PSA (song)

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"PSA"
Song by SZA
from the album SOS and Lana
Written2022
ReleasedJanuary 5, 2023 (2023-01-05)
Recorded2022
Length1:38
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Carter Lang
  • Will Miller
Teaser
"PSA" on YouTube

"PSA" (also called "Potting Season") is a song by American singer-songwriter reported to be from her third studio album, Lana (2024). The song is backed by vocal harmonies, soft piano, and harps. On it, SZA raps with braggadocio, demanding people call her "number one", telling them to serve her, and angering someone to amuse herself.

Before the song's release on Lana, it was used in the official teaser for SZA's previous studio album, SOS, and released on January 5, 2023 as one of two bonus songs on its website-exclusive digital edition. SZA planned "PSA" for inclusion on the standard tracklist of SOS but was stopped by her label Top Dawg's president, Punch, because it did not fit with his vision for the album. After its website-exclusive release, the song was performed during the SOS Tour as the concert opener and at a surprise concert in Brooklyn, where Lana was officially announced.

Background[edit]

SZA released her debut studio album, Ctrl, in 2017. Primarily an R&B album that deals with themes like heartbreak, Ctrl received widespread critical acclaim and brought SZA to mainstream success. Critics credit it with establishing her status as a major figure in contemporary pop and R&B music and pushing the boundaries of the R&B genre.[note 1] Her next studio album was therefore highly anticipated,[8][9] and she alluded to its completion as early as August 2019,[10][11] during an interview with DJ Kerwin Frost.[12]

In the meantime, SZA had been collaborating with other artists on singles, releasing "What Lovers Do" with Maroon 5 in 2017,[13][14] "All the Stars" with Kendrick Lamar and "I Do" with Cardi B in 2018,[14][15] and "Staring at the Sun" with Post Malone in 2019.[14] In 2020, "Hit Different" and "Good Days" were released—the two marked her first solo songs since Ctrl and hence fueled anticipation for a new album. She followed it up with two more solo singles in the coming years: "I Hate U" in 2021 and "Shirt" in October 2022.[16]

From April to May 2022, SZA told media outlets that she had recently finished the album in Hawaii and said that it was coming soon.[17] Her 33rd birthday came on November 8, several weeks after the release of "Shirt". To celebrate the occasion, a video was uploaded to her YouTube account, and she reposted it on social media with the caption: "Happy birthday to me. Clock starts now."[18] The video posted to YouTube was a teaser for the upcoming album. The teaser is directed by Bradley J. Calder, and it uses a song titled "PSA".[19][20] Nearly two minutes long,[21] it features alternating shots of SZA in two scenes: in one, she wears a brown bikini and crouches in a ring of neon green fire, and in the other, she pours blue, fluorescent liquid over her naked self by a beach. As the teaser ends, she makes her way towards the sea, and the video cuts to black before playing Morse code that translates to "SOS".[22][23]

Music and lyrics[edit]

"PSA", also called "Potting Season", was written and recorded in 2022, after producer Carter Lang met with Will Miller alongside two other producers for joint recording sessions. Their agenda was making orchestral songs, inspired by music which Lang called "very minimal" and "beautifully haunting", resulting in around 20 demos characterized by sound layering. Included in the demos were "PSA" alongside one track from the standard edition of the album, named "Blind".[24]: 56:57 

The instruments in "PSA" consist of soft piano[25] and harps,[26] alongside several background vocal harmonies.[22] SZA raps the lyrics with braggadocio: she demands people call her nothing but the "number one" and serve her, admitting to insisting this because she needs to curb feelings of envy[26][27] and find a way to cope with her problems: "I don't know how to take losses / Even when, even when they are lost causes."[23] Later, she proceeds to anger someone for her own pleasure—"pissing you off just to get off"—then mocks certain "bottom feeders" who "suck dick by the liter", perceiving them as of less value than her.[18] She closes the song with the lines: "You should go cry about it, not trying to fight about it."[22][25]

Release[edit]

SOS[edit]

In a Billboard cover story published in November 2022, SZA revealed that the title of her second album was SOS, scheduled for release sometime next month.[28] The album was released on December 9 and debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart, keeping Taylor Swift's Midnights (2022) off the top spot and marking SZA's first number-one album in the United States. It spent 10 weeks at number one.[29][30]

The tracking week ending January 6, 2023, marked SOS's fourth week on the Billboard 200; there was a possibility that Midnights might overtake the album and gain the number 1 spot.[31] On January 5, when tracking was about to end, SZA and Swift released digital versions of their albums that contained bonus material, which would boost both albums' chart performance.[32] In SZA's case, she released a digital-exclusive edition of SOS that can be bought only on Top Dawg's website. It consisted of all 23 songs from the standard edition alongside 2 previously-unreleased songs—"PSA" was one of them.[26][33]

