Stream SZA's Debut Album 'Ctrl'
SZA is in Ctrl.
After years of anticipation, the Top Dawg songstress has officially released her debut album Ctrl. Out via RCA and TDE, the full-length project arrives with some big name guests.
Travis Scott appears on the album’s buzzing single “Love Galore.” The duo released a raunchy video for the song in April. Meanwhile, her labelmate Kendrick Lamar pops up on “Doves in the Wind.”
James Fauntleroy adds his flavor to “Wavy (Interlude),” while yet another Top Dawg star, frequent collaborator Isaiah Rashad, lands on “Pretty Little Birds.” The previously-released “Drew Barrymore” is also on the album.
SZA has described Ctrl as a concept album. “I’ve lacked control my whole life and I think I’ve craved it my whole life. I couldn’t really arrive at it and now, I’m not really looking to arrive at it anymore,” SZA told “The Breakfast Club.” “I’m just happy to be present. It’s weird. If you try to control a future moment, it’s impossible. There’s no such thing as control anyway. It’s just a concept, a word, a fantasy. But if you focus on the way you feel in the now and what you do with the now, I feel like it leads to having true control in the future.”
The album was also inspired by her youth. “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.”
Take Ctrl with SZA below.