Biochemical interactions are very interesting to me.
— SZA
Listening to Alabama Shakes made me less self-conscious about my voice.
I love when things that I'm involved in really matter and when people like me back and don't just think I'm corny.
I have a really strong gluten allergy, and I'm pretty lactose-intolerant, like, in a big way, but I love cheese.
I just think I have too much anxiety to listen to music. Sometimes it feels like noise, and sometimes it's so affecting that I can't recover from it.
I make bad decisions frequently. They're fun.
It's interesting to all of a sudden be considered valuable.
My music is touching people in whatever spaces they need to be touched in.
Especially when I'm nervous, my mind is running a mile a minute. My ADHD speaks for me before I can speak for me.
When you're, like, 190 pounds, dark-skinned, and a new artist that no one really cares about, people don't really take the time to make you look beautiful.
My parents wanted me to go to school.
We're changing little girls' lives across the world, and we didn't even know what we were doing when we started.
I worry so much. Like, 'Damn, how can I be excellent?' But it's a journey.
I'm a Scorpio with a Pisces moon. I am very critical of myself. I'm actually way less critical of others than I am of myself. I'm in my own head a lot. It's hard and really discouraging.
Control is not real, and I'm really understanding that every day. It's about the acceptance of relinquishing control that makes it powerful for you.
I love classical jazz.
I've been known to wear pajamas onstage for the sole reason of wanting to make sure I'm free enough to execute new things vocally onstage and give my best performance possible.
I definitely want to get into environmental science and environmental politics, learning a lot more and preserving what's left of the world. That's such a sacred circle to be in. I'd love to contribute to that.
I don't listen to my music if I'm not making it.
I drink a lot of water.
I love food, so having a lot of food allergies now and just having a really sensitive body, it forces me to be very mindful and conscious and eat when I'm hungry, not just when I'm bored, and just really slow down. Everything in moderation.
I wasn't one of those girls who sang at church.
I think we all do: I think we wonder if we're supposed to be here, if we're doing the right thing, if we even want to be here. At least, I do all the time.
I want to excel at something, to follow through, to not be afraid.
On Halloween, because we don't celebrate it, my dad would drive me somewhere, anywhere different. Like Little Italy in New York to walk around and teach me all about the food and culture.
In the real world, I kind of, like, thrived a little bit. The things that were awkward about me at school, like being hyper passionate... I realized, 'Oh I'm my own person, and I have my own idiosyncrasies and nuances that I don't mind.'
In one way, I want to heal people.
I think music is honest and will make you do honest things.
I was unpopular my whole life.
People grapple with labeling me as hip-hop, R&B, or pop, and it's interesting to me. I'm just making music.
I don't want to speak negativity into existence.
I love Modest Mouse.
I listen to Stevie Nicks.
I don't have any control over what actually happens except for that I have full control over my will for myself, my intention, and why I'm there. That's all that matters.
When I sing full voice, I get nervous because I get nasal and abrasive and a little scratchy.
I got a lot of crap for being named SZA but not being affiliated with Wu-Tang, and being a girl.
Sugar makes me feel crazy - like, makes my body hurt kind of a thing. I don't really eat fruit because it has a lot of sugar. I try not to eat a lot of red meat, but every now and again, I feel like I need iron or something - something that I'm missing.
I feel good being a black woman; I've always felt good.
I learned everything the hard way - like, literally, everything. I know that God does that to people that he has lessons for. I just wish that I had learned less extreme lessons.
I wasn't popular in high school; I had no friends.
I don't have a primary doctor, a primary hairstylist, a primary anything. I don't even have a primary address! Everything is just whenever I can find one.
There's something different about growing up black and Muslim, especially in New Jersey. It's like when I left the mosque and I left my dad, I felt unprotected, but I also felt a weird sense of pride, like I was involved in this other way of living that was cool to me.
How many thick black women are there singing whatever I'm singing, surrounded by rappers, but also from the suburbs? I can't really judge someone else for judging me!
So many people meet and become friends at my shows that didn't know each other before.
I don't feel ashamed to be loud, which is an argument I've had with lots of men, who thought I was too sassy and unladylike.
It starts with trusting yourself, even if people are telling you you're too young to trust yourself.
I don't have a background in music... and I have a short attention span. If you put me in the studio every day, I'm gonna get lost.
My anxiety stems from my lack of control no matter what.
I love folk. I love rap.
I try to think of myself as a chic fishing grandpa aesthetically.
