Guest blogger Daniel continues his countdown of the year’s top albums…

Best Albums of 2022 – #3
SOS – SZA

I felt about this album a lot how I felt about Kendrick’s project. They both have such an inimitable style and output where everyone’s expectations are so high that even when they’re performing at such an elevated level you still want more!

However, much like Kendrick’s album I loved how SZA broadened her range in what she was willing to tackle. While Kendrick’s journey was mostly emotional, SZA’s was far more sonic. With “Ctrl”, SZA’s debut studio album she essentially cemented herself as the new defining voice of R&B.

I could speak ad nauseam about the excitement that I feel when listening to relatively new genres like Rap and R&B as we have been existing in the time period most ripe for trailblazers to shape the evolution of these genres for years to come. SZA is one of these trailblazers who revitalized R&B in the mainstream opening the door for H.E.R, Giveon, Daniel Caesar and any other chart climbing artist following in her footsteps. So, more than most other artists she has the right to flex as much as she wants.

Boy does she on this sophomore effort. Rather than rest on her laurels, she not only defies, expands, and reinvigorates the R&B genre on this album, but begins her takeover of other genres too. ‘F2F’ encapsulates this takeover better than any other track. Here the verses offer borderline country melodies while the choruses are undeniably hard rock with distorted guitars blaring underneath SZA’s bold lyrics.

If you’re going to release a 23-track album these are the kind of unexpected surprises necessary to keep the listener on the edge of their seat. Luckily, the listener can stay there for the next track where she again flaunts her versatility. ‘Nobody Gets Me’ is the meeting ground for flawless R&B runs that only SZA can execute and a soaring pop hook that would make any adversary on the Billboard charts envious.

It feels appropriate to place this album right above Drake’s most recent release as SZA essentially places herself above Drake level status with the album’s titular opener. She borrows the same sample as Drake’s album opener from last year’s ‘Champagne Poetry’ off Certified Lover Boy. I wonder if Gabriel Hardeman Jr. could have known back in 1976 just how many artists he’d inspire with his soaring gospel track ‘Until I Found the Lord (My Soul Couldn’t Rest).’

It seems a rather fitting tribute to the Gospel genre which has influenced both Rap and R&B for years with oft shared chord progressions, allusions to the Gospel scale in vocal lines, and lyrical themes of finding strength and solace in God’s plan.

Here SZA makes it clear that she’s back and better than ever. She puts it succinctly in a couple of the more Instagram caption worthy lines: “Punk ass tried to replace me, but the stakes is too high, They can’t survive off mini-mes, I’m talking pedigree, Ain’t no writers, that’s just me”. SZA, like Drake, is in the much desired position to flex like this and actually have the muscle. It’s easy for fans to point to countless examples just on this album where she distinguishes herself from others.

Vocally, on a track like ‘Open Arms,’ she showcases her ridiculous range hitting high falsetto notes with ease then dipping into her mellifluous lower range. For my money, she can hold her own against Adele and Beyoncé in a conversation for best female vocalist.

Lyrically, one needs look no further than the second verse of today’s SOTD to see how effortlessly she captures complex ideas while still owning the pocket. “I decide what demons I digest, Almost tired of repeating, I digress, Trying to find deeper meaning in nonsense, Trying to grow without hating the process”. How many of us have shared these same feelings? SZA might be on a level above us all, but she still manages to be so relatable and real.

Kendrick’s widely recognized as the King of Rap. It’s time to give SZA her rightful space on the throne as the Queen of R&B.