SZA by Nick Riley Bentham for CR Fashion Book Issue 22

Solána Imani Rowe (born November 8, 1989), known professionally as SZA, is an American R&B singer. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in Maplewood, New Jersey, SZA began making music in the early 2010s, releasing two extended plays, See.SZA.Run (2012) and S (2013), before signing with the hip hop record label Top Dawg Entertainment, through which she released Z (2014), her third EP and first retail release. That same year, she co-wrote "Feeling Myself" with Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé. In 2016, she was featured on Rihanna's song "Consideration".

SZA's debut studio album, Ctrl (2017), was released to universal acclaim from music critics. It became the second longest-charting R&B album by a woman in the history of the US Billboard 200, behind Rihanna's Anti (2016), another black woman, and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, the album earned her four nominations, including Best New Artist. It was later placed on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list (2020). In August 2017, she was featured on Maroon 5's top-ten hit single "What Lovers Do". The next year, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award and Academy Award for Best Original Song for her collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on the top ten single "All the Stars" for the Black Panther soundtrack.

In 2020, she released the single "Good Days"; the following year saw the release of "I Hate U" and Doja Cat's "Kiss Me More", which she was featured on; all three singles reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2021, with the latter breaking the record for the longest-running all-female collaboration within the top ten, and earning her the Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. SZA's second album, SOS (2022), reached number-one on Billboard 200 chart, breaking the record for the biggest streaming week ever for an R&B album, and remained atop the chart for ten non-consecutive weeks. The album's single "Kill Bill" became SZA's first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Global 200, while "Nobody Gets Me" peaked within the top ten.

SZA has received multiple accolades throughout her career, including an American Music Award, a Grammy Award, a Guild of Music Supervisors Award, and two awards from Billboard Women in Music (including Woman of the Year), in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Brit Award.