SZA’s New Album ‘Lana’: Everything We Know So Far
SZA’s forthcoming album “Lana” — which started off as a deluxe edition of her multi-Grammy-nominated second full-length “SOS” but now may or may not be a separate release — has been in a state of flux ever since it was first conceived. But it apparently took a big step closer to completion on Sunday night, when the singer posted a series of photos that are apparently cover artwork for the release, each one bearing the familiar “Parental Advisory: Explicit Content” sticker.
While a deluxe edition is a given for most successful albums and SZA has been talking about one for “SOS” almost since that album dropped last December, “Lana” has seemed different every time she’s spoken about it — and she’s provided the most detail to Variety, in interviews in August and November. While the release date, tracklist, and even how many songs might be on it are completely unconfirmed, here’s what she’s said to us and publicly.
More from Variety
Back in August, she said, “It’s outtakes [from ‘SOS’] and new stuff, too — I added a couple of songs. It’s like a whole new project. It’s called ‘Lana’ — my name but, it’s the first tattoo that I ever got, when I was 13. It was 10 bucks a letter and I only had 40, so that that became my nickname for no reason. ‘Lana’ is really just the B-side of SOS.”
Asked if the song “Joni” would be on it — her tribute to Joni Mitchell that has been floating around on the internet for a couple of years — she said, “‘Joni’ is on it. Well, they leaked it, so I wasn’t gonna put it on there. I guess I should still… but they leaked it already. They ruined it. [Fans] already have it.”
A long discussion ensued about whether or not a song is ruined if it leaks (read it here, but short version: she feels it is).
A month later, on Sept. 8, she performed a free concert at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where she announced the album — “The deluxe is a whole ’nother album. It’s called ‘Lana.’ It’s seven to 10 songs and it’ll be out this fall.” Along with tracks from “SOS” and her debut full-length “Ctrl,” she performed three unreleased songs at the concert that have been dubbed by fans “Boy From South Detroit,” “Saturn” and “DTM” (also referred to as “Diamond Boy,” and played as a work in progress during her Rolling Stone interview earlier this year), although the official titles remain unclear.
Then, during a second interview with Variety in November, she talked expansively, if no more conclusively, about “Lana.”
“I never get these things done until like the day before the deadline,” she laughed. “It became more than I thought. It was gonna be something really soft because 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. I was so happy to say some shit that didn’t mean a fucking thing. But now it’s definitely turning it into its own album. I guess I could drop another album randomly, because no one’s actually expecting that from me right now.
“But I can’t tell if now’s the time to be careless, or consistent,” she continued. “It’s like, should I really dig into music theory and start vocal training and do all this crazy shit to become a mastermind, or do I relax and try everything under the sun as an artist and just be careless? I’m bad at consistency, but being carefree inherently feels like the wrong thing to do. On the one hand it’s like ‘What would Beyonce do?,’ but I am deeply inspired by people who do what the fuck they want, including Frank Ocean and Andre 3000. Some of my favorite songs were the ones that I dropped on SoundCloud [early in her career] because I felt like, hey, this is stress free.”
On Monday, a rep said that no release date nor tracklist has been confirmed. So, until “Lana” arrives, that’s as much as we know…
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
