SZA‘s long-awaited sophomore album is titled S.O.S. and will be released sometime in December by Top Dawg/RCA, the artist tells Billboard. The first track from the project, “Shirt,” arrived at the end of October in tandem with a graphically violent video co-starring actor LaKeith Stanfield.
According to Billboard‘s description of some finished S.O.S. tracks, it’s “the most captivating music [SZA] has ever made, her beloved lo-fi beats sharing space with surf rock within the same track, a grunge record and an acoustic guitar-driven ballad coexisting without either sounding out of place.” Beyond the return of previous collaborator ThankGof4Cody, no other new song titles or guest artists were mentioned in the 3,500-word article.
S.O.S. is the long-in-the-works follow-up to SZA’s 2017 debut, Ctrl. She’s released a handful of one-off tracks of her own since then but has largely relegated her output to guest appearances on other artists’ material, including DJ Khaled’s August single “Beautiful.” SZA will also make her feature film debut alongside Eddie Huang in the upcoming Tuna Melt.
The artist struck a resigned tone when asked about her ongoing career, admitting, “I feel like music, in this capacity, I don’t see longevity. I like to create, I like to write, I like to sing, and I like to share. But I don’t know if chasing after superstardom or whatever I’m supposed to be doing right now is sustainable for me or for anybody. I’mma take a good swing at it, and I’mma give ’em my absolute best.”
