On ‘Ctrl’, SZA explores the personal struggles of a young black American woman and derives strength from total honesty.
Having gained her share of hype after she became the first woman to sign to Top Dawg Entertainment, prior to releasing her debut EP, ‘Z’, in 2014, SZA has since endured a well-publicised creative struggle to make ‘Ctrl’, including sending a Tweet where she threatened to quit the music business altogether. It appears that it was all worth the strife, though, as ‘Ctrl’ is a deep, rich piece of work and well deserving of any fanfare.
By opening up her diary and spilling out her thoughts and feelings, SZA explores the grey areas in modern dating. She navigates a world that she feels has certain expectations of her and documents the damage they do to her self-confidence.
On Supermodel she sings about a break-up, on Drew Barrymore she hangs out with an ex and on Love Galore it’s a fling. Throughout it all there's an emotional fragility, even when she’s trying to be cool. On The Weekend, she plays with the idea of time-sharing a guy with other women, but by the second verse she’s admitting she wants more.
Her style is deeply personal. On the opening track, Supermodel, she says: “I been secretly banging your homeboy.” It’s a real secret, with SZA revealing in an interview that she hadn’t told anyone about the tryst until now. She freestyled segments of the song, and others on the album, which only adds to the intimacy and sense of vulnerability that runs throughout. On Prom she pleads with herself: “Please don't take it, don't take it personal / Like I know you usually do.” On Garden (Say It Like Dat), she sings: “Hope you never find out who I really am / 'Cause you'll never love me, you'll never love me, you'll never love me.”
That vulnerability is reflected in the album’s sparse instrumentation. Stylistically, ‘Ctrl’ is a graduation from her sound on ‘Z’, which utilised elements of synth pop and disco. Here we find Frank Ocean-style soundscapes based around empty-sounding electric guitars, electronic beats and the occasional g-funk keyboard or jazzy trumpet.
These choices pave the way for her words to take centre stage, with her vocal style ranging from scat singing to rapping and allowing her to build textures in the same way R&B vocalists use melisma. As such, her performances blend seamlessly with labelmates Kendrick Lamar and Isaiah Rashad, who feature alongside appearances from Travis Scott and James Fauntleroy. The rappers succeed in adding a masculine perspective to these tales of dating.
It’s SZA’s stark honesty about being a young woman, though, that gives the album its power. On Normal Girl she says: “I wish I was a normal girl, oh my /How do I be? How do I be a lady?” If we revisit Garden (Say It Like Dat) we find her singing: “You know I'm sensitive about havin' no booty, havin' no body.” On Drew Barrymore: “I'm sorry I don't shave my legs at night.”
SZA might not have it quite figured it out yet, but she’s slowly growing in strength, learning about her own worth. Doves In The Wind is where she is at her most confident, demanding: “You could never trivialize pussy.” Part of that toughness is gained from her mother and grandmother, who appear sporadically across the album administering advice.
SZA may have only set out to express her own confusion at life as a 20-something but her bold takes mean that ‘Ctrl’ can slot seamlessly alongside recent work by Beyoncé and Solange, who through their personal expression make bold and important statements.
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