SZA Quotes

“I don't enjoy being interviewed. I feel like it exhausts a lot of my energy. I feel empty after.”

“Music is my form of cleansing and introspection, so I have to grow in order to accomplish it.”

“I don't want to speak negativity into existence.”

“Every day I grapple between 'I'm going to get married' and 'I'm going to spend the rest of my life alone with a poodle.'”

“My mom is a Pan-Africanist. My dad is still Orthodox Sunni Muslim, but he's super fun. He worked in television for years. He was a Black Panther.”

“The album that defined my childhood was probably Ella Fitzgerald's 'Greatest Hits,' whereas my half-sister, who didn't have the same conservative upbringing, was listening to Cash Money and crunk.”

“Oh, Instagram stresses me out on a very deep level!”

“I definitely get inspiration from the 'gram. I mean, Instagram is Google, essentially. I love looking at pictures of beautiful women.”

“It's interesting to all of a sudden be considered valuable.”

“On Halloween, because we don't celebrate it, my dad would drive me somewhere, anywhere different. Like Little Italy in New York to walk around and teach me all about the food and culture.”

“I do a lot of strange things.”

“I love Obama, and I just want to reiterate it again to everyone from every hilltop and every mountain: I love him!”

“I tell the truth through music. Other people tend to catch on and agree with my truth and it turns out we are all really similar.”

“In one way, I want to heal people.”

“I was a funky kid.”

“It's so hard for me to focus on things for a long time that I'm not incredibly passionate about.”

“I live in my imagination, so sometimes movies help me get lost. I feel like I'm in it.”

“I think music is honest and will make you do honest things.”

“My anxiety stems from my lack of control no matter what.”

“When you're, like, 190 pounds, dark-skinned, and a new artist that no one really cares about, people don't really take the time to make you look beautiful.”

“Biochemical interactions are very interesting to me.”

“When I just decided to be myself, that's when you get questions like, 'How do you feel about feminism?' And I have no idea; this is just when I decide what I'm not tolerating and what I genuinely think and a little bit in between.”

“I'm a Scorpio with a Pisces moon. I am very critical of myself. I'm actually way less critical of others than I am of myself. I'm in my own head a lot. It's hard and really discouraging.”

“I always wanted to be a Klingon princess. They were so pretty, and their hair was fire. My hair is Klingon, I feel like.”

“I love the comparison with Aaliyah and Timbaland, because Aaliyah is a legend, and there is a large cinematic feel to Timbaland's sound, but what I do is different.”

“I don't listen to my music if I'm not making it.”

“I've been known to wear pajamas onstage for the sole reason of wanting to make sure I'm free enough to execute new things vocally onstage and give my best performance possible.”

“We're changing little girls' lives across the world, and we didn't even know what we were doing when we started.”

“I just think I have too much anxiety to listen to music. Sometimes it feels like noise, and sometimes it's so affecting that I can't recover from it.”

“I don't have any control over what actually happens except for that I have full control over my will for myself, my intention, and why I'm there. That's all that matters.”

“I don't like to shop. It creates so much anxiety.”

“I definitely want to get into environmental science and environmental politics, learning a lot more and preserving what's left of the world. That's such a sacred circle to be in. I'd love to contribute to that.”

“I don't feel ashamed to be loud, which is an argument I've had with lots of men, who thought I was too sassy and unladylike.”

“Singing was more of a hobby, and I was terrified of anyone's opinions. The only reason I kept doing it was because people responded positively, and if they hadn't I don't really know if I'd feel the same. I'm not into fighting for people's affections.”

“Don't get discouraged with your skin when it doesn't do what you want it to do... Give it some time. That's the only way to get to know yourself.”

“As long as you're being honest and there's intention in what you're doing, then I think that energy permeates your field and becomes like a homing signal for other people with like energies.”

“I feel like every outfit I have ever planned ahead is trash.”

“So many people meet and become friends at my shows that didn't know each other before.”

“I love when things that I'm involved in really matter and when people like me back and don't just think I'm corny.”

“I used to be offended when people would compare me to Erykah Badu. Because I'm black, thick, and have large lips? There's nothing similar about us whatsoever, and I felt very disrespected by the fact that people needed to pigeonhole me. I wasn't even raised on Erykah Badu!”

“I have an abundant amount of love in my life, and I'm grateful for that.”

“I got a lot of crap for being named SZA but not being affiliated with Wu-Tang, and being a girl.”

“I try to think of myself as a chic fishing grandpa aesthetically.”

“I did some work on Beyonce and Nick Minaj's 'Feeling Myself.'”

“I used to be very revenge-motivated, but that's just because I'm a Scorpio. Now I'm more so, like, practice honesty just because it makes you feel better.”

“I've always wanted an office job so I can tell someone, "I'm going to take a long lunch," or "I'm out of the office." I don't know why, but I've always seen so much stability in clocking in.”

“I don't listen to my own music, so to me it's awesome that people really like it. I was afraid that it wouldn't connect with everyone. I'm more appreciative than anything.”

“I love food, so having a lot of food allergies now and just having a really sensitive body, it forces me to be very mindful and conscious and eat when I'm hungry, not just when I'm bored, and just really slow down. Everything in moderation.”

“I always used to be like, 'I don't need to meditate.' And it's not true.”

“I just make music however I feel and pray that it connects, and if it does, I'm super thankful. I think genres are more for other people, not for yourself.”