On December 9th, 2022, 33 year old pop star SZA released her long awaited album. This album consists of 23 tracks and after only being out for a month, 20 out of the 23 are already on the Hot 100 list. Two songs in the top ten, include “Kill Bill” at 3 and “Nobody Gets Me” at 10.

SZA’s album has maintained its number one spot for four weeks, making her debut in the Billboard 200 a memorable one. It broke the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album in the US.

Her last album release, CTRL, was in 2017, leaving her new album to be highly anticipated, and the response from her fans was incredible.

The long period of time between her recent album releases inspired a TikTok trend of people showing their younger selves when SZA’s last album came out compared to their older selves now in 2022. This trend showcases how her fans have matured and went through “glow ups,” right along with their favorite artist.

As well as the “glow up” trend on TikTok, the hashtag “sza” has over 6 billion views and the hashtag “szasos” has over 168.8 million views.

The album was released through Top Dawg Entertainment and features guest appearances from Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott, and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

This album is said to portray SZA’s emotional journey of self-discovery.

In “Conceited”, she dives into how she does not need validation from others anymore in the lyrics “I got everything and I’m living off of revenge/I’ve been burning bridges, I’ll do it all over again/’Cause I’m betting on me, me, me”.

However, in other songs such as “Snooze”, you can see she can’t fully let go and still needs others “I can’t lose when I’m with you/How can I snooze and miss the moment?/You just too important”.

Samantha Lara, Lourdes senior and SZA enthusiast, loved the album, but more specifically, Lara, “loved how much I resonated with each song for completely different reasons. I can listen to it basically all the time because each song has a unique vibe.”

Everyone has been obsessing over this new album, for good reason. The unique R&B electric sound mixed with SZA’s vocal delivery creates a unique album that her fans seem to resonate with.