SZA’s debut album, 2017’s Ctrl, was a bonafide hit that was beloved by critics and fans alike. With that, though, comes the pressure of putting out another great album, which is where the possibility of a sophomore slumps comes into play. In a new interview with Flaunt, SZA seemed to not even know what that was, and said that she hasn’t really begun working on her second album in earnest: “I’ve been talking shit to myself on different topics every day for the last week, which is typically how I start — coming up with little catchphrases in the car on the way home, and I’ll be like, ‘Cute.’ Then I’ll be like, ‘I think I’m ready to write and start recording.”
She goes on to say that she’s excited about her next album, which she says will be both her best one and her final one:
“I’m still miserable. My world got so much smaller so fast. I have so much to write about. I feel like I’m in a cage. I’m making the best album of my life for this next album and I know that… because it’s going to be my last album.”
This doesn’t necessarily mean that SZA is done making music, or even finished with albums: The Flaunt piece says she delivered that sentence “with a grin,” and SZA has “called it quits” before, as she did on Twitter in 2016. Maybe she’s just not ready to think about her third album yet, or maybe she plans on focusing on mixtapes, singles, and other non-album things of that sort for a while. Whatever the case, at least she can look to her mom’s texts for encouragement.
