l\u2019ve just realised that I\u2019ve already bought more music this year than I did in all of 2016. It\u2019s not that I have suddenly developed an appreciation of previously unexplored genres (on the contrary, I have become even more entrenched in loving what I already do) but there has been a lot of excellent music in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And as we ease into the second half of the year, there\u2019s no one I\u2019m listening to as much as American singer-songwriter SZA. I am playing her morning, noon and night; in the shower, all day at work, even as I brush my teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SZA (n\u00e9e Sol\u00e1na Imani Rowe), 26, makes R&B, but not as I know it from the 1990s. If R&B\u2019s signature is a combination of cocksureness and vulnerability, then SZA\u2019s blend is a little more moody and a lot more alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the course of a few EPs, SZA\u2019s songwriting expresses the confusion that so marks one\u2019s third decade, cut with an ineffable magic that reminds me of Kate Bush. Her voice swings between self-consciously raspy and whisper-soft, with a hint of something not quite of this realm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Aftermath, from her 2013 album S, she sings smokily, \u201cDoubt I\u2019ll ever be anyone\u2019s baby\/living as a unicorn gets so lonely.\u201d Roll your eyes, if you want, but that\u2019s a solidly evocative lyric, no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I love watching her perform, too: in loose shorts or baggy jumpsuits, throwing her big hair around as she dances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each song on her new album, Ctrl, is a paean to Black Girl magic: bold, vulnerable, wryly funny and always catchy. SZA has me enraptured. You will be, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
source:Bim Adewunmi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
l\u2019ve just realised that I\u2019ve already bought more music this year than I did in all of 2016. It\u2019s not that I have suddenly developed an appreciation of previously unexplored genres (on the contrary, I have become even more entrenched in loving what I already do) but there has been a lot of excellent music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":37766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[11974,6573,5262,12326,4894,3040,5357,6220,8154,5058,12187,11900,11973,6838,10415],"class_list":["post-37765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-album","tag-black","tag-cut","tag-decade","tag-imani","tag-kate","tag-lonely","tag-love","tag-moody","tag-music","tag-n","tag-new-album","tag-one","tag-singer","tag-work"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37765"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37768,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37765\/revisions\/37768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}