Will SZA scoop Santa Claus by giving her fans Lana ahead of Christmas?
SZA, 34, posted six separate images via Instagram on Sunday, December 10, teasing her latest release. One showed the “Kill Bill” singer in a tent, while the other captured her giving Poison Ivy realness by wearing nothing but a plant bikini while out in a grassy field. SZA got in touch with wildlife in three other snaps, engaging in activities from holding a turkey to leading a horse and hanging with pigs and sheep. The last of the images had her dressed in all white (save her brown loafers) while sitting pretty on a folding chair.
The singer (real name Solána Imani Rowe) captioned each of the six posts with the word “LANA.” While some of her fans hoped that this heralded a collaboration with Lana Del Rey, the caption was actually the title of the deluxe edition of her 2022 album, SOS.
While the “Slime You Out” hitmaker didn’t say when the project would drop, some fans speculated that she might have teased the release date in her Instagram posts. In three photos — the trio of pics with her alongside the barnyard denizens — SZA wore a blue football jersey bearing the number 15. December 15, 2023, is a Friday, the day that new albums are generally released on streaming services. If SZA doesn’t drop the album this Friday, the next Friday the 15th is in March 2024.
SZA announced the deluxe edition of SOS in September during a performance at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. She told her fans that the project would be called Lana due to her real name and would be “seven to 10 songs.” At the time, she said the project would be “out this fall” and that this deluxe edition of her Grammy-nominated project would be “like a whole ‘nother album.”
During that performance, SZA said she was “just playing some songs off the deluxe, and we’re just going to play a couple of songs you already know. It was really just — I just wanted to do something for free that was a vibe. ’Cause I was here in town. Literally, there’s no other point to this whatsoever.”
Many others have caught the vibe. On Sunday, SZA posted a tweet from @SzaOnStats to her Instagram Story, noting that Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times all named SOS as the No. 1 best album of 2023. (Though SOS was released in December 2022, the album was included in many of this year’s round-ups.)
“You don’t know what it’s like to come from begging [people] to hear [your] music to this,” SZA wrote of the critical acclaim. “I’m so f–king confused and grateful. Thank y’all. THANK GOD.”
In addition to the multiple year-end praises, SOS netted SZA nine nominations for the 66th Grammy Awards, the most of any artist this year. She is up for Record of the Year (“Kill Bill”), Album of the Year, Song of the Year (“Kill Bill”), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“Ghost in the Machine” featuring Phoebe Bridgers), Best R&B Performance (“Kill Bill”), Best Traditional R&B Performance (“Love Language”), Best R&B Song (“Snooze”), Best Melodic Rap Performance (“Low”) and Best Progressive R&B Album.
