2020 isn't all bad — SZA is back!
"Hit Different," produced by The Neptunes and featuring Ty Dolla $ign, was released at midnight on Friday (September 4).
The sultry single comes after SZA released her critically-acclaimed debut album, CTRL, in Summer 2017 and after her two soundtrack collaborations: "The Other Side” with Justin Timberlake from the Trolls World Tour (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) in February and "All the Stars" her Oscar-nominated track with Kendrick Lamar for Black Panther in 2018.
In addition to dropping the surprise single, SZA also graced fans with its accompanying music video, which she directed — her directorial debut — under her birth name Solána.
SZA revealed in an interview that she recorded "Hit Different" with the Neptunes at DJ Khaled’s house while he was at this year’s Super Bowl. “I can’t really wrap my head around the experience and I think more so I’m fangirling off of having a track produced by probably the most formative producers and artists for me when I was growing up,” she said, adding that they made five or six songs during that one session. “I just cannot f**king believe that because it’s my childhood dream and I can’t believe that I made things I that f**k with someone that really changed my life.”
While there's no word yet if "Hit Different" is a one-off single or the first from her sophomore album, SZA did announce in January that the LP would be dropping this year.
She recently expressed frustration over the delay of the project, but later clarified that her music was not being "held hostage" after rumors her label was to blame.
"Don’t nobody need to free me Lmao. I’m not held hostage n neither is my music! Me n punch be disagreeing," she tweeted, referring to her label boss Terrence "Punch" Henderson. "He's never steered me wrong and I trust God's timing ... I gotta learn it😬 *paaatience paaaatience paaatience is a virtue."
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