What SZA’s Sickness Means For Her Music

It is a time of mourning in the R&B world as the dearly beloved SZA is injured with severely damaged vocal chords and has an unknown future ahead of her.

A few weeks back, SZA had to skip out on a couple of her shows. She has been touring for the past 10 months with TDE’s Championship Tour, accompanied by Jay Rock, Ab-Soul, SIR, Schoolboy Q, Lance Skiiiwalker, and Kendrick Lamar. It isn’t abnormal for artists to experience some vocal cord pain during extensive tours, but according to recent tweets, her health issues may be more severe than expected.

Two weeks ago, when TDE announced SZA was expected to miss an indefinite amount of tour dates, the singer posted the announcement on Instagram, with the caption:

“For anyone who hasn’t seen this. I’ve been touring for 11 months. This didn’t happen overnight. I’ve been troubleshooting for a while now and using steroids and pushing through. I’m not sick my voice just won’t fucking work. If I don’t pause now I’ll be forced to pause permanently. I’m genuinely sorry for every face, voice, and energy field I won’t be touching! I’m literally taking as many steroids as I can to speed this up!! It’s a waiting game and super weird to be blamed for stuff outta my control but I get it! Again .. I’m sorry..I’ll be right back. Pray for me or don’t. Preciate u either way ❤-S”

I can’t speak for everyone, but if your heart didn’t rip into 400 pieces after reading this, you truly have no soul.

This is personal. CTRL, SZA’s album released in June of 2017, brought us on a journey of perseverance and self-realization. Songs like Love Galore, The Weekend, and Doves In the Wind taught us that before we love anyone else, we must first learn to love ourselves.

Can I get an Amen up in here?

On May 29th SZA announced, in a series of tweets that have since been deleted, that her voice may be permanently damaged.

But luckily, things may be looking up for the beloved Solana. She performed on June 3 in Madison Square Garden after missing more than four scheduled tour dates. She is looking and sounding much better, but TDE confirms she still needs rest before she can release another album like CTRL and nonchalantly decide to make us hate our boyfriends.

On a personal note, I was at one of the tour dates missed. The show in Bristow, VA to be exact. And I will say, although SZA is the unofficial love of my life, I would have appreciated if they wouldn’t have hung a banner with her name plastered on it at a concert she had to miss. Talk about getting your hopes up. Just as Schoolboy Q left the stage, and SZA was due to perform next, the crowd began in a dull roar…. sza….Sza….SZa…..SZA… and then Kendrick pulled a fast one on us.The acclaimed Compton rapper appeared on stage as tears ran down my face. There is live footage of my pouting on the ground while “DNA” boomed throughout Jiffy Lube Live. My energy field was one that still remains untouched by her beauty, but I remain hopeful for the future.

The good news is SZA will recover, and she lives to swoon us with her voice and grace us with her presence another day. Her vocal cords may have taken a toll, but she has regained CTRL. Did I just subtly give SZA a useful lyric?