1990-present
SZA News: Singer Joins Kendrick Lamar for Super Bowl Halftime Show
SZA has had quite the year so far. She made her acting debut in the comedy One of Them Days with Keke Palmer in January, won a Grammy Award for her hit “Saturn” earlier this month, and just performed as a special guest at the Super Bowl LIX halftime show.
The 34-year-old, whose real name is Solána Rowe, joined headliner Kendrick Lamar onstage for two songs during the February 9 concert. They sang “Luther” from Lamar’s latest album, GNX, and “All the Stars,” written for the Black Panther soundtrack. SZA and the rapper are longtime collaborators, having recently also worked on “Gloria” from GNX.
Just before the performance, SZA released SOS Deluxe: Lana with four new songs. The collection is the second expanded version of her 2022 album, SOS.
Listen to SOS Deluxe: Lana on Apple Music, Amazon Music, or Spotify
Who Is SZA?
Grammy-winning R&B artist SZA, whose real name is Solána Rowe, is known for her hit songs “Kill Bill,” “Good Days,” and “Snooze.” Her independently released work caught the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment, and she became the label’s first female artist in 2013. Her first full-length album, 2017’s Ctrl, earned critical acclaim en route to platinum certification, but 2022’s SOS was an even bigger smash, topping the Billboard 200, featuring her first No. 1 song “Kill Bill,” and receiving a 2024 Grammy win for Best Progressive R&B Album. The musician has collaborated with popular artists such as Rihanna, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, with whom she performed at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
Quick Facts
REAL NAME: Solána Imani Rowe
BORN: November 8, 1990
BIRTHPLACE: St. Louis, Missouri
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Scorpio
HEIGHT: 5 ft. 4 in.
Early Life
SZA was born Solána Imani Rowe on November 8, 1990, in St. Louis. Her stage name, pronounced “siz-za,” comes from a division of Islam’s supreme alphabet, which assigns meanings to letters of the Roman alphabet. S stands for sovereign or savior, Z is for zig-zag, and A is for Allah.
Rowe primarily grew up outside of New York City, in the suburb of Maplewood, New Jersey. Her parents shared similar career paths as media executives. Her father, Abdul Mubarak-Rowe, was employed by CNN and her mother, Audrey Rowe, by AT&T. However, they differed with their personal faith. Her father determined that their children would be raised Orthodox Muslim, and her Christian mother followed along, even attending a mosque for prayers.
Along with sending their daughter to a Muslim preparatory school, Abdul set rules for no television or radio, limiting Solána’s musical exposure to his collection of jazz greats like Miles Davis and Billie Holiday. But she got a taste of contemporary music when her older half-sister, Panya, came to live with the family, bringing her own collection that included Wu-Tang Clan and Lil Jon. Rowe’s interests were further piqued after gaining access to a gymnastics teammate’s iPod, which included more hip-hop from Common and Mos Def, as well as the unusual vocals of Björk.
As one of the few Muslims in Maplewood, Rowe was subjected to verbal abuse in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She subsequently abandoned her traditional religious clothing and attempted to blend in with her peers, becoming a cheerleader at Columbia High School.
Rowe briefly attended Delaware State University to study marine biology but spent much of her time working as a bartender and dancer at nearby clubs. She dropped out and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology for one summer before her musical career took off.
Music Career
In 2011, SZA was working for the clothing label 10Deep, which assigned her to hand out merchandise at a Kendrick Lamar concert. A friend was playing some of SZA’s mixtapes, and her music captured the attention of Top Dawg Entertainment co-president Terrence “Punch” Henderson. The two stayed in touch.
After dropping out of college, SZA independently released a pair of EPs: See.SZA.Run in 2012 and S in 2013. The former drew praise for its atmospheric track “Country,” with The Guardian comparing her to R&B heavyweights Frank Ocean and The Weeknd. S featured the celestial “Ice Moon” and such unusual touches as samples from the horror flick Rosemary’s Baby, cemented SZA’s standing as an artist to watch. The buzz resulted in a record deal with TDE in 2013. She was the label’s first female artist.
