SOS

On December 9, 2022, SZA dropped SOS, her second studio album and the long-awaited follow-up to 2017's Ctrl. Five years in the making, the 23-track record runs 67 minutes and 51 seconds, released through Top Dawg Entertainment and RCA Records. The album's title track opens with a lone voice over sparse guitar, setting a tone of isolation that threads through the project. SZA shifts between rapping, crooning, and full-throated belting, with production from a sprawling team including Babyface, Jeff Bhasker, Benny Blanco, Darkchild, and many others. Guest spots come from Don Toliver, Phoebe Bridgers, Travis Scott, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard via archival vocals. Lyrically, SOS digs into heartbreak, self-doubt, anger, and resilience, often with raw specificity. The grunge-punk detour of F2F sits next to the folk-pop of Blind, while Kill Bill channels vengeful fantasy over minimalist beats. Six singles rolled out between 2020 and 2023: Good Days, I Hate U, Shirt, Nobody Gets Me, Kill Bill, and Snooze. Kill Bill became SZA's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one, and Snooze stayed on the chart for all of 2023.

SOS spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, becoming the longest-running top-10 album by a Black artist. Critics praised its emotional depth and genre fluidity, with many placing it among the best albums of 2022 and 2023. At the 66th Grammy Awards, it won Best Progressive R&B Album and earned nine nominations, including Album of the Year. By 2025, SOS set a record as the most-nominated album in Grammy history, with 14 nominations and nine nominated individual tracks. SZA supported the album with the international SOS Tour, which ran from February 2023 to May 2024. A deluxe reissue titled Lana, adding 15 tracks and a feature from Kendrick Lamar, arrived on December 20, 2024. [edit]