SZA‘s breakout success over the last year has seen the songstress shape-shift from underground darling to mainstream magnet.

Debut album ‘CTRL’ has served as the primary vehicle and has driven the TDE talent to the top of the music mountain – racking up endless accolades including Grammy nominations and RIAA plaques.

The singer celebrates her whirlwind success a-front of V Magazine‘s summer 2018 edition, which serves as the publication’s “music issue.”

Beyond her striking cover shoot, the rising star was interviewed by Jada Pinkett Smith and opened up about how her life has changed and the bullying that shaped her nature.

Head below for more…

SZA On How Being Bullied Impacted Her:

I felt super chaotic when I was young. I was going through so much darkness. My mom said I was born serious as hell. I don’t know what that means, but I went through a lot of bullying and ostracizing in school, so it was hard for me to connect with anyone.

I was awkward. I’m super sensitive, and my mother made me extra sensitive because she’s just so unapologetically loving. I’ve realized some people don’t hug in their families, or say that they love each other all day. My family tells me they love me all day; I’m hyper-affectionate, laying it on other people, just because it’s what we do in my house. But in the world, that was weird, and it was really difficult to be super sensitive and hyper-open. It was just frightening. I guess my mom represented something that made me feel weak. I felt like, this is why I’m hurt. When I got older, I realized, Oh shit, the whole world is wrong and my mom is right. I sort of panicked. I needed to align myself with the way she lives her life in order to better understand her. Then, when I got to better understand her, I started really loving and cherishing her in a different way, like my sensei. It’s a whole different vibe.

SZA On How Her Life Has Changed:

“No privacy, a lot of expectations, responsibilities, and weird encounters, and recognizing my service, purpose, and place. It goes from [reaching] 10 kids to a thousand kids to a million kids. You have to be really listening to and touching them, all the time.”

SZA On Doing Her Own Thing After Award Shows:

“I roll up a big ol’ blunt, I dial my friends, and we just talk. We laugh a lot, actually. I meditate really hard. My regular nights, sometimes I go for a drive, or usually smoke a blunt, meditate, chill with people I love. I wish I had something more fun to say.”

SZA is currently hard at work on a re-release of ‘CTRL,’ featuring six new songs. She says her follow-up project, which she’s also working on, will be her “last” album.

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