SZA’s ‘S.O.S’ 2022 Album Review

SZA released her second studio album ‘S.O.S’ on Friday, December 9th, 2022. The album features 23 tracks with mixtures of R&B, Pop, Rap, and almost every genre one can think of. Each track tells a different story and shares different emotions. SZA sings and raps about toxic relationships and growing from that.

1. SOS – 1:57
2. Kill Bill – 2:33
3. Seek & Destroy – 3:23
4. Low – 3:01
5. Love Language – 3:03
6. Blind – 2:30
7. Used (feat. Don Toliver) – 2:26
8. Snooze – 3:21
9. Notice Me – 2:40
10. Gone Girl – 4:04
11. Smoking my Ex Pack – 1:23
12. Ghost in the Machine (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) – 3:38
13. F2F – 3:05
14. Nobody Gets Me – 3:00
15. Conceited – 2:31
16. Special – 2:38
17. Too Late – 2:44
18. Far – 3:00
19. Shirt – 3:01
20. Open Arms (feat. Travis Scott) – 3:59
21. I Hate U – 2:53
22. Good Days – 4:38
23. Forgiveless (feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard) – 2:21

SZA released her second studio album “S.O.S” on Friday, December 9^th, 2022. SZA’s music is often familiarized with R&B. However, the “S.O.S” album cannot be ascribed to just one genre. The album features 23 tracks with mixtures of R&B, Pop, Rap, and almost every genre one can think of.

First, the production and the mixing (the process of taking recorded tracks and blending them together), was executed beautifully. Everything is smooth and flows so effortlessly yet still has a certain roughness to it that gives the music emotion. The tracks have a relatively short run time, “Good Days” being the longest song with a duration of 4:38 and “Smoking my Ex Pack” lasting for a short 1:23. SZA’s album is very well-rounded in the sense that she mainly discusses topics surrounding love and her own mental and emotional view of it. Here are some of the descriptors on SZA’s “S.O.S” 2022 album: introspective, female vocals, breakup, longing, eclectic, sexual, melancholic, bittersweet, romantic, summer, lonely, angry, sentimental, rhythmic, warm, sampling, sensual, raw, and poetic.

Lyrically, SZA does not disappoint. Each track tells a different story and shares different emotions. SZA sings and raps about toxic relationships and growing from that. She talks about her experiences in the verses and the hook and/or bridge compacts the main point of her thoughts towards the situations. For example, on the song ‘Kill Bill’ SZA tells us the story of how her ex got together with a new girl. She explains how she hates to see him happy without her. In the chorus, SZA describes her raw emotions and thoughts by telling us that she wants to kill her ex. This song is not only very catchy, but it has a perfect beginning, middle, and end. In my opinion, this makes not only this song but every other song more enjoyable.

After releasing her album, SZA got a lot of positive reactions from the world. On SZA’s Instagram she posted this following post:

A week later SZA had posted and once again, there was a screen shot of a headline stating: “SZA’s ‘SOS’ Spends Second Week Atop Billboard 200 Albums Chart” following that, she posts a screenshot of a twitter post.

Three weeks after releasing her album ‘S.O.S’ SZA had still topped Billboard 200. On January 8^th, 2023, SZA posts another update on her album. SZA’s ‘S.O.S’ became the first R&B album by a female artist to spend the first four weeks on the Billboard 200 #1 this century. This had not been done ever since Janet Jackson’s ‘janet’ in 1993.

SZA had overwhelmingly positive results to releasing her album. We took the time to listen to the “S.O.S” album from start to finish multiple times to analyze the songs and rate them out of 5 stars based on these criteria’s overall enjoyment, lyrically, beat, and consistency (does the song get boring after a while). While listening to the entire album we wrote down our initial thoughts and opinions.

SOS – I feel like it is the perfect introduction to the album. Everything about this song to me is very enjoyable!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Kill Bill – The simple yet clever storytelling in this song is amazing. It is very catchy; I understand why a lot of people say that this is one of their favorite tracks on the album.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Seek & Destroy – I really like this song, it is a bit repetitive in my opinion, but like the previous song, it is very catchy. I loved the bridge and outro.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Low – The beat on this song is everything and more. The pre-chorus is better than the chorus, which is kind of underwhelming, but I still like this song, nonetheless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Love Language – First hearing it, the song already had a different vibe than the previous songs. It is kind of chill and very laid back, not as hype as the other songs so far, but I think the lyrics really fit the vibe of the song.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Blind – In the beginning, the use of the guitar with SZA’s rapping was genius. I love this song, it’s not only catchy but it is one of those songs that you can listen to and each time you can still be impressed. The lyrics are amazing as usual. The chorus is so nice to listen to as well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Used (feat. Don Toliver) – In my opinion, verse 2 and the chorus carried this song. SZA’s voice is amazing in this song but the part of the song that could really stick with you is Don Toliver’s part. I really like the beat of this song.

⭐️⭐️/5

Snooze – Overall, this song is kind of a little boring. However, the chorus sounded beautiful and the lyrics hand in hand with SZA’s voice.

⭐️⭐️/5

Notice Me – The beat carried this song. The song wasn’t jaw dropping but the lyrics themselves are catchy and I feel like a lot of people can relate to them.

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Gone Girl – This song is so refreshing to listen to. It has a different vibe which I really feel is necessary at this point in the album. The lyrics are beautiful and meaningful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Smoking my Ex Pack – This song is the shortest in the album, the song didn’t feel exciting only up until the last part.

⭐️/5

Ghost in the Machine (feat. Phoebe Bridgers) – The message in this song is very incredible which I feel like gives this song a high rating already. As soon as Phoebe Bridgers entered the song, the whole vibe switched immediately. At first, I was kind of lost, but after listening to it again I learned to really love her part of the song. Unique which I love. This song never got boring.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

F2F – Very different from every other song. I absolutely love every part of this song, the chorus was so catchy, I have nothing bad to say about this song.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Nobody Gets Me – One word. Beautiful. I love this song; the guitar came in clutch once again.  The lyrics are perfect, her voice impressed me so much in this song.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Conceited – One of the more forgetful songs on this album in my opinion, I do like the lyrics a lot.

⭐️⭐️/5

Special – This song has a very comforting feeling, that I feel like a lot of women can understand especially teens. This song isn’t one of those songs you should play at a party, but more of a song you should add to your crying playlist and listen to alone.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Too Late – The beat and the chorus were the main attractions in this song. It wasn’t anything spectacular. Forgetful if you compare it to the other gems on this album.

⭐️⭐️/5

Far – I don’t really have too many opinions on this song. I like the lyrics a lot and I feel that carries the song. But it is a boring song.

⭐️/5

Shirt – SZA released a snippet of this song back in 2020. It became a dance trend on TikTok which had so many people excited about this song. The beat is amazing, and the chorus is catchy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Open Arms (feat. Travis Scott) – Right from the beginning, the song started to sound so beautiful. The lyrics are so pretty. SZA did her part so well, but a lot of people, including me, think that Travis Scott carried this song.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

I Hate U – This song was released on December3, 2021, on SZA’s SoundCloud. This song still has not gotten old, very catchy.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Good Days – While listening to this song, I felt some nostalgia from the year 2020, this song made a lot of fans the same way. This song was very popular that year, you would hear it everywhere. I feel like the message on this song matches the album vibe very well.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/4

Forgiveless (feat. Ol’ Dirty Bastard) – This is the most different song from all the others on the album. I feel like the song’s uniqueness is perfect to end the album. The beat and lyrics are everything. SZA’s last line in the entire album “I might forgive it; I won’t forget it” Sums up the entire ‘S.O.S’ story.