SZA - "Drew Barrymore"
She's got that untouchably cool aesthetic that not only raises her up, but also makes her feel immediately familiar. Her sound is relaxed and yet still driving, and so while her music is always in control it's the kind of sound that can turn promptly into a wild ride.
As I listened to her music yesterday, noming on tacos and reveling in my purchase from the vintage shop next door, I thought to myself that this was a perfect bubble of moment. It was lovely little locket of time to tuck away and hold on to for always. SZA's music was an integral part of it.
SZA describes her vocals as having a "rasp" which she initially tried to "tenderise". Her vocal style has been described as taking on the "lilt" of a jazz singer. According to Marissa G. Muller of Rolling Stone magazine, Rowe's vocals alternate between a "vapory husk and a sky-high falsetto." Jordan Sargent of Pitchfork magazine labelled Rowe's vocals as being "chillwave" and "ethereal."
SZA musical style is described as "alt R&B". SZA songs are built over "layers of sliced, delayed, and reversed vocals" and contains "twists and mutates".[ Reggie Ugwu from Billboard finds her musical style to feature an "agnostic utopia dripping with mood", that straddles the "line between minimalist R&B, '80s synth pop and soul". Rowe's music is predominately PBR&B and neo-soul, but has been noted for taking influences from a broad variety of genres including soul, hip hop, minimalist R&B, cloud rap, ethereal R&B, witch house and chillwave elements. Michael Madden described SZA's musical genre as being "agnosticism corresponds", noting that her work is not just one style of music and is versatile, noting the musical style is not just "R&B, pop, soul, or one thing at all."
SZA began writing songs due to being "passionate" about writing and enjoyed poetry, when writing lyrics SZA "freestyles" them in order to express whatever comes to her "mind", noting that it does not always make sense to herself.[5] Thematically, SZA work contains "unravelling lyrics", that touch upon themes of sexuality, nostalgia, and abandonment.[35] According to Michael Madden from Consequence of Sound, SZA lyrical is sometimes "purposefully general" and sometimes "an ambitious but quick reference", which Madden compared to the rapper Angel Haze and her debut album Dirty Gold.
So, today, with sunlight dancing on the water, I choose SZA's "Drew Barrymore" as my, like eagles in the sky, hummingbirds in the garden, swallows on the wind, song for a, drive down the coast, salt air on my skin, mist rising from the water, Tuesday.