Ctrl by SZA
- curated by autumn
- Jan 16, 2018
- 5 min read
Artist: SZA
ALbum: Ctrl
Released: 2017
Genre: R&B
Bright Ideas! We've got bright ideas! Shoutout to SZA for blessing us with another great project. I was very excited to hear her plans on releasing something new because since she's been signed to TDE, I've been a fan. Now when I started listening to SZA, I didn't know what the hell she was singing about, and quite frankly it didn't matter because she provoked emotion and mood. She's extremely poetic and her pen game is crazy! If I were to review other material like S and Z, I would take a while to fully dissect that content.
I actually appreciate how much simpler her lyrics are within this album. It's an album that illustrates my generation; one that is engaging, ethereal, honest, vulnerable, real, relatable, and current. Solana's voice invokes emotions that are not unique to me. For example, the introductory track "supermodel" makes me feel her pain even though I cannot relate to it at all. I've never felt like I wasn't good enough for a lover, but her vocals are so powerful that the listener is bound to cry while hearing this song. The acoustic guitar and drums are perfect back-drops to her raw lyrics where she shamelessly croons how she banged her boyfriend's homeboy. Needless to say, it's a hell of an album intro. "Love Galore", is a very freeing track that makes you feel like a bad bitch and helps you respond to the failed men in your life. It's dark, dreamy, and perfect for lip syncing and grinding to in your bathroom mirror.
"Doves in The Wind", is straight up wild and called "the pussy song" among SZA's crew. Her and Kendrick Lamar exhibit their lyrical skills while discussing the topic of female importance and significance. SZA feels that good men deserve more than just sex, and Kendrick explains how men will go through hell just to get some pussy. It's blatant and real accompanied with a boom bap instrumental perfect for rocking back and forth to in a park by a lake. "'Drew Barrymore" pulls at our heart strings. It plays like a heartfelt letter to a lost lover. She sings,"am I warm enough for you?" She feels she's not good enough, and is desperately trying to understand how her lover sees someone better than her.
The desire to be perfect for someone we admire can become stressful and hurtful, especially when they don't value us as we deserve. The title pays homage to the famous actress who always played the awkward girl. Barrymore never had roles that were super sexualized despite being attractive and charming. SZA admires this and related to the characters she portrayed growing up. "Prom" is a song that sounds more geared towards her previous work; it's 80's inspired and Solana illustrates how she's afraid of getting older which is relatable to most millennials right now. "The Weekend" is a complicated story of how she only sees a man on the weekend for sex. This track has sparked controversy for seeming like a side chick anthem. It's a bit complex, but I don't have an issue with this song at all because I see it as a thorough representation of my generation.
We struggle with loyalty, and some of us take love as a joke, so we try to keep love and sex as casual as possible. Also, this song is just a bop! The beat is very reminiscent of 90's bedroom music, and it's catchy as hell, so you really can't be mad at it. "Go Gina" is a reference to the 90's TV sitcom Martin. SZA said Gina would've had more fun if she was more laid back. Gina is me, and I am Gina; it's basically a song dedicated to herself where she reminds herself to let go and have fun.
"Garden" is another track I don't relate to at all. SZA wants a bigger butt and casually expresses this in an almost comical way. "I know you rather be laid up with a big booty, she probably hella positive cause she got a big booty." I roll my eyes and chuckle at these lyrics. SZA is so insecure, and I really wish she wasn't because she's so beautiful and talented. She truly has a lot going for herself and deserves to be confident and as fierce as she wants! My favorite song on this whole thing is "BROKEN CLOCKS"!!! The beat is dope, lyrics are dope, melody is dope! It's just great. Obama even put this song on his list of favorite songs for 2017. Please, just go listen to it.
"Anything" portrays how I've been feeling lately. This song might not be about a relationship, but I really relate to the lyrics, "do you even know I'm alive?" She repeats this line over and over again, hitting home how frustrating it is to feel invisible by someone you love. "Wavy" ft. James Fauntleroy is dope as well because SZA is so much like me. She deals with anxiety, and when she feels that way, she just wants to wave goodbye and run away. As you may have guessed, Solana is complex and deals with a lot of issues, but is a beautiful spirit nonetheless. She wants to be a "Normal Girl", and spread her wings like a "Pretty Little Bird". Eventually, she sees some potential in herself and that's nice. She closes the album with "20 Something", one of the rawest, realest tracks that really expresses what it feels like to be a millennial. If a Gen X'er or Baby Boomer listened to this song, they will surely be brought back to a time of heightened uncertainty. Becoming an adult is what we all wanted as kids, but this shit ain't easy. God bless those 20 somethings.
Another component of this project is Solana's mother and grand-mother's dialogue throughout this project. They provide substance, wisdom, warmth, and strength; a nice touch indeed. I love this album, and it is a classic. This is like one of those neo-soul albums some of us woke up to for cleaning the house. In the future we're going to be blasting these songs in our homes while demanding our kids to do the cores.
So why is it called control? Well, throughout SZA's life, she has struggled with having control over herself and her life. Is control real? Who has control over us? Do we really have it or really want it? Her mother closes this album with an interesting perspective. She said, "and if it's an illusion, I don't want to wake up. I'm gonna hang on to it. Because the alternative is an abyss, is just a hole, a darkness, a nothingness. Who wants that? You know? So that's what I think about control, and that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!"
My Favorite Tracks: "Broken Clocks", "Supermodel", "Doves in The Wind", "Drew Barrymore", "The Weekend", "Go Gina", "Anything", "Wavy", "20 Something"
Qotables: "Why you bother me when you know you don't want me? Why you bother me when you know you got a woman?"
"Real niggas do not deserve pussy!"
"I hear your dick is weak, buddy. It’s only replaced by a rubber substitute. We ain’t feelin’ you"
"I get so lonely, I forget what I'm worth. We get so lonely, we pretend that this works."
"My man is my man is your man. Heard it's her man too"
"Picking up a penny with a press-on is easier than holding you down."
"Maybe I should pray a little harder, or work a little smarter"
Support the artist: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ctrl/1239977075
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