SZA initially surfaced as a guest on tracks by TDE label mates like Isaiah Rashad as she worked on more new music. Before long, her vocal abilities were in high demand from other artists. She teamed with R&B singer Jill Scott for “Divinity” in 2014, before going on to co-write and perform on Rihanna’s “Consideration” in 2016.
The next year, the budding artist entered a joint deal with TDE and RCA Records, released her long-awaited first album, and enhanced her mainstream recognition by collaborating with Maroon 5 for the song “What Lovers Do.” SZA has since worked with Lamar on the 2018 single “All the Stars” from the Blank Panther movie soundtrack, Justin Timberlake on “The Other Side” from the Trolls World Tour (2020) movie soundtrack, and Drake for the 2023 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Slime You Out.”
Along with the piercing honesty of her lyrics, SZA has been lauded for her voice, which has been described in such ways as “ethereal” and “dripping with honey.” However, the demands of constant touring took its toll on her money-maker, as she announced she was pulling out of TDE’s The Championship Tour in May 2018 due to swollen vocal cords. She gave fans a scare when she tweeted that her vocal cords were permanently damaged, but that turned out not to be the case, as she returned to the stage for the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware that June.
SZA has headlined two of her own tours following the release of both her studio albums. She visited cities across Europe, the United States, and Canada in 2023 on the SOS Tour, her first concert series in arenas. Starting in April 2025, she and Lamar are heading on a joint tour dubbed the Grand National Tour.
Beyond music, SZA made her acting debut in 2025. She starred alongside Keke Palmer in the movie comedy One of Them Days.
Songs and Albums
Among SZA’s hit songs are the No. 1 singles “Kill Bill” and “Slime You Out,” a collaboration with Drake. Other popular tracks include “Love Galore,” “Snooze,” and “Good Days.” To date, SZA has released one EP, Z (2014), and two studio albums, Ctrl (2017) and SOS (2022), with the backing of major labels.
Grammy Awards
SZA has collected five Grammys out of 26 nominations.
Her first win was for her collaboration with Doja Cat on the 2021 hit song “Kiss Me More.” It earned the pair the trophy for Best Pop Duo Performance.
She entered the 2024 Grammy Awards ceremony as the year’s most nominated artist, competing for nine possible trophies. Her song “Kill Bill” was up for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best R&B Performance, plus SOS received nominations for Album of the Year and Best Progressive R&B Album. SZA ultimately won for Best Progressive R&B Album, as well as Best R&B Song for “Snooze” and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for “Ghost In The Machine,” which features Phoebe Bridgers.
A year later in 2025, SZA won for Best R&B Song for her single “Saturn.”
Personal Style: SZA Crocs
SZA stands 5 feet, 4 inches, a measurement that would jump if taking into her account her famously voluminous head of hair. The artist says she began going for the look after shedding her hijab in middle school, enduring a stint with illness and a medication that caused her hair to fall out, before recovering to let it all flow free once again.
SZA is also known for her love of Crocs. In an interview with People, the singer revealed she wears the shoes “at all times and anywhere” because she can “be comfortable and be cute at the same time.” She has collaborated with the American footwear brand on two custom lines. The first shoes, from May 2022, had an earthy pattern with custom charms representing totems that keep the singer “grounded, calm, and collected.” That December, Crocs released the second collection that featured a distressed denim pattern and nostalgic charms like a flip phone and floppy disk.
Net Worth
SZA’s wealth is estimated to be $12 million as of November 2024, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Quotes
- Follow your passion, ignore everyone.
- Loving yourself and practicing self-love is not just a task. Self-esteem is a slow process.
- People grapple with labeling me as hip-hop, R&B, or pop, and it’s interesting to me. I’m just making music.
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