SZA

SZA (born November 8, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter whose music sits at the intersection of R&B, neo-soul, hip-hop, and indie pop, and refuses to stay put in any one of those lanes for long. She writes with the confessional intensity of a journal entry and sings with a voice that can shift from a whisper to a wail inside a single bar, building songs that feel simultaneously intimate and enormous. In a decade where R&B was routinely declared dead, she proved the diagnosis wrong by making it the most exciting thing on the charts.

Her career arc bends from self-released SoundCloud EPs and a grassroots Tumblr following, through the critically adored debut Ctrl and its five-year slow burn on the Billboard 200, to the blockbuster second album SOS, which spent ten weeks at number one and spawned the inescapable “Kill Bill.” The deluxe reissue Lana extended the album’s life into 2024 and 2025, while her collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on “Luther” became one of the longest-running number-one songs in Hot 100 history. In 2025, she co-headlined the Grand National Tour with Lamar, which shattered the record for the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time and the highest-grossing hip-hop tour ever. She also made her film debut in the buddy comedy One of Them Days opposite Keke Palmer and launched a lip cosmetics line, Not Beauty.

What makes SZA’s work stick is that it never tries to be aspirational. Her songs are built from insecurity, overthinking, messy relationships, and the very specific feeling of wanting to be better while not being sure you know how. She has turned that emotional rawness into seven Grammy Awards, a Record of the Year win at the 2026 ceremony, billions of streams, and a creative restlessness that keeps pushing her sound into new territory.

People also read: Kendrick Lamar (DAMN.), Doja Cat (Kiss Me More), Summer Walker (Over It), Frank Ocean (Blonde)

Quick Facts

Featured Video

Video courtesy of SZA’s official YouTube channel.

Early Life & Education

Solána Imani Rowe was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Audrey Rowe, an executive at AT&T, and Abdul-Alim Mubarak-Rowe, an executive producer for CNN. The family relocated to Maplewood, New Jersey, where she grew up in an orthodox Muslim household. She attended a Muslim prep school on top of her regular schooling, frequently wore a hijab, and dressed modestly, an upbringing she has credited with sparking her imagination. Isolated from much of mainstream pop culture as a kid, she built her own world through writing and reading, laying the groundwork for the confessional style that would later define her music. She stopped wearing the hijab after 9/11 due to persistent bullying, a decision she has spoken about publicly.

Music was not the plan. SZA excelled in high school gymnastics, then enrolled at Delaware State University, where she studied marine biology. She has spoken about bouncing between colleges and interests, unsure of what she wanted to do. After graduating, she worked a string of jobs, including stints at Sephora and as a bartender, while quietly recording music on the side. Her influences ranged from Billie Holiday and Björk to Wu-Tang Clan, whose member RZA inspired her stage name. SZA is actually an acronym derived from the Supreme Alphabet, representing concepts of sovereignty, self-knowledge, and enlightenment, a nod to her spiritual and intellectual curiosity. In 2011, she was delivering clothes to members of Top Dawg Entertainment when label co-president Terrence “Punch” Henderson heard a recording of her singing and was struck by her talent. Two years and two self-released EPs later, she became TDE’s first female signee.

Career Highlights and Milestones

SZA’s path to stardom was anything but linear. She self-released See.SZA.Run in 2012 and the EP S in 2013, both atmospheric, low-key projects that found a devoted audience on SoundCloud and Tumblr. After signing with Top Dawg Entertainment, she released the EP Z in 2014, which cracked the Billboard 200 and featured collaborations with Kendrick Lamar and production from Mac Miller. But it was Ctrl, her debut studio album, that changed everything. Released in June 2017 after years of delays and self-doubt that nearly derailed the project, Ctrl debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and drew universal critical acclaim. Songs like “Love Galore” with Travis Scott and “The Weekend” became slow-burn hits, and the album ultimately spent more than five years on the chart. Time named it the best album of 2017.

Between Ctrl and her sophomore record, SZA proved her value as a collaborator. She co-wrote Rihanna’s “Consideration” and Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé’s “Feeling Myself,” and delivered major features: “All the Stars” with Kendrick Lamar for the Black Panther soundtrack earned an Academy Award nomination, and “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat won her first Grammy. Then, in December 2022, SOS arrived. A 23-track sprawl that touched everything from guitar-driven rock to trap to lush ballads, it opened with the biggest streaming week for an R&B album ever, spent ten non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard 200, and produced the chart-topping “Kill Bill”, the third best-selling song of 2023. It became the longest-running top-ten album on the Billboard 200 by a woman and the longest-running top-ten by a Black artist in the chart’s history.

