SZA — SOS — Album Review
RnB | Pop
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Beyond her feature appearance on the song “All the Stars” with Kendrick Lamar, I hadn’t really listened to a lot of music from SZA, if any at all. Nevertheless, I was more than impressed with her vocal style, and certainly wanted to someday see how that would fit in in her solo discography. The perfect opportunity to do so came in the form of the RnB singer’s sophomore studio album, titled SOS.
This review might appear to be a slight tad more rushed than most, due to the fact that I have many an end-of-year list to create (keep those eyes peeled). But what didn’t help my case with this was the fact that SOS carries with it a generous helping of 23 tracks, and a hefty runtime of over an hour.
Is this lengthy runtime a bad thing though? Absolutely not! SZA packs the catchy tunes to make this whole thing feel like an enjoyable experience throughout, and laced across SOS, is a great selection of high-quality tracks.
While the album goes over pretty conventional topics, suc as SZA’s lovesickness and feelings of being misunderstood, the artist addresses these core narrative points in a way that definitely feels engaging enough. Furthermore, I even felt that I could relate to some of what SZA had to say on this record.
And while the first half of this album fulfils the needs of those who are looking for the tried and true RnB sound, which SZA undoubtedly champions, in a half that arguably carries the better batch of tracks, I do admire the slight sense of experimentation explored in the later half of the album as well. There’s definitely a little something for everyone on SOS, which is always a good quality for an album to have.
This album does boast quite the list of features as well, including Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Phoebe Bridgers, Don Toliver and (quite the elephant in the room), Travis Scott. and while the latter’s multiple appearance do boost the atmosphere of the album slightly, his appearances on here do make for quite the awkward listens.
Aside from that, though, the only parts of the album that proved to be not as enjoyable as the vast majority would be some of the more slow-burning tunes that sounded a bit less unique than I would’ve liked. But considering the sheer number of track this album has, it was great to hear that there were far more hits than misses.
We have to consider that SZA started her musical career all the way back in 2011. Nevertheless, you can definitely tell that she only saves her studio efforts for when she has something truly special up her sleeve. In the case of SOS, it is exactly that; something special. And as a result, i feel that this will serve as an important staple in her discography.
Like many other artists this year, SZA will be another that I now keep my ears properly peeled for. But in regards to 2022, that pretty much concludes all of my standard reviews for the year, as I have many an exciting article to come in the week after next.
Favourite Tracks: Seek & Destroy | Used | Forgiveless
Least favourite Track: Shirt
Top Dawg Entertainment
