SZA's S.O.S. Album: Release Date

SZA's "S.O.S." Album Tracklist Reveals Features From Travis Scott, Phoebe Bridgers, and More

16 November 2022 by Njera Perkins

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 08: (Editorial Use Only) Sza performs on the main stage during Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park on July 08, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Joseph Okpako/WireImage)

Image Source: Getty / Joseph Okpako

More than five years after her game-changing debut album, SZA is finally releasing her long-awaited follow-up, "S.O.S." — which finally has a release date and official tracklist.

On 3 Dec., SZA served as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live," hosted by Keke Palmer, and while performing her latest single, "Shirt," she revealed the day of her sophomore album's arrival on the screen behind her: this Friday. Two days later, SZA also tweeted the tracklist for "S.O.S.," which comes a few days after she shared the album's ocean-set cover art.

Last month, in her Billboard cover story, published on 16 Nov., the R&B singer confirmed her "S.O.S." album would release in December. Though she didn't specify a day at the time, SZA told the outlet she was "currently stressed" over her personal deadline.

"I could literally burst into tears and run through this wall at any moment. I am effectively falling apart," she confessed of meeting fans' expectations. "But it's not like, the album pressure . . . It's just, life is f*cking hard. To be expected to do anything at a high level while life is life-ing is f*cking crazy. This isn't meant for a person; it's meant for a machine."

SZA continues to follow her musical intuition for this next phase of her career, which seemingly began in December 2020 after she released her "Good Days" track — which was, at the time, her first solo single in two years. One year later, she followed that up with "I Hate U" before she dropped the cinematic visual for her single "Shirt," starring LaKeith Stanfield, on 28 Oct. Shortly after her "SNL" appearance, SZA shared a teaser for the studio version of "Blind" on Instagram, which she also performed on "SNL."

Other details about SZA's forthcoming album are still scarce, but Billboard's Heran Mamo previewed it and noted that it features SZA's "beloved lo-fi beats," "a grunge record," and "an acoustic guitar-driven ballad." If 2017's "Ctrl" — which is still sitting on the Billboard 200 chart — isn't enough evidence of what SZA may deliver again, Mamo says it's her "most daring body of work yet," while RCA Records chairman/CEO Peter Edge is already calling her project "one of the most important albums of the year."