SZA returns with SOS

SOS is the second studio album from Missourian artist SZA. SZA is known as one of the best in R&B right now. She’s signed to Top Dawg Entertainment which is known for signing artists like Kendrick Lamar, SchoolBoy Q, and Isaiah Rashad so it should hold up to the quality their artists have put out in the past. Her previous album Ctrl was one of the best received albums of 2017. Personally, I don’t care for Ctrl so when I listened to SOS for the first time I was pleasantly surprised to find something I really enjoyed. 

SOS starts off strong with the song titled SOS which sets the stage for more to come and gets the listener intrigued. Kill Bill is probably the best on the album. It’s a fun song that compares SZA to the villain of the classic movie Kill Bill. It’s easily the best on the album and the song I’ve listened to most after I finished the album. 

For a bit, the album dragged with no songs particularly jumping out to me until Smoking My Ex Pack which marks the point in the album where it goes full steam ahead with good song after good song. My second favorite song on the album is Ghost In The Machine which features Pheobe Bridgers. A collaboration between Pheobe Bridgers and SZA is not something I expected. I really enjoyed both artists giving solemn performances. Ghost in The Machine is definitely the sleeper on the album and is almost my favorite on the album.

F2F is not a great song but a welcome change in sound especially when the next song Nobody gets me pays off with a great slower song taking the sound F2F set up before. The album slows down a bit in the middle and has more of a relaxed feel which is a welcome change in sound until it picks back up for Too Late.

Travis Scott appears for a feature on the song Open Arms which has him using a different sound that fans should be surprised to hear from Travis. The next song that caught my eye was Good Days which came out 2 years ago and I honestly don’t understand why a two year old song would be put on an album. 

The last song on the album is Forgiveless which is excellent it feels like a good send off to the album. It features one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan Ol’ Dirty Bastard who has been dead for 18 years. Having such a huge artist feature on a song 18 years post mortem is a bit weird to me especially since it’s a sample from the song The Stomp. It would be different if it was an unreleased bit of music but labeling it as a feature is weird to me. 

Overall this album isn’t perfect it has some forgettable tracks but the real quality isn’t held back. It’s an album I would absolutely recommend if you’re looking for something that will be on rotation until SZA’s next album comes out in 20 years.