The years that followed only accelerated. In December 2024, she released Lana, the deluxe reissue of SOS, led by the Grammy-winning single “Saturn.” That same month, Kendrick Lamar’s album GNX dropped with two SZA features, including “Luther,” which debuted at number one on the Hot 100 and held the spot for 13 consecutive weeks. In early 2025, she performed alongside Lamar at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, made her film debut in One of Them Days (which grossed over $51 million), and launched the Grand National Tour, a 47-show stadium run across four continents that grossed upward of $369 million and became the highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time. At the 2026 Grammy Awards, “Luther” won Record of the Year. In her acceptance speech, she urged the audience not to fall into despair, adding words that resonated far beyond the room.

Selected discography and music highlights

• See.SZA.Run (EP, 2012)
• S (EP, 2013)
• Z (EP, 2014)
• Ctrl (2017)
• “All the Stars” with Kendrick Lamar (2018)
• “Kiss Me More” with Doja Cat (2021)
• “Good Days” (2021)
• SOS (2022)
• “Kill Bill” (2023)
• “Snooze” (2023)
• SOS Deluxe: Lana (2024)
• “Saturn” (2024)
• “Luther” with Kendrick Lamar (2024)
• “30 for 30” with Kendrick Lamar (2025)

Major recognition

• Seven Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year for “Luther” with Kendrick Lamar (2026), Best R&B Song twice (“Snooze” in 2024, “Saturn” in 2025), and Best Progressive R&B Album for SOS (2024)
• Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for “All the Stars” (2019)
• Billboard Woman of the Year (2023)
• Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame (2024)
• Most-nominated artist at the 2024 Grammy Awards (nine nominations)
• The Grand National Tour (2025): highest-grossing co-headlining tour of all time ($369+ million), highest-grossing hip-hop tour ever
• “Kill Bill”: third best-selling song of 2023; “Luther”: 13 consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100
• SOS: first woman with 100 weeks in the Billboard 200 top ten; longest-running top-ten album by a Black musician
• Billboard ranked SZA 44th on its list of the greatest R&B musicians of all time (2025) and 18th on its Top 100 Women Artists of the 21st Century (2025)

Read More Celebrity Biographies

• Kendrick Lamar Net Worth, Life Story, & Facts
• Doja Cat Net Worth, Life Story, & Facts
• Summer Walker Net Worth, Life Story, & Facts
• Frank Ocean Net Worth, Life Story, & Facts

Awards and Accolades

Discography / Notable Works

Touring History / Major Tours

Net Worth, Income, & Lifestyle

Social Media & Online Presence

Fan communities on social media (unofficial)

NOTE: In addition to any official accounts listed above, many fan-run pages, update accounts, and clip accounts exist across all platforms. These are not confirmed to be affiliated with SZA. Links and usernames can change at any time.

Trivia & Lesser-Known Facts

• Her stage name, SZA (pronounced “SIZZ-ah”), is an acronym from the Supreme Alphabet, created by Clarence 13X of the Five Percent Nation. The S stands for sovereign or self, the Z for zig-zag-zig (enlightenment), and the A for the most high of all, a reference to Allah.
• She studied marine biology at Delaware State University before pursuing music full-time. She has described bouncing between colleges and interests before committing to songwriting.
• She co-wrote Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé’s “Feeling Myself” and Rihanna’s “Consideration” before releasing her own debut album, proof that the industry recognized her pen before her voice.
• During the Grand National Tour, she ran a pop-up shop for Not Beauty, her lip cosmetics brand, at every stadium stop. The line sold out repeatedly.
• She uses Tibetan singing bowls tuned to different chakras in her recording sessions, creating low-frequency hums that she layers beneath her tracks.
• She went on a silent retreat in India in early 2025, refraining from social media for over a week and practicing samyama, a yogic form of deep meditation.

Quotes

“The respect was more important to me than the accolades. That is a success to be respected amongst my peers… for who I am.”

— SZA, Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe (December 2023)

“I never have topics before I start a song. I just let the beat tell me what to do, and then I start babbling and making words, and it starts to form itself.”

