SZA was “terrified” in the weeks leading up to the release of her second album SOS late last year.
The “Kill Bill” singer, real name Solána Imani Rowe, released her long-awaited follow-up to 2017’s Ctrl in December, and it went straight to the top of the Billboard album charts and spent seven consecutive weeks at number one, the longest consecutive album run in 2022.
While SOS has become a success, SZA spent the weeks leading up to its release “freaking out” about its reception.
“I cry a lot before big things, like releases. Or I’ll get angry, mean. And I realize I’m being a b#### right now because I’m scared,” she admitted to The New York Times Magazine. “A lot of that happened during this last section of putting this album together – lashing out, and freaking out. It’s like, ‘Oh. I’m just terrified.’”
The 33-year-old explained that she tends to brace herself for backlash or criticism and never expects to receive positive feedback.
“I don’t expect anything,” SZA continued. “I’m ready for the hate, or backlash, or disappointment… I’m not expecting people to be like, ‘Oh, my God, this album is so good. I’m expecting people to be like, Y’all hyped this b#### up too much.’”
SZA candidly recalled another freak-out moment in which she thought about not being able to live up to the album’s success.
“Part of me feels like, ‘Wait, this album is really good, and I can’t imagine being any more famous, or any more successful.’ I’m like, ‘Am I about to die? Fall over the edge?’ It’s like, my album has to tank, because if it’s any better, if it goes so well, I have to die after that. Because no one gets that,” she revealed.