MIU MIU satin bra, dress and cotton knit top; GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI crocodile embossed square-toe mules; FALKE socks.

 

SZA: Hi, Steve.

Steve Lacy: Hey, how you doing?

SZA: I’m good. I’m headed to the studio.

SL: Oh, cute. Cute.

SZA: I was about to play one of your songs in my car. We should just make this about you randomly. Have pictures of me and the conversation about you and your album.

SL: Noooo [laughs]. This is for you. I’m here for you. I’ve got like a rubric of things I should say, but it’s a little corporate. So I’m gonna find my way to have a conversation with you and talk about the things people reading the magazine should know about you and your brand. But I want to keep it natural.

SZA: You could literally say anything to me right now. You don’t have to ask about my brand or any fucking thing. You can literally talk to me about anything that you want. You can make this ridiculous, which would be so funny. I’d actually prefer.

SL: You prefer ridiculousness. Yeah.

SZA: I don’t know. Well, I prefer you. I prefer… I don’t know what I prefer, but I just felt like you are innately funny and interesting.

SL: Okay, cool. How do you feel about talking about just the time we spent together so far?

SZA: I’ll go with that. I’m feeling the time we’ve been together so far. Because we’re dating.

SL: I guess I’m trying to see where to start this thing. Yeah. How are you adjusting to being back home? Every tour run I do, and at the end of whatever album cycle I was in, you kind of automatically transform. You get off the road and like, your whole world’s upside down.

 

MIU MIU satin bra, dress and cotton knit top; GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI crocodile embossed square-toe mules; FALKE socks.

 

SZA: It felt weird as fuck. It was like I came home and just felt restless and weird. I was hanging out with somebody that I liked a lot and it was cool. But then it was like, I don’t know what. I couldn’t sit still. It just felt crazy. And I was like, okay, I’m just gonna go to the studio. I felt like I had a song on my heart. So I was like, damn, I never feel like that. I started making music in Sweden on tour, and I was like, all right, I’m gonna just keep going. I wasn’t sure I’d find inspiration, and I did. You’re a major bullet point of inspiration. It’s been like a ball of inspiration and just, like, interestingness. Normally when I come home, I can’t wait to go hiking or, I book a flight to somewhere crazy and just disappear. But I just randomly got right back to work. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I do like the space I’m in musically.

SL: That’s pretty cool. What do you think is the driving force of your bug right now?

SZA: Intention. I feel like sometimes I didn’t know what I was making things for. With Control I was trying to prove a point and show that I wasn’t a whisper singer. Whatever. Sidebar: I have nothing against whisper singers. It’s just what they were saying about me. They were just like, she’s one of them whispers. And I wanted to prove a point on SOS that I could do a bunch of stuff. But now it’s like, I don’t really want to prove a point per se, but I personally yearn to make a song that’s beautifully structured and still feels angelic and like it’s carrying me somewhere. I’ve been listening to so many random things like The Beatles. And the other day when I was listening to this song that Earth, Wind and Fire covered of The Beatles and I was like, damn, that feels —

SL: Whoa, that’s crazy.

SZA: — different. I listen to Paul McCartney, I’m like, damn these pockets, I fuck with these pockets. It’s like, okay bitch, The Beatles, groundbreaking. But I didn’t grow up listening to that. My dad, you know, he black as hell — Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and Ella Fitzgerald type shit. And James Brown. My dad cried when James Brown died. It’s not funny at all. But that’s how serious it is in my household. The Beatles were not a thing. I feel like I’m opening a new door to The Beatles and yoga. I went to India recently and did the ashram thing and did the vow of silence and learned about Carnatic music and scales and all these things. And I noticed that’s what Earth, Wind and Fire and The Beatles were incorporating. The resonance in your voice, the vibrato. The words don’t really mean anything. It’s like a feeling. So I’m just trying to see what that means for me and how many ways I can pour intention into creation right now.

 

MIU MIU satin bra, dress and cotton knit top; FALKE socks; GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI crocodile embossed square-toe mules; DINOSAUR DESIGNS bangles; ACNE STUDIOS bow bracelet. LA BEAUTÉ LOUIS VUITTON LV Rouge satin lipstick in 200 Rose Eugénie and LV Baume lip balm in 030 Tender Bliss. MIU MIU dress and cotton knit top; COU COU INTIMATES boyshort; DINOSAUR DESIGN bangles; ACNE STUDIOS bow bracelet.

  

“It’s like I sleep better when I feel like I’ve discovered something.”

 

SL: Right. I feel like you’ve done it before by accident. So I’m curious, like, what’s going to come now that you’re thinking about it?

SZA: I don’t know. I just. I don’t know. Sometimes it’s hard to find the intention. I know it when I feel it, but I don’t know how to make it arrive.

