SZA says her voice is "permanently injured," and we're seriously hoping this is a false alarm

Last week, Top Dawg Entertainment, the record label behind acts like Kendrick Lamar and SZA, announced that SZA would step down from upcoming tour dates and go on vocal rest. The announcement wasn’t entirely shocking, because she’s not the first singer to stop touring in order to rest their voice. However, after TDE’s initial announcement, SZA shared her own statement on Instagram and revealed that her vocal injuries might be worse than expected. Last night, May 29th, 2018 — SZA worried that her voice might be “permanently injured.”

Here’s the timeline:

May 22nd — TDE announced they’re temporarily pulling SZA from the label’s The Championship Tour to rest her voice.

May 24th — SZA took to Instagram to write: “For anyone who hasn’t seen this . I’ve been touring for 11 months. This didn’t happen overnight . Ive been troubleshooting for a while now and Usually steroids and pushing through help. They don’t this time . I’m not sick my voice just won’t fucking work. If I don’t pause now I’ll be forced to pause permanently.”

May 29th — Despite her vocal break, SZA appeared onstage during a tour stop in New York City. After the show, she rattled off a series of distressing tweets that ended with “my voice is permanently injured.”

SZA is not the only singer who has had to confront serious vocal damage. In 2011, Adele suffered a throat hemorrhage and underwent a risky surgery that thankfully restored her voice. Then in 2017, Adele canceled a series of concerts and similarly lamented that steroids and medication had run its course. In 2015, Sam Smith enlisted Adele’s doctor to treat his own hemorrhage, and Meghan Trainor underwent a similar surgery twice, both times fearing she’d never sing again.

Thankfully, all three singers recovered after surgery. We hope that with this optimistic track-record across the industry, SZA can find a similar route back to vocal health.