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SZA has a approach of slicing by emotional noise with the precision of a poet. Since her debut, she’s created area for vulnerability, effortlessly narrating the mess, ache and craving that generally include love. From Ctrl to SOS, her music lives within the aftermath: the ready room of heartbreak, the quiet confusion after ghosting and the late-night spirals nobody else sees.

The “Good Days” hitmaker doesn’t shrink back from the ugly or unsure. As a substitute, she leans in with uncooked honesty, letting us sit together with her in these areas the place ego, longing and insecurity collide. Although her lyrics don’t promise closure, they do supply reflection. Whether or not she’s singing concerning the ache of being the opposite girl, replaying what-ifs or combating self-worth in a situationship that gained’t finish, SZA turns heartbreak into artwork that feels intimate and common without delay.

Listed here are 10 of our favourite R&B fairy’s most devastating lyrics about love and loss.

1. Kill Invoice: “I’d kill my ex, not the very best thought / His new girlfriend’s subsequent, how’d I get right here?”

In “Kill Invoice,” SZA offers voice to the type of spiraling jealousy folks usually keep buried. These lyrics do not tiptoe across the challenge — they dive straight into obsession, ego and the sting of being changed. There’s rage and vulnerability packed into each line, like she’s watching herself unravel in actual time. Leaving logic behind, the singer-songwriter shows the emotional wreckage left behind when somebody strikes on too rapidly.

2. Supermodel: “I’m scripting this letter to let I’m actually leaving / And no I’m not holding your s**t / Heard you bought some new homies, bought some new hobbies / Even a brand new h** too!”

“Supermodel” looks like a breakup textual content that was by no means presupposed to be learn out loud. Although she’s making an attempt to sound agency and indifferent, the bitterness offers her away. There’s ache behind each jab, which looks like proof that she’s nonetheless watching her ex from a distance. This heartfelt goodbye looks like a confession that she’s harm and uninterested in pretending in any other case.

3. Drew Barrymore: “I get so lonely I overlook what I’m value / We get so lonely we fake that this works”

The St. Louis native pulls the curtain again on what it means to settle within the identify of consolation. On this line from “Drew Barrymore,” loneliness turns into a drug, dulling her sense of worth and readability. It captures the ache of staying in one thing damaged simply to keep away from being alone. Greater than a plea for sympathy, it’s an trustworthy take a look at what folks surrender once they’re afraid to be by themselves.

4. Backyard (Say It Like Dat): “Open your coronary heart up / Hoping I’ll by no means discover out that you just’re anybody else / ‘Trigger I like you simply how you might be”

That is love wrapped in denial — a quiet concern that the individual she’s holding onto won’t be who they appear. SZA clings to the model of the associate she needs to consider in as a result of the reality may be an excessive amount of to deal with. Relatively than beg for perfection, she needs the phantasm to carry. Her phrases really feel comfortable on the floor, but it surely’s holding a storm beneath.

5. Love Language: “Needing you to speak to me in your love language / Present me, yeah, how to connect with you / Assist me perceive / The way you converse your love language”

In “Love Language,” the Grammy Award-winning artist is reaching out to somebody who keeps their emotions locked up. Cancel the entire grand gestures as a result of all she needs is to be seen and understood with out having to guess. The entire tune captures the emotional exhaustion of all the time decoding another person’s wants. She’s asking for readability whereas additionally admitting how a lot confusion has already worn her down.

6. Snooze: “I testify for you / I informed that lie, I’d kill that b**ch / I do what all of them round you scared to do, I’m not”

That is the type of love that strips you of purpose. SZA paints an image of devotion that borders on harmful, through which she’d lie, journey and go to conflict over somebody who in all probability would not do the identical in return. It’s a major instance of loyalty turning into desperation that’s dressed up as ride-or-die. She’s not simply invested emotionally, she’s able to burn the whole lot down to remain shut. It’s daring, chaotic and painfully one-sided.

7. Snooze: “I can’t lose after I’m with you / How can I snooze and miss the second / You simply too vital”

She makes it clear that this individual holds all the facility, which isn’t a superb factor. Being with him looks like the one time she wins, so she stays on excessive alert, afraid the second will move. There’s no relaxation or ease right here — simply strain to remain current, keep wanted and keep sufficient. These strains from “Snooze” seize what it looks like to like from a spot of concern as an alternative of belief. It’s obsession wrapped in romance, and she or he is aware of it.

8. No person Will get Me: “How am I presupposed to inform you / I don’t wish to see you with anybody however me / No person will get me such as you / How am I presupposed to allow you to go? / Solely like myself after I’m with you / No person will get me, you do”

These phrases expose how deeply she’s intertwined with somebody who makes her really feel seen in methods nobody else can. The wrestle isn’t nearly letting go of him, however the concern of dropping the sense of self that solely his presence appears to offer her. It’s an emotional dependency that creates confusion. With out him, who’s she actually? The connection turns into extra than simply love; it’s a mirrored image of her personal id.

9. I Hate U: “And in case you surprise if I hate you, I do /S**tty of you to make me really feel identical to this / What I might do to make you are feeling identical to this”

The anger is so palpable in “I Hate U,” like each line is carrying the burden of betrayal. The frustration of being wronged spills over, leaving no room for softness. The sentiment right here is direct and clear: wanting the opposite individual to really really feel the harm they’ve induced. These phrases carry the raw aftermath of a wound that gained’t heal simply.

10. No Love: “If I did all of it once more, I’d give like 10 % / You deserve like half of that / I’ma want my a reimbursement”

SZA’s contribution to Summer season Walker’s “No Love” hits onerous with the sensation of getting overinvested in one thing that didn’t give again. There’s no room for nostalgia or longing in these lyrics, only a sharp acknowledgment that the emotional value was too excessive. The frustration of placing in a lot with little return comes by, making it clear that some money owed have to be paid again. It is a powerful love realization concerning the imbalance within the relationship.