It’s been three years since SZA released her debut studio LP Ctrl, a project that saw 14 tracks from the Top Dawg Entertainment songstress and additional appearances from Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, James Fauntleroy and Isaiah Rashad. This year, it appears that she may be gearing up for the release of her sophomore album, beginning with the new single “Hit Different,” which features assistance from Ty Dolla $ign.
Prior to “Hit Different,” SZA teamed up with Justin Timberlake to contribute to the Trolls World Tour soundtrack on the compilation standout “The Other Side.” She also spent the past year contributing to a slew of her peers tracks, including DJ Khaled’s “Just Us,” Post Malone’s “Staring At The Sun,” and “Power Is Power” alongside The Weeknd and Travis Scott for the Game Of Thrones-inspired release For The Throne.
SZA first broke out onto the scene with 2012’s See.SZA.Run, which was then followed by 2013’s S and 2014’s Z, the last of which marked her first official release under the TDE imprint. Even with all of the accolades given because of her earlier work, it was the aforementioned Ctrl that earned SZA a double Platinum plaque and four Grammy nominations, solidifying her as one of the most important R&B artists of her generation.
Recently, she spoke to Rolling Stone about the possibly of an official follow-up to Ctrl this year, which sounds hopeful enough:
“Music is coming out this year for sure … An album? Strong words. …I’ve dropped nothing but features … People don’t know who the f*** I am, right? They think I’m on some stupid superstar shiny s***. I know people are tired of seeing that. They want to see me. I owe people that. So I’m going to do that.”
Press play on “Hit Different” below.