SZA- First Impressions on S.O.S

S.O.S is production-wise an absolute feat. SZA achieves the incredible feat of giving us such a sonically diverse but simultaneously cohesive sound. Production-wise , her album gives her signature low-fi R&B feel, but has a few surprises with a nod to mid2000s Avril Lavigneesque soft rock, an Indie sleeper hit, and delves into production that reminds me of a Kendrick or College Drop-Out Kanye. I did not get bored with a single song as she truly is taking us some place different with each track, bringing us into her unfiltered state of consciousness. Her music is raw and honest in a way that is so liberating and cathartic for the listener. You almost want to yell "Girl Same" and exhale while listening to this album. S.O.S. SZA is incredibly vulnerable, not holding back on her most blunt and crude thoughts as she brings us through her grief, her pain, her heartbreak, and her healing. As she sits on the album cover amidst a large blue ocean, an homage to Princess Diana, we see SZA looking out upon a vast emotional seascape while seated on the diving board. She's acknowledging her own toxicity and her own destructiveness. Instead of diving in, she sits down with these feelings to reflect on them. And while it seem that they may encompass her with no way to for her to transcend, she sits above it all, allowing herself to surrender to the vastness, but not succumb to it. She is still in CNTRL.

Stand outs as there are many , but my personal favorites are : Open Arms, Kill Bill (incredible and toxic), Smoking on my Ex Pack, F2F, Special, and Ghost in the Machine (PHOEBE!). I will need to talk about Ghost in the Machine for the rest of my life. This collaboration was truly a seamless blend of two incredible artists. In a later will review I will try to find the words to describe how this collab has altered my brain chemistry. Special, is also a light soft rock singer-songrwriteresque hit that sees growth for SZA from what we hear in Normal Girl(CTRL). In Normal Girl, she's revealing her desire to be ordinary in order to be "picked". But in Special, SZA leaves her PickMeisha ways behind, realizing that she has sacrificed what made her special and desires to return to that state, regretting the version of herself she became to be loved by a man. "I wish I was special. I gave all my special away to a loser and now I'm just a loser just like you". I think she may have written these lyrics for me.

My one critique is the addition of a few tracks that should've been left off an already hefty 24 song track list ( Sorry "I hate you"). But overall, S.O.S is a wonderful journey into the mind of the multi-faceted songstress allowing us the kind of closeness to SZA as if we were sitting with her on her bedroom flow. She allows us gracefully surrender to our most honest, messiest, unkempt thoughts. She doesn't force resolution or closure and just allows us to sit with her where she is emotionally.