SZA Announces 'Ctrl' Release Date
SZA is in Ctrl.
With a little help from RZA, the Top Dawg Entertainment songstress has announced the release date for her highly-anticipated debut album, now due June 9.
On Wednesday (May 24), SZA dropped a RZA-narrated video, which finds her sitting in front of old, broken down televisions and computers.
“Peace and blessings,” he begins. “My name is RZA, from the almighty Wu-Tang Clan. I’m zoning in with my homegirl SZA. Self-savior, Zig-Zag-Zig Allah. Yeah, I think you could take that far, mama. Cut loose the drama. No melodrama. Rise to the top. Claim your karma. It’s my honor to drop this lesson. It’s my honor to give this blessing.”
a word from RZA pic.twitter.com/vKIMyOBscA
— TOP DAWG #TDE (@dangerookipawaa) May 25, 2017
Bobby Digital also narrated three separate videos for SZA on Instagram as part of the release date campaign. Here, the “Love Galore” star levitates, sits, and lays down in front of those vintage screens.
Each clip is accompanied by alliteration from RZA to spell out SZA’s name. “Self-savior,” he starts. “Sophisticated syncopations / Smoking sole strands of high-potency stimulation / Soulful songstress / See sometimes, a woman is the strongest one inside the cypher.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUf4kyGj35D/
For the second clip, RZA turns his attention to Z. “Reverse the S in stress, girl, and turn it back to a Z,” he raps. “The Zig-Zag-Zig, yeah, so find the Zig in me / The zenith who can rise again.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUf4vQeDbXi/
Then, he uses the letter A for the finale. “Allah is the all-eye seeing,” he begins. “The all-knowing, the all-flowing / Over land, sea, sky, and oceans / The controller of space, time, and motion.”
Plus, he leaves SZA with these parting words: “Baby girl, do what the fuck you gon’ do and shine on these ni**as so they can understand.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUf49mgDFDB/
Announced earlier this year, Ctrl was initially meant to drop in February, following the release of “Drew Barrymore.”
“I [wrote about] my younger life, which was haphazard,” she said. “Being at sleep away 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. It’s the first time I’m literally writing about my life instead of figuratively writing about it.”
Ctrl (TDE/RCA) is set to feature the singles “Drew Barrymore” and the Travis Scott-assisted “Galore.”