Lana[edit]

Despite being used for the teaser, "PSA" was not included as one of the 23 songs in the album's final cut.[34] SZA said that Punch, president of her label Top Dawg Entertainment, ordered not to include unreleased tracks like "PSA" on the standard edition despite her and her fans' wishes because it did not fit with his vision for SOS.[35] In her words, "He just has a very strong opinion about curation."[36] As a response, she suggested that the song could be included as a bonus track in the album's deluxe edition.[37]

SZA announced the deluxe edition of SOS, titled Lana, during an album celebration event at Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York City. In it, she said its release was slated for sometime in 2023. Telling the crowd she would perform a mix of officially released songs and unreleased deluxe tracks, she confirmed that "PSA" will appear on the edition's track list, which would contain seven to ten songs.[38][39]

Live performances[edit]

The first live performance of "PSA" was during a 19-show North American tour in support of SOS. Specifically, SZA debuted the song during her concert at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio, on February 21, 2023.[40] Her set lists started with "PSA", which she performed as she recreated the album cover art on stage, atop a diving board with a screen behind her that projected a video of the ocean.[41][42] When she was done with the song, she appeared to dive onto the stage floor.[43] In the album celebration event, SZA played "PSA" as the third out of seven songs on the set list, which included the three other aforementioned deluxe tracks.[39]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Cited to multiple sources:
    • Vulture: "Raw, candid writing isn't new for SZA; it's what made the previous album, Ctrl, such a breakout and one of the high marks of the confessional R&B; of the past decade."[1]
    • The Recording Academy: "The release of her critically acclaimed debut album Ctrl in 2017 solidified the artist not only as an R&B mainstay, but soundtracked the heartbreaks and growing pains of millions of young people. With her eloquent vocals and layered storytelling abilities, listeners felt every word like it was their own."[2]
    • The Line of Best Fit: "her debut Ctrl has ascended to classic status, going down as one of the decade's best and cementing SZA's voice at the forefront of contemporary R&B, and of pop."[3]
    • NME: Ctrl "ushered in a new era for R&B, one where the genre's boundaries shifted, bringing new levels of inventiveness into a classic sound and fusing it with indie, alternative, trap and more [...] SZA herself spent the aftermath of Ctrl trying to grapple with her new stardom and the huge impact that had on her life."[4]
    • The Daily Telegraph: "Ctrl, the triple-platinum, four-time Grammy nominated debut that propelled SZA to popstar status"[5]
    • The New Yorker: "Ctrl opened a portal—one that represented not just a major leap for the artist but a breakthrough for the genre itself. Her alternative slow jams pushed her voice to the fore and laid bare all the quirks of her dating life, establishing her as a distinguished millennial anecdotalist in the process."[6]
    • Consequence: In Ctrl, "SZA's personal style of lyricism has always read like an endless diary entry, and the transcendent nature of her genre-shifting abilities helped revolutionize modern R&B and pop."[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Curto, Justin (December 9, 2022). "SZA Finally Unleashed Her Inner Rock Star". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 21, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Ashlee (December 13, 2022). "5 Takeaways from SZA's New Album SOS". The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  3. ^ Taylor, Ims (December 9, 2022). "SZA Hits the Heights on the Dense but Masterful SOS". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on December 19, 2022. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Daly, Rhian (December 9, 2022). "SZA – SOS Review: A Comeback Album Well Worth the Wait". NME. Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  5. ^ McCormick, Neil; Haider, Arwa; Johnston, Kathleen (December 9, 2022). "Sam Ryder Is No One-Hit Wonder, SZA Channels Princess Diana – The Week's Best Albums". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 17, 2022. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  6. ^ Pearce, Sheldon. "SZA: Ctrl (Deluxe)". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on January 2, 2023. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
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  8. ^ Lee, Cydney; Lipshutz, Jason; Mamo, Heran; Robinson, Kristin; Unterberger, Andrew (January 4, 2023). "Five Burning Questions: SZA Holds at No. 1 for Third Week with SOS Album". Billboard. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  9. ^ Kornhaber, Spencer (December 14, 2022). "What Gives SZA Her Edge". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 26, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  10. ^ Robinson, Ellie (June 7, 2021). "SZA Reveals She 'Burst Into Tears' During a Rehearsal of '20 Something'". NME. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  11. ^ Alston, Trey (January 3, 2020). "SZA Is Dropping a New Album This Year but When Is Beyond Her Ctrl". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 30, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