SL: How do you feel about, like, branding yourself? Like, is it daunting? Does it excite you or is it draining? What do you think about the brand of you?

SZA: The brand of me is… Daunting.

SL: Say it again. Sorry.

SZA: It’s exciting, it’s daunting, and it’s draining. But you say, how does it work?

SL: How does it correlate with the human version that you feel every day? I feel like you’ve done a good job at not separating the two so much, which is really cool.

SZA: But maybe I should separate way more. I think I might try to do that. I never even considered that. It was always just like, me, me, me. Like, this is my story, my life. But now I feel like I might be diving into a chosen character. It’s funny, I feel like everything is kind of moving into like, ‘80s, like a rock sense. But I feel more like Kate Bush, like more Beatles, like when LSD first came out and we started to discover.

SL: Right.

SZA: I feel. I don’t know. I feel. But maybe that’s my role, you know?

SL: Yeah, I like that word role. I think a lot about that. Damn. I’m not a good journalist. I’m really trying to make this thing flow.

 

SZA: No, I really just picked who I wanted to talk to.

 

PRADA single breasted chevron wool jacket and chevron wool mini skirt; LA BEAUTÉ LOUIS VUITTON LV Rouge matte lipstick in 505 Unexplored.

 

SL: Let’s talk about your acting debut [with Keke Palmer in One of Them Days]. This is in the rubric. I think this is fun. I’d use this question because it’s, I don’t know, weirdv being a musician who acts. So how was that experience for you? Would you do it again?

SZA: It was like, at first, no. And now I’m like, yes, I would do it again. At first, it was so bizarre and so foreign to me. It was uncomfortable, like, in a way that I wasn’t fucking with. But it was fun.

SL: That’s so cool. And you would do it again?

SZA: I would. I would. I would love a little bit more time to film. We did all that in, like, two weeks.

SL: That’s insane. Do you have, like, a genre of movie that you, like, crave to be in?

SZA: I want to do a horror movie.

SL: I knew you were gonna say that.

SZA: I wanna do a horror! Or like, a crazy action movie where I’m just, like, whooping ass and I’m deadass serious.

SL: Oh, that’d be so cool. Like, you gotta learn, like, all the, like, fight choreography. Like “pew pew pew!”

SZA: Exactly. That’s what I’m saying. I’m serving up just crazy whoop ass. But also, you know, I love a hood movie. So I’m down for, like, a hood classic.

SL: I love that. That’s the ambience you create in the studio. I don’t know if it’s ever been talked about in any of your interviews before, but did you always put on hood classics on mute while you record?

SZA: Yes. I just love something poetic on the screen. And what’s more poetic than a hood classic? I feel they give the most inspiration. Of course, we love the Scorsese films as well, and the obscure, random things. But, you know, State Property 1 and 2 is also, like, beautiful.

SL: Okay, I got a couple other questions here. Let me see. So you have these tours. You won a Grammy? You did a Super Bowl thing.

SZA: I did.

SL: So I’m trying to, like, ask about these huge moments in, like, a non-corny way.

SZA: Oh, I can tell you about the stadium tour because that was actually really insane for me.

SL: Okay, let’s talk about that. Was that your first?

SZA: Yeah. And I felt, like, woefully unprepared. But I feel like that’s my life. I don’t know. I always want things to go so smoothly. In my mind, I’m like, oh, this is gonna be this and that, and it’s gonna give Janet Jackson down. I’m gonna do. And I’m not gonna have any sound issues. But the acoustics of a stadium are so fucking crazy. The sound engineer was my recording engineer from home. Like, my homie Hector. Like, he never did that before either. So we all just been winging it for so long. It was like, oh, you actually cannot wing it here. And we rehearsed so much. But I just also feel there’s so many things I wish I could have done differently. And I pray that I get an opportunity like that again.

 

PRADA single breasted chevron wool jacket; LA MANSO rings.

 

SL: It’s still a cool moment in history you felt like you could have prepared for more.

SZA: I had way less anxiety than usual, let me say that. But it was like some of my avoidant anxiety was whooping my ass. Like, I was scared to look at footage to perfect my shit in the nooks and crannies because, I don’t know, it was all just so much. But normally I could just do that. I don’t know. I was in my head on some weird shit. It was crazy.

SL: Yeah. Well, congrats on that anyways. How do these huge check-off bucket lists affect you? Do they stay on you? Do they just happen? And then it’s like, cool, it’s over. What’s next?

SZA: It’s so funny. Before I felt like, oh, these are my indicators that I made it. Like if I do all these things, what could be better? What could be more? But now that I have them all, I’m like, am I over? Like, is everything over? Like, am I about to die?

SL: That’s interesting. Yeah.