— SZA, Variety Hitmaker of the Year interview (December 2023)

“Every day I grapple with, ‘Am I done with music?’ Maybe I’m just not meant to be famous. But why would God put me in this position if I wasn’t supposed to be doing this?”

— SZA, British Vogue (November 2024)

“We’re not governed by the government. We’re governed by God.”

— SZA, 2026 Grammy Awards acceptance speech for Record of the Year (February 1, 2026)

“It’s about recording every single day, with the idea and intention that you’re chipping away at this invisible thing that will eventually reveal itself.”

— SZA, Rolling Stone (2020)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: What is SZA’s age?
A: She was born on November 8, 1989. She is 36 years old as of 2026.

Q: What is SZA best known for?
A: She is best known for her albums Ctrl and SOS, the chart-topping single “Kill Bill,” her collaborations with Kendrick Lamar (including the Record of the Year-winning “Luther”), and a confessional songwriting style that reshaped modern R&B.

Q: How many Grammys has SZA won?
A: She has won seven Grammy Awards as of the 2026 ceremony, including Record of the Year for “Luther” with Kendrick Lamar and Best R&B Song twice.

Q: What genre is SZA?
A: Her music spans alternative R&B, neo-soul, hip-hop, pop, and indie pop. She has consistently resisted being boxed into a single genre, blending elements from each across her albums.

Q: Where did SZA grow up?
A: She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, in an orthodox Muslim household.

Q: What are SZA’s official social accounts?
A: Her verified accounts include Instagram, X, and TikTok at @sza, and her official website is szasos.com.

Q: Is SZA currently touring?
A: The Grand National Tour with Kendrick Lamar concluded in December 2025. SZA announced she is taking a break from performing. No new solo tour has been announced as of early 2026.

Upcoming Projects

• Third studio album (TBA) — SZA confirmed in a November 2025 GQ cover story that she has returned to the studio and is recording new material, though she indicated the album may not arrive in 2026. She is experimenting with outside collaborators for the first time and studying legends like Stevie Wonder and the Delfonics.
• One of Them Days sequel — A sequel to her 2025 film debut is in early development, with SZA and Keke Palmer expected to reprise their roles. No release date announced.
• Not Beauty expansion — Her lip cosmetics line launched exclusively at Grand National Tour pop-ups in 2025. A broader retail rollout and expanded product line have been teased but not officially confirmed.
• Continued Lana/SOS album cycle — Additional singles and potential visual projects tied to SOS Deluxe: Lana may follow, though SZA has indicated her focus is shifting toward new material. Timing can shift — treat as subject to change until officially confirmed.

Interviews & Features

• Variety, “SZA: Hitmaker of the Year” (December 2023), the definitive deep dive into the making of SOS, her creative process, and the phenomenon of “Kill Bill.”
• Rolling Stone, “SZA: Women Shaping the Future” (2020), a candid cover story about recording at Rick Rubin’s house in Kauai, sound bowls, and the long road to her second album.
• TIME, “Breakout R&B Star SZA Muses on Ctrl and Finding Her Voice” (July 2017), the profile that captured SZA at the moment Ctrl was rewriting expectations for R&B.
• Dazed, “SZA: ‘Literally no one knows what they are talking about'” (May 2024), a touring-era interview about protecting her energy, spirituality, and self-expression.
• Rolling Stone, “Kendrick Lamar, SZA Win Record of the Year for ‘Luther'” (February 2026), coverage of the 2026 Grammy win and the story behind the song.

Public Appearances, Tours, & Festivals

• 68th Grammy Awards (February 1, 2026): SZA won Record of the Year for “Luther” with Kendrick Lamar in Los Angeles. Her acceptance speech, urging the audience not to “fall into despair,” was one of the ceremony’s defining moments.
• Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show (February 9, 2025): SZA joined Kendrick Lamar as a guest performer in New Orleans, duetting “All the Stars” and “Luther” in front of the most-watched halftime show audience in Super Bowl history.
• Grand National Tour — SoFi Stadium (May 21–24, 2025): The tour’s three-night homecoming stand in Los Angeles grossed a collective $40.4 million from 147,000 tickets, the biggest stop on the tour.
• Grand National Tour — The Dome at America’s Center (June 4, 2025): SZA returned to her birth city of St. Louis for a sold-out stadium show, drawing 48,600 fans.
• Glastonbury Festival (June 2024): SZA headlined the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, England, a milestone UK crossover moment that cemented her global reach.