Image Source: Getty / Joseph Okpako [1]
More than five years after her game-changing debut album, SZA [2] 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," [3] hosted by Keke Palmer [4], 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 [5] 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 [6], 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 [7]" before she dropped the cinematic visual for her single "Shirt [8]," starring LaKeith Stanfield, on 28 Oct. Shortly after her "SNL" appearance, SZA shared a teaser for the studio version of "Blind" on Instagram [9], 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 [10]" — 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."
SZA's "S.O.S." Album Release Date
SZA's sophomore album arrives on Friday, 9 Dec.
SZA's "S.O.S." Album Tracklist
- "SOS"
- "Kill Bill"
- "Seek & Destroy"
- "Low"
- "Love Language"
- "Blind"
- "Used" feat. Don Toliver
- "Snooze"
- "Notice Me"
- "Gone Girl"
- "Smoking on My Ex Pack"
- "Ghost in the Machine" feat. Phoebe Bridgers [11]
- "FZF"
- "Nobody Gets Me"
- "Conceited"
- "Special"
- "Too Late"
- "Far"
- "Shirt"
- "Open Arms" feat. Travis Scott
- "I Hate U"
- "Good Days"
- "Forgiveness" feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard