SZA believes she’s boxed into R&B category due to being Black
Over the past year and a half, SZA has been dominating again. This is as a result of her sophomore album, “SOS,” which arrived in December 2022. Moreover, that was also her first project since her 2017 debut studio album, “Ctrl.” SOS contained 23 songs, which were led by hits such as “Kill Bill” and “Snooze.” As a result, SOS went on to debut atop the Billboard 200 chart, and became SZA’s first number one album. Furthermore, Kill Bill also became her first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100.
In February, SZA also took home three more Grammy wins. These came in the categories of Best R&B Song (Snooze), Best Urban Contemporary Album (SOS) and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (Ghost In The Machine) featuring Phoebe Bridgers.
Meanwhile, SZA is now opening up about her disapproval of being labeled as only an R&B artist. In a new interview with Dazed, she explained how she believes this is the case, due to her being a Black artist.
“The only reason I’m defined as an R&B artist is because I’m Black,” SZA explained. “It’s almost a little reductive because it doesn’t allow space to be anything else or try anything else. Justin Bieber is not considered an R&B artist. He is a pop artist who makes R&B, folk music, or whatever his heart desires. I simply just want to be allowed the same opportunity to make whatever I want without a label. [Without it being] based on the color of my skin, or the crew that I run with, or the beats that I choose. I want ‘F2F’ to be seen as what it is. I want ‘Nobody Gets Me’ to be seen as what it is, I want ‘Kill Bill’ to be seen as what it is.
SZA believes she’s boxed into R&B category due to being Black
