The first lines of SZA’s “SOS Deluxe: LANA” sum up the newly released 14-track extension to her massively popular album “SOS”: “No more hiding / I wanna feel the sun on my skin / Even if it burns and blinds me.” The opening lines of “LANA” highlight the unabashed authenticity that is the defining feature of SZA’s new deluxe album, the same authenticity that has propelled her to the throne from which she now presides over the music industry. Since the release of “SOS” in 2022, SZA has launched past the success of her debut album “Ctrl” into a sphere of international pop stardom where her only peers are the likes of Taylor Swift and The Weeknd. To sum it up: If you haven’t heard “SOS,” where have you been?
“LANA” has been in the works since weeks after the release of “SOS.” In November 2023, SZA defined the shape her new body of work would take: “I had made all my screaming points [on ‘SOS’], and I just wanted to glide and not think [too much], and just get out of my own head.” For an ardent perfectionist like SZA, the decision makes sense. “No More Hiding,” the deluxe album’s first track, opens this way. In it, SZA does what SZA does best. She pours out her emotions through syrupy, ethereal melodies over crisp, fine-tuned production crafted by the best music-makers in the game: Benny Blanco, Sad Pony, and Lil Yachty amongst them.
In “LANA,” I see a SZA project with a softer and more optimistic outlook than the jarring, genre-switching style she carried through “SOS.” Even on “My Turn,” which is the deluxe album’s take on a “Kill Bill”-style revenge ballad, SZA is more forgiving: She may hate her lover to his core, but she might let him leave alive. She’s as confident in herself as ever: “My turn, I did the learnin’ / Your turn to do the hurtin’ / My turn, ’cause I deserve this.” The album’s soon-to-be-radio-hit “BMF” (known as “Boy From South Detroit” when it was leaked in 2023) draws its power from a pop-ready guitar rendition of “The Girl From Ipanema.” The song’s soft claps and crisp melody make it a sure summer hit, but the album’s deeper takes are what pull “LANA” together.
“LANA,” named after SZA’s childhood nickname (and first tattoo, which she got when she was 13), is a project worthy of standing on its own, not just because of its looming success but because of SZA’s ability to create a cohesive aesthetic in between the indie pop of “Ctrl” and the megastar- in-full-bloom multipotentiality of “SOS.” “LANA,” not unlike The Weeknd’s “Dawn FM,” finds SZA when she is far more at peace with herself and her goals than previous projects. Songs like “Diamond Boy (DTM)” and “Scorsese Baby Daddy” carry a soft-pop style that’s just as close to quarantine-era bedroom pop as it is to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Short n’ Sweet.” The album’s cover art depicts a half-naked, half- streetwear-clad SZA as a bug-looking character in a natural setting. This same aesthetic has dominated her recent set design, leaving fans to speculate: Who has SZA become? With the release of “LANA,” we have been assured: SZA has always been, and has drawn her worldwide success from being, nothing but herself.
Overall Rating: Soft, raw, authentic —9/10
