Why SZA rejects the R&B label as a relic of racial segregation
In short: SZA has spent her career pushing against the industry's tendency to pigeonhole her as a contemporary R&B artist. She views this categorization as a restrictive, racially charged legacy from the 20th century, arguing that Black musicians have always been the architects of expansive genres like rock and roll.
Since her early days, SZA has actively resisted being boxed into a single genre. When she released her 2014 single 'Teen Spirit', she intentionally tagged it as 'Glitter Trap' and 'Not R&B'. Her music often blends dreamlike, lo-fi, and psychedelic textures with elements of alternative rock, pop, and hip-hop. For SZA, the media's insistence on labeling her as an R&B singer is not just inaccurate—it is a reductive practice that mirrors historical industry efforts to segregate Black artists from their white counterparts.
SZA’s frustration stems from a belief that such labels diminish the potential for musical growth and limit artistic freedom. She has openly questioned why Black music is frequently relegated to specific categories, asserting that Black artists have historically been the creators of diverse musical forms, including rock and roll. By embracing what critics have called 'genre agnosticism', she aims to maintain a limitless approach to her craft, refusing to let industry definitions dictate the boundaries of her sound.
This resistance is reflected in her discography, where she seamlessly shifts between styles. Her 2022 album SOS, for instance, was a deliberate attempt to prove her versatility by combining R&B with rap, rock, and pop. Whether she is incorporating pop-rock elements like in the track 'F2F' or utilizing rap-singing techniques, SZA maintains that she is simply a musician. To her, the act of labeling music is a barrier that removes the option for it to be truly expansive, ultimately undermining the depth and variety of the work itself.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: SZA
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