SZA goes V on the magazine’s upcoming Summer Music Issue.
Posing in a sexy, sheer Versace bodysuit for her cover shoot, the T.D.E. songstress opens up in a revealing interview conducted by actress Jada Pinkett-Smith. During their candid conversation, Solana spoke about her healing energy and sharing it with fans.
“In my music, it’s really hard to be super-conscious; I’m in another state of consciousness when I’m making music,” she says. “But when I’m my most effective, that mode of healing is when I get to perform and see everybody. I send out and absorb love. Meet-and-greets are a new thing I never got to do before. I meet, like, 200 people before each show. We hug each other and really look at each other. Healing and loving people, I guess that’s me.”
The interview leads into SZA talking about getting bullied as a child and says it happened because she’s “awkward,” but it took some time for her to understand why she was raised in a certain manner and how her mother’s influence has impacted her personality.
“I’m super sensitive, and my mother made me extra sensitive because she’s just so unapologetically loving,” she said. “I’ve realized some people don’t hug in their families, or say that they love each other all day. My family tells me they love me all day; I’m hyper-affectionate, laying it on other people, just because it’s what we do in my house. But in the world, that was weird, and it was really difficult to be super sensitive and hyper-open. It was just frightening. I guess my mom represented something that made me feel weak. I felt like, this is why I’m hurt. When I got older, I realized, Oh shit, the whole world is wrong and my mom is right…
See some more excerpts below.
ON STAYING GROUNDED: “Meditation is the easiest way to re-center and ground yourself. Sometimes, I get really tired; I feel like I’m hitting a wall I’m about to break through. I just know I have to keep going because there’s about to be some sort of weird endurance experience after. I’d never been on tour before; I never did 40 or 50 cities. I just had to build calmness.”
ON MISOGYNY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY: “I’m the only woman on my label. It’s tough, but I’m also not afraid. My mom has a hyper-femininity, but my dad is hyper-masculine. My daddy’s over six feet, bald head, 260 [pounds], he’s immense, but in the most beautiful way. He’s very powerful. It would take a lot for me to be afraid of you as a man.”
ON THE GRAMMYS: “That was a crazy lesson: Although you may want to quantify yourself by this landmark, God will not allow it. Be grateful for where you’re at, this was just an indicator you’re doing a good job; now stay fucking focused.”
ON HER IDEAL NIGHT: “I roll up a big ol’ blunt, I dial my friends, and we just talk. We laugh a lot, actually. I meditate really hard. My regular nights, sometimes I go for a drive, or usually smoke a blunt, meditate, chill with people I love. I wish I had something more fun to say.”
Read the full interview here.
