SZA will release her debut studio album CTRL in early February. The TDE artist gave an interview to Billboard about the upcoming record, which will be out on February 3. In the feature, she speaks about how the new songs, such as lead single "Drew Barrymore," see her writing in a different way than before.
“I [wrote about] my younger life, which was haphazard: being at sleepaway camp away from my parents, being the only black girl, not even noticing until I got older, dealing with boys, self-hate, growth, and God," she is quoted as saying. "It’s the first time I’m literally writing about my life instead of figuratively writing about it.”
The sound of the record was also shaped following conversations with Rick Rubin, who stressed the importance of keeping thing simple. “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.”
