowing what is next – I have no idea where I’m headed. I’m just excited about the edge of discovery. The unknown is inherently exciting these days.
I’m trying to follow my heart, and what my heart wants is to learn more about building a community, mutual aid, vegetables and shipping. I’m really into volcanic soil right now. If you look at the vegetables and the people that grow in places which have volcanic soil – like New Zealand and Hawaii – they are insane. They’re just beautiful and incredibly healthy. So I just really think there’s something to be said about volcanic soil. I want to find a way to duplicate that energy and those nutrients. I feel like that would be so beneficial, because soil is the basis of all of our humanity and our health. So I guess I’m into soil! I’m excited just to explore and see what’s the tea, see what I can learn.
Shop the Quay Australia edit here.