SZA: Yeah, it’s such a weird feeling. It makes me feel like I’m just in a crazy transition period and not knowing. Before you came, I was like, all right, maybe I’m done making music. And now I’m just like, okay, I have to make the best album I ever made in my life right now and really commit. So I don’t even know. The desires that God places on your heart. Who’s to say?

SL: I know. Well, I think it’s a good place to be. You checked off all the things, so now you get to do what you truly desire creatively. That’s pretty exciting, I think.

SZA: No, it’s like, can I? I gotta figure out… doing it for what reason. Like, if I’m trying to make the best album ever, in what sense? Like, trying to make nothing but hits? Perceived hits? Or am I trying to make the best album ever, like, that my soul wants to make and, like, whatever that sounds like? I think all these things could work together, you know? I mean, your shit sounds like soul convergence mixed with hits mixed with, like, tearjerkers, I swear.

SL: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I can’t wait for that to be done. But I’m having so much fun working on your music. You want to talk about what we’re cooking up or?

SZA: Everything, I’d love to. No one knows about it. This would be the first time.

SL: Well, yeah, I guess I could start off by saying thank you. It’s so exciting to share these ideas with you and to keep the practice alive of being a producer. So I appreciate you letting me into your space to make songs together. It’s really, really fun for me.

SZA: I admire you so much. It’s so crazy. And thank goodness I met you prior to you being an adult adult because I would be so stressed, you know? I’d be like, you’re just too talented and then I wouldn’t be able to play anything in front of you then it’d be weird. But I can just get through that. Now I can, like, create. It’s a blessing to open up to that space again where I’m having a group project feeling. I’m so grateful that you’re, like, a part of me.

SL: I’m learning a lot from hanging with you. For real. You’re a monster.

 

"I feel like I'm opening a new door to The Beatles and yoga."

 

GUCCI shearling coat; ONLY HEARTS lace tank top; PARIS TEXAS platform mules; stylist’s own socks.

  

SZA: No, you are. The other day when you were like, I think we should rework those first couple blah, blah, blah. So many things came to my mind. When I get to the studio today, I’m gonna start. It’s so funny. It’s like I can’t stay in the studio, but I love thinking and being able to sort through things because it feels like I’m sorting through something deeper than just music. It’s like I sleep better when I feel like I’ve discovered something.

SL: No, it’s good. And I feel like that the thinking and the living with what you’re working on, it’s a part of the process. Just listening and then seeing how it feels in your body. And I think paying attention to the energy flow.

SZA: Your music, I feel something every second. There’s a pulse to it. I can’t explain it. There’s like a whole ass heartbeat.

SL: Yeah, it’s been so hard, though, like, reworking shit. Like the song that you helped me with.

SZA: I did not help you with that song. I cried to that song. I said, go forth and prosper on these, please.

SL: No, you really did. You gave a little chip and it helped and we found it. But we were reworking that chorus, I’m telling you, for like a year, two years, you know? So that’s how crazy it gets.

SZA: A year? Two years?

SL: Yeah, we’ve been working on some shit.

SZA: You’re mad patient. Because that song is perfect. Like, whatever made you feel like, all right, it can come out now was worth the two year wait.

SL: Yeah, it was that night. It was that night. That portal night.

SZA: That was. That was a fucking portal.

SL: Do you want to talk about your makeup? I think we should just touch on that a little bit so people know.

 

CUCCULELLI SHAHEEN lace dress.

 

SZA: Well, it’s funny. Yesterday I was kicking it with [the producer] Benny Blanco. He’s one the first people that’s ever tried my little samples before it was a thing. And I was explaining to his friend, I’m actually not making a makeup company. It’s just a product company where we make exceptional products.

SL: I like that.

SZA: I’m just trying to make high quality shit that’s functional, that is needed — if it’s tents, if it’s cookware, if it’s furniture. An industry that I know really well or an aspect of life that I know really well that I think I can make an improvement on. I like doing it and being able. I was just like, I am passionate about lip gloss and my lips, and I need shit that lasts long and I need it to feel like this. I’m always combining things. I’m like, if it was this, but with a little bit of that. Or if it was this and that plus that, but only if. And I’m like, all right, fuck that, I just want to make my own, because I’m putting on, like three layers of four different products just so that this shit lasts a little bit longer looks a certain way. It’s like, just make the shit. And I was like, damn.

SL: Right.

SZA: Same thing with my lip liner. I can’t be reapplying. I gotta go, and I have shit to do. And I also need to blend immediately. I’m not a makeup artist. But I do like to look awesome.

SL: I love it.

SZA: Thank you.

SL: So awesome. Well, yeah, I guess. Is there anything else you want to touch on? I feel pretty good about it.

SZA: I feel good, too. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.

SL: Awesome. No worries.

 

 

Makeup Deanna Paley
Hair Devante Turnbull
Nails Carmen Ramos
Casting GK-LD
Production Starkman & Associates 

 

 

 

October 2025