SZA â 'SOS Deluxe: Lana' review: chasing tranquility amid the chaos of love, life and fame
The protracted rollout of SZA's 'SOS Deluxe: Lana' reveals a perfectionist pop girl in transition - read the NME review here
The roll-out of SZAâs âLanaâ, billed as a deluxe edition of 2022âs âSOSâ, has been undoubtedly confusing. The project first arrived two years after its Grammy-winning parent album. An extended version of âLanaâ has now materialised two months after its original release â a month later than expected â coinciding with SZAâs appearance as Kendrick Lamarâs guest at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans.
But SZA has never been like those remote pop queens Beyoncé and Lady Gaga: sheâs a chronically online perfectionist who overshares. Similar to Charli XCX, SZAâs messy persona is intrinsic to her relatability. She freely exposes flaws and fantasies, declaring self-destructive tendencies in the otherwise understated âTake You Downâ: âDo you mean it when you say it? / I believe it âcause youâre my fuckinâ favourite / Iâ
tookâ
the bait / I lickâ
the poison, baby, over and overâ
again.â
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For the most part, the confessional singer-songwriter isnât simply opportunistically officialising leaked tracks and emptying the vaults of outtakes before embarking on her next phase. The âLanaâ songs reveal a more obvious emotional and narrative arc. Personal growth is at the fore. The record is the product of a music industry in which even formats are in flux. And SZA, too, is experiencing transformation.
On the Balearic intro âNo More Hidingâ, a surprisingly sanguine SZA ponders toxic romance, resolving to detach and be true to herself: âI wanna feel sun on my skin / Even if it burns or blinds me.â She abandons trap-soul â âLanaâ is all acoustic soul and loungecore, reminiscent of Kali Uchis. The singer flirts with bossa nova on the poppy âBMFâ, riffing off the jazz standard âThe Girl From Ipanemaâ as she eyes a crush.
The new jewel is âJoniâ â a popular âleakâ dating from 2020. SZAâs take on Laurel Canyon folk is indebted aesthetically to Joni Mitchell, but samples Elliott Smithâs 1997 âAngelesâ (the Auto-Tuned verse by Don Toliver, who previously featured on âSOSâsâ âUsedâ, is superfluous). SZA offers her most poetic lyrics as she laments the sacrifices necessitated by striving: âSummerâs over and the money gone / I miss my mama when the tide is low / Moon corrals us to the water and my daddy calls on his / Favourite daughter for a host of loving words, I might oblige him.â
The rage SZA expressed on the deceptively breezy âSOSâ cut âKill Billâ still simmers in âWhat Do I Doâ, where she catches a cheating boyfriend. But, in the psych-rock stomper âScorsese Baby Daddyâ, SZA good-humouredly admits to being âaddicted to the dramaâ of a dysfunctional relationship. More insightful is âCrybabyâ, where SZA acknowledges her contradictory public image (âIâm so sick of me tooâ) and accepts self-accountability.
âPSAâ, a repurposed âbonusâ from a digital edition of âSOSâ, may be SZAâs prettiest song â a cross between Laura Mvulaâs pastoral neo-soul and Kanye Westâs 2010s prog-hop symphonics with synthetic instrumentation and choral layers. It brings âLanaâ full circle, SZA demanding deference: âI donât want nobody callinâ me anything but number one.â
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âLanaâ heralds SZAâs status as a pop girl. But, subsumed into âSOSâ, which now stands at 42 tracks, it represents less an era than a transition. âLanaâ might have been stronger as a mixtape, a coda to âSOSâ. But the question now is: what will SZA do next â and when?
Details
Record label: Top Dawg Entertainment / RCA Records
Release date: December 20, 2024 / February 9, 2025 (updated version)