On December 9th, 2022 rhythm and blues artist Solána Imani Rowe, also known as SZA released her second studio album, S.O.S.. SZA released her sophomore album five and a half years after her highly acclaimed album “Ctrl” was released in June of  2017.  This album has been widely anticipated among fans, and December 9th could not come fast enough for her fans. This new album cover has a story behind it.  The cover is similar to the photo taken of Diana, Princess of Wales, a week before her death. The photo was taken on a yacht and was meant to represent the loneliness she felt inside. SZA wanted to replicate this with this album cover.

This twenty-three-song album talks about the overbearingness of emotional hardship, and an album with this many tracks on it had the proper amount of work put in invested into it. There is also a story behind the album cover.  She collaborated with many different artists on this album such as Travis Scott, Phoebe Bridgers, and Don Toliver. SZA dedicated endless amount of work into this album and said “I could literally burst into tears and run through this wall at any moment. I am effectively falling apart,” she confesses today. “But it’s not like the album pressure… It’s just, life is hard”. This album dives into her emotional side, as she is trying to figure out what she wants in her life. She is wondering if she wants a long-lasting relationship, does she want freedom, or does she want a new start. All of these are things that she explores in her new album. SZA ponders her impulses in her song Kill Bill bringing up heavily suppressed emotions about her past relationships. Her emotional side is brought up even more in her song Nobody Gets Me, and her true vocal potential was unlocked. I had to listen to the album once before I truly realized its greatness. A student at U of D Jesuit said that “The album is still growing on me but provides a warm sense of joy while listening to it.” (John Lagarde 23’) SZA wants listeners to realize that our feelings are an important part of our life, and by getting in touch with them we can find that inner innocence again. My favorite part of the album is that it allows me to feel a range of emotions from content, to excitable, to relaxed, and even slightly sad. SZA’s new album S.O.S shows how we all go through similar struggles in life. She wants us to know that she is just like all of us.