SZA shines on two covers of The FADER‘s Spring 2018 Earth Issue.
Photographed by Cara Stricker, the TDE songstress is standing in a dark and neon room on one cover, while laying down in a yoga position with a pastel-colored background on another.
Inside the magazine, Solana Rowe discusses the public’s perception about her debut album Ctrl and how much it differed from her own taste.
“I’m thankful that people don’t think it sucks, but I’m gonna have to achieve a 10 in my brain,” she explained. “I didn’t even fuck with my own album, so I was so confused and almost, like, angry that everyone fucked with it so much…It meant everything I felt about myself was wrong. And it was just like, ‘If that’s not the truth, then what is the truth?’”
Although she might not have believed that her four-years-in-the-making LP was a “10,” Donald Glover offered encouragement. “I think when ‘Love Galore’ went platinum, Donald [Glover] texted me like, ‘Do you still think it sucks?’ And I was like, ‘I dunno,’” she added.
Also this week, it was reported that SZA was unhappy with the Grammys. In an interview with GQ, she admitted that she was “mad as hell” after not winning any of the five Grammys that she was nominated for.
“I’m not as mad as I thought I would be,” she said. “I didn’t have any expectations, actually. That’s why I wasn’t super upset.” She goes on to call her performance at the show “random” and says that the ceremony was “chill.” She adds: “Perhaps folks place too much importance on the entire situation in general … and place too much importance on the institution.”
Finally, when asked if she will drop a new album this year, she laughs it off before saying she can “do that shit in six months.” Later in the article, however, she isn’t so certain. “I’m not sure. I have no idea, actually,” she said, “I have no idea.”
SZA is set to co-headline TDE’s “The Championship Tour” with Kendrick Lamar, starting May 4 in Vancouver.
