Within the 5 years that adopted the discharge of SZA’s groundbreaking debut album, Ctrl, the acclaimed artist teased followers with the occasional one-off or collaboration — because the watch for the official follow-up continued to develop. So when she lastly did return on the finish of 2022 along with her much-anticipated second album, SOS, the stakes had been excessive. And all through 2023, her record-breaking chart wins exceeded expectations.
With SOS, SZA ventured exterior R&B’s boundaries by diving into gospel, grunge, pop-punk and rap; in the meantime, as her producer-engineer, Rob Bisel, beforehand advised Billboard, “Her pen obtained sharper and extra private.” SOS debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent 10 nonconsecutive weeks there, essentially the most of any R&B/hip-hop album by a lady since Mariah Carey’s self-titled debut spent 11 weeks on the prime in 1991. As an alternative of its affect being restricted to the ultimate weeks of 2022, SOS grew to become certainly one of this yr’s greatest releases.
It began with the groovy but ugly “Kill Invoice,” which arrived as a single in January and finally grew to become SZA’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Scorching 100; it additionally made historical past with an unprecedented 21-week siege atop the Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The next month, she launched into the SOS tour, telling Billboard on the time that she was “deeply excited to pop ass and cry and provides theater” throughout her first-ever area headlining stint, in contrast along with her extra intimate, stripped-down reveals previously. “After I lastly noticed the tour and the way insane she was going along with her choreography, vary and stamina … it actually hit me,” her producer Carter Lang beforehand advised Billboard. “The transformation was tremendous obvious.”
SZA discovered methods to maintain SOS in rotation whereas on the street. In April, “Snooze” was launched because the album’s sixth single and slowly grew into its subsequent smash. It was serviced to (and succeeded at) rhythmic, R&B/hip-hop and pop radio, all of which culminated in a star-studded music video that arrived in August and featured Justin Bieber. Quickly after its launch, she recruited him for the tune’s acoustic model. “Snooze” finally peaked at No. 2 on the Scorching 100 and dethroned “Kill Invoice” on Scorching R&B Songs, the place the previous had dominated for 16 nonconsecutive weeks.
By September, SOS grew to become the longest-running No. 1 title on High R&B Albums, logging 50 weeks and counting on the summit. And to prime all of it off, SZA completed at No. 1 on 4 main Billboard year-end R&B/hip-hop rankings: High R&B/Hip-Hop Artists, Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop Songwriters, High R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (SOS) and Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (“Kill Invoice”). SZA was additionally topped the No. 2 Scorching 100 artist of the yr and No. 5 Scorching 100 songwriter of the yr, whereas SOS landed at No. 3 on the year-end Billboard 200 recap.
“We had plenty of actually huge moments in R&B this yr, clearly SZA being a kind of,” says Alaysia Sierra, head of R&B at Spotify. “She’s pop, different, R&B. She doesn’t need to be put in a field, however she will’t deny her basis.”
However SZA wasn’t the one R&B artist incomes rave opinions following a protracted album break. Janelle Monáe returned with The Age of Pleasure, which is Grammy-nominated for album of the yr and blends extra Afrobeats, reggae, funk and soul sounds in contrast along with her 2017 left-of-center pop album, Soiled Pc. Jorja Smith launched the kaleidoscopic Falling or Flying 5 years after her critically acclaimed debut, Misplaced & Discovered. And Kelela dropped the rapturous Raven, the follow-up to her first full-length album, Take Me Aside, from 2017. Taking their time to additional develop their sound — no matter expectations to make a selected sort of music — wasn’t simply higher for his or her peace of thoughts but additionally for his or her artistry.
“It’s exhausting making music as a Black girl [because] we don’t get the posh to strive one thing and have it’s one thing that’s genuinely a part of us,” SZA beforehand advised Billboard. “You need to permit individuals to get to know totally different components of it.”
She’s following the trajectory laid out by artists like Beyoncé and Usher, who’ve R&B roots however later crossed over and located mainstream pop superstardom. A long time into their careers, they’re dominating the world’s greatest phases: Beyoncé’s Renaissance world tour grossed $579.8 million, in accordance with Billboard Boxscore — making it the highest-grossing tour by a lady, a Black artist and any American soloist — whereas Usher will headline the Apple Music Tremendous Bowl LVIII Halftime Present subsequent yr in Las Vegas, the house of his two residencies that mixed are anticipated to exceed $100 million in earnings by early December, in accordance with Billboard’s estimate.
SZA is nicely on her manner. She is essentially the most nominated artist on the 2024 Grammys, with SOS up for album of the yr and 6 totally different songs nominated in varied style classes. Extra Black ladies R&B artists are current within the Large 4 classes: Victoria Monét is the second-most nominated, with seven nods, whereas Coco Jones has 5.
Sierra believes that R&B artists like Monét and Jones, each of whom are up for finest new artist, have the perfect shot at elevating to pop music’s higher echelon. “Our subsequent superstars are R&B artists,” Sierra says. “When you consider a pop star, they’re going to be making R&B music.”
This story initially appeared within the Dec. 9, 2023, problem of Billboard.
