Ethereal artist SZA (a.k.a Solána Rowe) and Kingdom, the co-founder of Fade To Mind have teamed up on the track “What Is Love.”
The track has been released in anticipation of both of the musician’s debut albums. Kingdom’s album titled Tears In The Club, which is set to be released on February 24th, will include this dreamy yet piercing song about miscommunication in relationships.
SZA’s highly anticipated debut album, Ctrl was expected to be released on February 3rd. The 26-year-old, TDE signed artist has released a single from the album titled “Drew Barrymore”.
The song shows SZA departing from her more traditionally wispy, dreamy sound of her acclaimed E.Ps to exhibit her powerful, impassioned vocal abilities. The track is deeply moving, both lyrically and vocally, appealing to the visceral emotions of heartbrokenly watching a lover move on.
In an interview with Billboard SZA explained the influence that Rick Rubin had on the new album.
“I had this mentality that ‘more is more’ — more reverb, more background [vocals]. I played him a bunch of songs, and he would tell me, ‘The more you take away from any piece, the more room you create for everything else to be beautiful and grow.’ I never felt that before, the editing urge. Once you strip everything down, you’re forced to say something,” said SZA.
The first track from the album and the accompanying track on short film “WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN: Road to Ctrl,” shows this stripping down of her sound. The simplistic, tropical undercurrent allows for SZA’s vocals to shine through in a way we haven’t heard from the artist before.
The beauty of the first look at SZA’s new album is all the more poignant as she has publicly expressed that she may not be returning to the music industry after the completion of the album. In an interview with Complex she said,
“I’ll probably just do something different, something visual, probably film. I’m really frustrated, and I’m kind of over it. I have a lot of anxiety and there’s a lot going on in my life.”
You can listen to the single “Drew Barrymore” and pine for her new album below.
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