As far as 2017’s breakout stars go, few can boast the heights of Grammy-nominated songstress SZA (born Solana Rowe).
The ‘Love Galore’ performer received just that last year after years of mixtapes and underground hype all led to the release of her critically acclaimed official debut album, ‘Ctrl’ (which peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200). Birthing platinum hits, top 40 placements by its singles, and earning a legion of new fans along the way, Rowe recently took to our friends at ‘Fader’ and ‘GQ’ to reveal it was she who was not a fan of her own music.
But, the initial dislike of the tunes ‘Ctrl’ was comprised of certainly didn’t stop her from being ‘mad as hell’ at her 2018 Grammy shutout (as we previously reported).
See her interesting quotes and thoughts on these topics inside:
On Grammy snub [source]:
“…I didn’t imagine this album doing much anyway. I was so grateful to even have been honored by being nominated and having so many people fuck with my music. I feel like at some point you start to get sucked up into the accolades and you’re like, ‘Oh, this is what this is about, and this is what quantifies my success or me as an artist or a human being.’
We reached a billion streams on Spotify. The United States fucks with my songs. We’re changing little girls’ lives across the world, and we didn’t even know what we were doing when we started. This is something much bigger than me and a fucking trophy. I’m appreciative of the opportunity. But shit happens.”
“I just didn’t know how to take it. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t post, because I’ve never had to deal with anything I really believed in wholeheartedly, or invested in, and went through something that publicly before. I wanted to be honest as fuck, and if today I’m just mad as hell, I don’t want to say something that reflects me being mad as hell. But I definitely feel blessed now. I also don’t feel compelled to explain myself.”
On not liking ‘Ctrl’…at first [source]:
“I didn’t even f— with my own album, so I was so confused and almost, like, angry that everyone f—ed with it so much,” she told The Fader. “It meant everything I felt about myself was wrong. And it was just like, If that’s not the truth, then what is the truth?”
“I think when ‘Love Galore’ went platinum, Donald [Glover] texted me like, ‘Do you still think it sucks?’ And I was like, ‘I dunno.’”
Photo courtesy: The Fader