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When it comes to the best and brightest women in R&B, SZA has to be one of the first names that comes to mind. Today, the four-time Grammy Award winning artist celebrates her 35th birthday! Solána Imani Rowe was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey. Upon graduating from high school, she attended three separate colleges, finally settling at Delaware State University. She eventually dropped out in her last semester but started taking on random jobs in order to make money.
During the CMJ New Music Report in 2011, while her boyfriend’s clothing company sponsored a show in which Kendrick Lamar was performing, SZA first met members of Top Dawg Entertainment. Some of her early music was given to TDE’s president Terrence ‘Punch’ Henderson. The two stayed in touch and after the release of her two EPs See.SZA.Run and S, TDE ended up signing her on July 14th, 2013. She became the label’s first female artist. Later that year, she went on tour with Swedish band Little Dragon. In 2014, she featured on songs from her label-mates albums including two songs for Isaiah Rashad’s debut EP Cilvia Demo and Schoolboy Q’s debut studio album Oxymoron. She released her third EP, Z, later that year. Riding off of the success of her previous mixtapes, SZA began recording her fourth EP, A, which repackaged as her debut studio album and was later retitled Ctrl.
While working on the album, SZA began writing songs for other females artists including Beyoncé and Rihanna. In April of 2017, she signed her first major-label recording contract with RCA Records. Less than two months later, on June 9th, she released her debut album Ctrl. Ctrl debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, with 125,000 album-equivalent units. The album was ranked as the best album of 2017 by Time. She went on to promote the album on a North American concert tour. She received five Grammy nominations for Ctrl including one for Best New Artist. She followed the massive success of Ctrl by releasing collaborations with Maroon 5 and Kendrick Lamar, which peaked at number 9 and number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.
Since the release of Ctrl, SZA has been catapulted into superstar status. In the years since the album came out, she has been featured on tracks from the likes of DJ Khaled, Justin Timberlake, Ty Dolla Sign, Doja Cat (in which she won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance) and Summer Walker, to name a few. The talented SZA states that she is less inspired by strictly music and more inspired by creating art in general. We all know that you can’t rush art. Five years after the release of Ctrl, SZA blessed the world with her long awaited sophomore album SOS. The album spent ten non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and broke the record for the largest streaming week for an R&B album in the US. Supported by six singles (including the top-ten songs “Good Days”, “I Hate U”, “Nobody Gets Me” and “Snooze”) SZA earned her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Kill Bill” earlier last year. She later earned her second chart-topping single of 2023 with her guest appearance on Drake’s “Slime You Out”. Her artistry is truly something to marvel at as she continues to solidify herself as a force to be reckoned with. To celebrate her on her special day, check out a gallery of photos that accentuate her undeniable beauty! HAPPY 35TH BIRTHDAY TO SZA!
