A strong collection of tracks from one of R&B’s most talented artists, ‘SOS Deluxe: LANA’ finds SZA at her best, unpacking the complexities of love, insecurity, and more while embarking on deep self-reflection.
Stream: ‘SOS Deluxe: LANA’ – SZA
SZA quickly became one of the leading voices in modern R&B music since releasing CTRL in 2017, that album in specific catapulting her career thanks to its dynamic and alternative production.
With distinctly unique vocal stylings and sonics that pull from a wide variety of genres, SZA’s sound has been revolutionary in defining what modern R&B music embodies. When she released her third album SOS in the winter of 2022, she cemented herself as an undeniable visionary, the project breaking both streaming and chart records.
Now two years later, SZA has released an extended version titled SOS Deluxe: LANA. The deluxe version adds 15 more tracks to the originally 22-song album. A new title was fitting for the deluxe; the number tracks alone could comprise a solo album, and the landscape that the songs sonically inhabit is noticeably different from the original source material. The new title comes from a nickname SZA (Solána Imani Rowe) has had since she was child, which is fitting since this project feels lively and playful.
It often feels more similar to the alternative elements on her sophomore album CTRL and her debut album Z. With some incredible standouts across the record, SZA continues to flex her musical prowess with this project, even if some of the songs feel like imitations of greater, more embodied SZA tracks. Despite that, LANA still sees SZA at her best, unpacking the complexities of love, insecurity, and more while embarking on deep self-reflection. She’s not afraid to show listeners the beautiful and ugly with a remarkable level of vulnerability and rawness, making for a project with some impactful, memorable pieces.
Compared to the initial release of SOS, LANA opens much more calmly with “No More Hiding.” Synthesizers seemed to whisper in background layered on top of electric guitar, giving the track a very spacey sort of feel, but with a bubbly tone thanks to how the elements are arranged. The track was the perfect note to open on, ultimately looking at that sense of optimism that comes with putting one’s self “out there” again, despite the damage the past may have caused.
No more hiding
I wanna feel the sun on my skin
Even if it burns or blinds me
I wanna be purified within
No more hiding
I wanna be in love for real though
Don’t care what it costs me
I’ll trade anything to feel now
The dreamy opening only lasts so long, some of the earlier tracks after the album opener proving to be some of LANA’s most bouncy and forceful songs. “30 For 30 (with Kendrick Lamar)” is one of the strongest off of the entirety of the deluxe, Lamar and SZA’s combined flow achieves something uniquely addicting. The two are longtime collaborators, having been contributors on each other’s projects a number of times.
“30 For 30” samples the 1979 song “I Call Your Name” by Switch, an R&B/funk band from the late ’70s and early ’80s. The sample provides a soulful foundation for the track, aligning with reflective lyricism that adds depth and texture. “When the sun go down, everything make me feel lonely, yeah / I love sad things, but right now, he’s just the homie / Tryna feel good inside, he never wanna hold me.”
“BMF” and “Scorsese Baby Daddy” are another pair of songs in keeping with the energy on “30 For 30.” “BMF” has strong pop influences, mixing well with the track’s sentiment of being consumed by attraction and admiration. While this suitor may have an intoxicating charm, there are still undercurrents of caution thanks to the knowledge that this isn’t necessarily “the one.” SZA knows how to make a song that perfectly characterizes reckless attraction, and “BMF” is no different.
You kinda cute, but don’t play too much,
don’t play yourself
I’m not the one,
but we can still pretend
this can be my man
You say you feel different
when you with me,
tell me anything
“Scorsese Baby Daddy” has gripping, catchy melodies and guitar riffs, a track that seems engineered to be played on repeat. SZA’s booming vocals are on full display with this one, adding nuance to the idea that SZA craves a relationship and partner that encapsulates the melodrama director Martin Scorsese’s films are known for. “Addicted to the drama, Scorsese baby daddy.”
Things begin to slow back down on the second half of the deluxe tracks, and SZA is just as talented in making heart wrenching songs as she is with ones that live in a more upbeat place. Take “Crybaby,” for instance. Some of SZA’s most profound and memorable pieces are the ones where she’s baring her soul to her listeners; she takes us along on her journeys of self reflection and healing and it almost always makes for emotionally resonant and powerful pieces of art like “Crybaby.” Reckoning with her own warped worldview, negativity, and self-destructive habits, this song makes for an emotional listening experience that may stir up some harsh truths listeners have been running from.
You should stop focusing on
all that negative blocking the positive . . .
Ruin me every single time
‘Cause all I seem to do is get in my way
Then blame you, it’s just a cycle, I’m so psycho
You so sick, I’m so sick of me too
Call me Miss Crybaby
The outro on “Crybaby,” in particular, is home to 49 seconds of some of the most ethereal, otherworldly moments on all of LANA; it certainly is an instant that fans will happily anticipate while listening to the track, SZA’s voice gentle and airy as she delivers the final blunt lines: “I know you told stories about me / Most of them awful, all of them true.”
In a similar fashion, SZA continues to unpack her self-destructive habits on “Kitchen,” one of the most sonically charming tracks from the new project. The melodies and beats mix together sounds from the 80s and has a sort of jazzy feeling to it as well, the nostalgic sound in perfect company with the song’s thematic backdrop.
On “Kitchen,” SZA finds herself in a spot that countless others have found themselves before, stuck in a starry-eyed haze when looking back on an ex-partner. SZA captures both the naivete and frustration that comes with this complex psyche.
You know we got a real history
That’s no reason I can’t choose me (ooh)
You know that dick been good to me (ah)
You make it hard for me to choose me
Dancing and kissing, the kitchen
Makes forget, I forgive him
Mama told me I don’t listen, back again
The remaining songs from LANA maintain the undercurrents of retrospection, but the final two tracks, “Another Life” and “Saturn,” are the stars of the latter portion of the record. With “Another Life,” SZA delves into the age-old idea that a romantic connection didn’t work simply because of poor timing, the desperation that this notion is even feasible, clear and poignant through her vocals and lyrics.
All coming to a head, “Saturn” is a sweeping, all-encompassing conclusion to LANA’s tracks. Initially released in February of this year, “Saturn” is a song about karma, life’s injustices, and the frustration that comes with the lack of rewards for doing what’s right. On an album that constantly juggles with the ideas of the just and unjust, enticing yet self sabotaging behavior, and romantic pitfalls at the hands of both parties, “Saturn” neatly comprises what made up SZA’s 15 track addition to SOS.
Sick of this head of mine
Intrusive thoughts, they paralyze
Nirvana’s not as advertised
There’s got to be more,
been here before
The entirety of the new tracks from LANA are all solid, but songs like “30 For 30” and “Crybaby” undoubtedly distinguish themselves thanks to production and lyrics that sound fresh – like something we haven’t heard from SZA before. If they do at moments sound similar, they only build upon the elements that made her previous projects so captivating.
While there certainly isn’t a single song that was poorly sung or engineered by any means, other tracks off of LANA feel similar to other songs from SZA, and arguably have been visited in more interesting and enjoyable ways on previous releases.
Nonetheless, SOS Deluxe: LANA was a welcomed surprise to end 2024 and begin 2025 with a strong collection of tracks from one of R&B’s most talented artists.
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© Cassidy Meyers
© Cassidy MeyersSOS Deluxe: LANA
an album by SZA