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  14. ^ a b c Powell, Jon (November 17, 2022). "SZA Reveals Forthcoming Album Title in New Interview". Revolt. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  15. ^ Phan, Karena (December 9, 2022). "Review: SZA's Perfection Takes Time in Second Album SOS". Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2022.
  16. ^ Chow, Andrew R.; Mendez II, Moises (December 9, 2022). "Was SZA's SOS Worth the Wait? Breaking Down Its Best Songs and Big Themes". Time. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  17. ^ Kenneally, Cerys (April 4, 2022). "SZA Says New Album Is 'Finished' and Describes It as Her 'Most Unisex' Project Yet". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved November 17, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Dionne, Zach (November 9, 2022). "SZA Drops Mysterious 'PSA (Official Teaser)' Video Featuring New Music, Tells Fans 'Clock Starts Now'". Complex. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  19. ^ Kenneally, Cerys (November 9, 2022). "SZA Shares New 'PSA' Teaser Featuring Potential Album Clue". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  20. ^ Arcand, Rob (November 9, 2022). "SZA Shares New 'PSA' Teaser: Watch". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on December 7, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  21. ^ Abraham, Mya (November 11, 2022). "Yuna, Mahalia, Dram, and More Make Vulnerability Cool Again This New Music Friday". Vibe. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  22. ^ a b c Dailey, Hannah (November 9, 2022). "SZA Teases New Music in NSFW 'PSA' Trailer: Watch". Billboard. Archived from the original on November 26, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  23. ^ a b Krol, Charlotte (November 9, 2022). "SZA Shares Sultry 'PSA' Teaser as Speculation About Album Release Builds". NME. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  24. ^ Hiatt, Brian (January 29, 2023). "The Making of SZA's SOS". Rolling Stone Music Now (Podcast). Archived from the original on January 29, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2024.
  25. ^ a b Mier, Tomás (November 9, 2022). "SZA Teases Cryptic 'PSA' Project in New Video". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  26. ^ a b c Gonzalez, Alex (January 6, 2023). "SZA Just Dropped a Pair of SOS Outtakes, Including the Much Anticipated 'PSA'". Uproxx. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  27. ^ Chelosky, Danielle (November 9, 2022). "SZA Shows Lots of Skin in Her Hypnotizing, NSFW Teaser Clip Called 'PSA'". Uproxx. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  28. ^ Serrano, Athena (November 16, 2022). "SZA Is 'Currently Stressed' About Releasing New Album S.O.S.". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 29, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
  29. ^ Garcia, Thania (December 20, 2022). "SZA Scores Her First No. 1 Album, Logging Fifth-Biggest Debut Week of 2022". Variety. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  30. ^ Garcia, Thania (January 3, 2023). "SZA's SOS Rules Album Chart for Third Week; Nat King Cole's 'Christmas Song' Finally Hits Top 10 After 62 Years". Variety. Archived from the original on January 4, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  31. ^ Wilkes, Emma (January 7, 2023). "SZA Denies Rumours of Taylor Swift Feud: 'I Don't Have Beef [with] Anyone.'". NME. Archived from the original on January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  32. ^ Mier, Tomás (January 6, 2023). "No, SZA Doesn't 'Have Beef' with Taylor Swift". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  33. ^ Cowen, Trace William (January 6, 2023). "SZA Shuts Down Talk of Beef with Taylor Swift, Says She 'Genuinely Loved' Singer's Midnights Album". Complex. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  34. ^ Guy, Zoe (December 9, 2022). "SZA Blesses Us with SOS This Holiday Season". Vulture. Archived from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  35. ^ Cummings-Grady, Mackenzie (December 21, 2022). "SZA Claims Her Team Blocked Fan-Favorite Songs from SOS". HipHopDX. Archived from the original on December 28, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  36. ^ Wicker, Jewel (December 12, 2022). "SZA Is Trying to Save Herself". Consequence. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  37. ^ Griffiths, George (December 21, 2022). "SZA Hints at New Tracks for SOS Deluxe Edition and Fears of Album 'Flopping' Before Release". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  38. ^ "SZA Announces Deluxe Version of Sophomore Album 'SOS' — Titled 'Lana' — Featuring '7 to 10' New Songs". Peoplemag. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  39. ^ a b "SZA Says 'SOS' Deluxe Is Actually "A Whole Nother Album" Called 'Lana'". Stereogum. September 9, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
  40. ^ Richards, Will (February 23, 2023). "SZA Covers Erykah Badu and Debuts SOS Songs at Arena Tour Opener". NME. Archived from the original on February 25, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  41. ^ Turner-Williams, Jaelani (February 22, 2023). "SZA Lives Up to All the Anticipation as She Launches Her SOS Tour". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved February 25, 2023.
  42. ^ Braboy, Mark (February 23, 2023). "SZA Brings Her Fans on an Emotional Voyage on SOS Tour". MTV News. Archived from the original on February 24, 2023. Retrieved February 24, 2023.
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